Oliveira's stunning Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup double

Miguel Oliveira won his second Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race in 7 days. The 13 year old Portuguese rode superbly to pull through from 7th at the end of lap one to steal the lead from fast starting 15 year old German Daniel Kartheininger with 3 of the 16 laps remaining. Kartheininger then crashed leaving Sturla Fagerhaug to take second in a last corner fight with Matthew Hoyle who was third leaving Daijiro Hiura 4th.

`I am so happy to score a second win in this Cup, I can hardly believe it,´ said Oliveira. `It was so hard early on. I didn´t make a good start and we had a big battle with a lot of riders all trying so hard. When I managed to get through to second I just pushed and pushed to catch Dani. When I got in front I could see from the big TV screens that he was chasing me. I just went as fast as I could, I saw that he wasn´t behind me on the last lap but I didn't know he had crashed.´

While Kartheininger raced away from front row of the grid at the start there was drama behind. Cup Leader Luis Salom ran off at the second corner complex and after paddling through the gravel was dead last. It gave the chance to JD Beach to take the Cup lead and the 16 year old American raced through to second by lap 4. He might well have chased Kartheininger for the win but slid off on lap 6.

Beach raced back through to take 8th at the flag with Salom ahead of him in 7th. Salom gained 1 point to open the Cup gap to 10 with 3 of the 10 races remaining. Fagerhaug closed the gap to his 3rd place in the Cup standings to 20 points between himself and Beach.