Moto3

Efren Vazquez Wins Moto 3 as Jack Miller Moves Closer To Marquez At Sepang

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Monday, October 27th, 2014

8:10 AM

Efren Vazquez Wins Moto 3 as Jack Miller Moves Closer To Marquez At Sepang

Efren azquez won a breathtaking Moto3 race in Sepang on Sunday the 26th of Ocotber by nail-biting two tenths of a second ahead of Australian Jack Miller aboard his Ajo KTM.

The battle at the front was enthralling from the first lap to the last with title contestants Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW), Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) and Jack Miller (KTM) in the thick of it throughout.

Positions changed every corner and there was plenty of bumping and barging. At the start of the final lap there were seven riders in the lead group, though that changed when front-row starter John McPhee (SaxoPrint-RTG Honda NSF250RW) slid off, leaving six men in with a chance of victory.

Vazquez made superb use of his Honda's impressive power to grab the lead as the pack sped down the back straight for the last time and just fended off Miller on the dash to the line, with Rins a further 0.172 seconds down and Danny Kent (Husqvarna), Marquez and Alexis Masbou Ongetta-Rivacold Honda NSF250RW) in their wheel tracks.

‰ÛÏMoto3 is always so close, so it's never easy to make a plan for the end of the race." Vazquez admitted after his win. "Even more so than usual, everyone was riding really aggressively, especially Marquez and Jack who are fighting for the championship.

"I tried to do my best but not to be too risky because I didn't want to affect their chances in the championship. Anyway, I have my own personal battle for third overall with Rins, so I tried my very best at the end and it worked perfectly."

Jack Miller is still in the championship hunt and will head into the final round of the year with nothing to lose - Credit KTM Images

For Miller the the second place result with Marquez finishing in 5th was exactly what he needed to keep his championship chances alive and will now head into the final round 11 points behind the Spanish rider.

"We are very pleased with the result we achieved today." Miller said. "It almost felt like we had won the race.

"We recovered a few points that we had dropped over the course of a couple of races and now we have only one chance. I definitely did what I had to do to survive and to take the championship to Valencia.

"For the last race we will have to work hard and try to do our best."

Marquez who has spent many laps banging bars with Miller during the year with both riders forcing each other into mistakes due to aggressive riding throughout 2014 had to settle for 5th place after a protest his team lodged against Miller at the conclusion of the race in Sepang was dismissed.

‰ÛÏThe TV footage speaks for itself; it was a very hard fought race." Marquez said. "I had to go very carefully at all times, because there was a title at stake. Perhaps I was overly cautious, but in the end I did the right thing.

"We stayed on the bike and, although I had to settle for fifth place, luckily Miller did not win.

"I'm happy because we scored some very important points. I would have liked to have won the race and clinched the title here, but the important thing is that we lead going to Valencia."

Australia's second rider in the field, Remy Gardner secord his first world championship points with a 15th place finish.

Alex Marquez is still the odds on favourite to wrap up the Moto3 title in 2014

Moto3 Speang Race Results
1 Efren Vazquez 40'41.002 ESP HONDA SaxoPrint-RTG
2 Jack Miller 0.213 AUS KTM Red Bull KTM Ajo
3 Alex Rins 0.385 ESP HONDA Estrella Galicia 0'0
4 Danny Kent 0.803 GBR HUSQVARNA Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo
5 Alex Marquez 0.831 ESP HONDA Estrella Galicia 0'0
6 Alexis Masbou 1.073 FRA HONDA Ongetta-Rivacold
7 Niccolo Antonelli 1.916 ITA KTM Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3
8 Jakub Kornfeil 2.089 CZE KTM Calvo Team
9 Karel Hanika 7.336 BRNO KTM Red Bull KTM Ajo
10 Enea Bastianini 9.520 ITA KTM Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3
11 Juanfran Guevara 17.407 ESP KALEX KTM Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3
12 Jorge Navarro 17.610 ESP KALEX KTM Marc VDS Racing Team
13 Hafiq Azmi 29.592 MAL KTM SIC-AJO
14 Alessandro Tonucci 29.745 ITA MAHINDRA CIP Moto3
15 Remy Gardner 37.467 AUS Calvo Team KTM
16 Luca Grunwald 37.505 GER KALEX KTM Kiefer Racing
17 Jules Danilo 37.792 FRA MAHINDRA Ambrogio Racing
18 Philipp Oettl 38.773 GER KALEX KTM Interwetten Paddock Moto3
19 Gabriel Ramos 55.583 VEN KALEX KTM Kiefer Racing
21 John McPhee DNF SCO HONDA SaxoPrint-RTG
22 Francesco Bagnaia DNF ITA KTM SKY Racing Team By VR46
23 Isaac ViÌ±ales DNF ESP KTM Calvo Team
24 Romano Fenati DNF ITA KTM SKY Racing Team By VR46
25 Scott Deroue DNF DUT KALEX KTM RW Racing GP
26 Matteo Ferrari DNF ITA MAHINDRA San Carlo Team Italia
27 Andrea Locatelli DNF ITA MAHINDRA San Carlo Team Italia
28 Brad Binder DNF ZAF MAHINDRA Ambrogio Racing
29 Niklas Ajo DNF FIN HUSQVARNA Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo
30 Zulfahmi Khairuddin DNF SEPANG HONDA Ongetta-AirAsia

Moto3 Championship Standings
1 Alex Marquez 262 pts
2 Jack Miller 251 pts
3 Alex Rins 226 pts
4 Efren Vazquez 212 pts
5 Romano Fenati 174 pts
6 Alexis Masbou 160 pts
7 Enea Bastianini 122 pts
8 Isaac ViÌ±ales 121 pts
9 Danny Kent 116 pts
10 Miguel Oliveira 102 pts
11 Brad Binder 102 pts
12 Jakub Kornfeil 94 pts
13 John McPhee 77 pts
14 Niccolo Antonelli 59 pts
15 Niklas Ajo 52 pts
16 Francesco Bagnaia 50 pts
17 Juanfran Guevara 45 pts
18 Karel Hanika 38 pts
19 Alessandro Tonucci 20 pts
20 Zulfahmi Khairuddin 19 pts

Top Image: Efren Vazquez Wins Moto 3 as Jack Miller Moves Closer To Marquez At Sepang

Credit: Honda Racing