The 20-lap Moto3 race kicked off proceedings on grand prix Sunday at Motegi, with the stormy conditions seen on Saturday giving way to beaming sunshine.
Aspar’s Guevara, Leopard Honda’s Dennis Foggia, Max Racing Husqvarna rider Ayumu Sasaki and Ajo KTM’s Jaume Masia ran line astern for much of the race as the breakaway leading quartet.
Guevara would make his decisive move in the latter stages and got to the chequered flag 0.593 seconds clear of Foggia to claim his fifth win of the 2022 season.
The Aspar GasGas rider’s team-mate and nearest championship rival Sergio Garcia was a distance 9.3s adrift in fourth at the chequered flag and is now 45 points down in the championship.
Masia looked threatening in the latter stages, but crashed out heavily going through the Turn 12 left-hander when the rear of his KTM broke away and tipped him into a highside.
This released Foggia into second, as long-time leader Sasaki completed the podium on home soil.
Garcia fended off BOE Motorsports KTM rider David Munoz for fourth, with MT Helmets KTM’s Diogo Moreira heading Max Racing’s John McPhee, the sister MT Helmets bike of Ryusei Yamanaka, Snipers Honda’s Andrea Migno and Riccardo Rossi on the SIC58 Honda rounding out the top 10.
There was no fairy tale Sunday for home favourite poleman Tatsuki Suzuki, who crashed his Leopard Honda in the early stages while running in the lead group.
Moto3 results
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Laps | Gap | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Izan Guevara |
GASGAS | 20 | 25 | |
| 2 |
 Dennis Foggia |
Honda | 20 | 0.593 | 20 |
| 3 |
 Ayumu Sasaki |
Husqvarna | 20 | 1.741 | 16 |
| 4 |
Sergio García |
GASGAS | 20 | 9.338 | 13 |
| 5 | David Muñoz | KTM | 20 | 9.414 | 11 |
| 6 |
 Diogo Moreira |
KTM | 20 | 9.743 | 10 |
| 7 |
 John McPhee |
Husqvarna | 20 | 9.815 | 9 |
| 8 |
Ryusei Yamanaka |
KTM | 20 | 15.490 | 8 |
| 9 |
Andrea Migno |
Honda | 20 | 15.573 | 7 |
| 10 |
Riccardo Rossi |
Honda | 20 | 15.687 | 6 |
| 11 |
Xavier Artigas |
CF MOTO | 20 | 22.023 | 5 |
| 12 |
Stefano Nepa |
KTM | 20 | 22.656 | 4 |
| 13 |
Iván Ortolá Díez |
KTM | 20 | 22.914 | 3 |
| 14 |
Taiyo Furusato |
Honda | 20 | 24.419 | 2 |
| 15 |
 Deniz Öncü |
KTM | 20 | 30.368 | 1 |
| 16 | Elia Bartolini | KTM | 20 | 45.070 | |
| 17 |
 Mario Suryo Aji |
Honda | 20 | 45.199 | |
| 18 |
 Adrian Fernandez |
KTM | 20 | 48.531 | |
| 19 |
Ana Carrasco |
KTM | 20 | 53.259 | |
| 20 |
Scott Ogden |
Honda | 20 | 1'06.056 | |
| 21 |
Kaito Toba |
KTM | 17 | 3 Laps | |
|
Jaume Masia |
KTM | 16 | 4 Laps | ||
 Lorenzo Fellon |
Honda | 9 | 11 Laps | ||
|
Nicola Fabio |
KTM | 6 | 14 Laps | ||
|
Tatsuki Suzuki |
Honda | 4 | 16 Laps | ||
|
Daniel Holgado |
KTM | 3 | 17 Laps | ||
| Kanta Hamada | Honda | 3 | 17 Laps | ||
|
Carlos Tatay |
CF MOTO | 0 | |||
| Joel Kelso | KTM | 0 | |||
|
Joshua Whatley |
Honda | 0 | |||
| View full results | |||||
In the 22-lap Moto2 race, drama struck early on as poleman Aron Canet crashed out of a healthy lead on the fourth tour.
This thrust Honda Team Asia’s Ogura into a victory fight having carved his way into the top five in the early stages from 13th on the grid.
Once in front, Ogura opened up a lead of over a second to keep championship rival Augusto Fernandez on the Ajo KTM-run Kalex in second at bay.
Alonso Lopez completed the podium on his Speed Up ahead of Aspar’s Jake Dixon and brief leader Somkiat Chantra (Honda Team Asia).
Tony Arbolino faded out of podium contention to sixth for Marc VDS ahead of Aragon winner Pedro Acosta (Ajo KTM), Aspar’s Albert Arenas, SAG Racing’s Bo Bendsneyder and the Gresini Kalex of Filip Salac.
Ogura’s third win of 2022 means he is now just two points from Fernandez in the standings, while crashes for Canet and VR46’s Celestino Vietti have all but ended their hopes at 57 and 72 points adrift.
Moto2 results
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Laps | Gap | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Ai Ogura |
Kalex | 22 | 25 | |
| 2 |
Augusto Fernandez |
Kalex | 22 | 1.192 | 20 |
| 3 |
Alonso López |
Boscoscuro B-21 | 22 | 7.168 | 16 |
| 4 |
Jake Dixon |
Kalex | 22 | 7.597 | 13 |
| 5 |
 Somkiat Chantra |
Kalex | 22 | 12.255 | 11 |
| 6 |
Tony Arbolino |
Kalex | 22 | 14.189 | 10 |
| 7 |
Pedro Acosta |
Kalex | 22 | 14.520 | 9 |
| 8 |
Albert Arenas |
Kalex | 22 | 18.410 | 8 |
| 9 |
 Bo Bendsneyder |
Kalex | 22 | 20.398 | 7 |
| 10 |
 Filip Salač |
Kalex | 22 | 23.140 | 6 |
| 11 |
 Cameron Beaubier |
Kalex | 22 | 23.604 | 5 |
| 12 |
Joe Roberts |
Kalex | 22 | 23.733 | 4 |
| 13 |
 Marcel Schrotter |
Kalex | 22 | 24.171 | 3 |
| 14 |
 Barry Baltus |
Kalex | 22 | 33.795 | 2 |
| 15 |
Lorenzo Dalla Porta |
Kalex | 22 | 35.548 | 1 |
| 16 |
Zonta van den Goorbergh |
Kalex | 22 | 40.006 | |
| 17 |
Taiga Hada |
Kalex | 22 | 42.496 | |
| 18 | Keminth Kubo | Kalex | 22 | 46.492 | |
| 19 |
Sean Dylan Kelly |
Kalex | 22 | 49.126 | |
| 20 |
Marcos Ramirez |
MV Agusta | 22 | 1'09.754 | |
|
Jeremy Alcoba |
Kalex | 21 | |||
|
Jorge Navarro |
Kalex | 20 | |||
|
Niccolo Antonelli |
Kalex | 15 | |||
|
Arón Canet |
Kalex | 15 | |||
|
Celestino Vietti Ramus |
Kalex | 7 | |||
|
Simone Corsi |
MV Agusta | 5 | |||
|
Alessandro Zaccone |
Kalex | 5 | |||
|
Fermin Aldeguer |
Boscoscuro B-21 | 2 | |||
|
Manuel Gonzalez |
Kalex | 0 | |||
| View full results | |||||
