Marc Garcia has thrown himself at the championship chase with a fabulous Brno double, while Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup points leader Ayumu Sasaki kept his challenge rolling with third behind fellow title hopeful Raúl Fernández. Aleix Viu hung on to second place in the points table but suffered most after 12 laps in the Czech Republic - crossing the line seventh.
At the end of a soaking wet day, the track was drying steadily as the Rookies Cup KTM RC 250 R’s were made ready. But with plenty of wet patches still to be seen and spots of water still occasionally falling, the race was declared wet and shortened by 2 laps.
Though Garcia won convincingly, it was a fantastic four-man battle to the line for the remaining rostrum places that swapped around at the final left/right turn 13 and 14. Sasaki was foiled in his bid for second by Fernández, and Patrik Pulkkinen was edged out by Rory Skinner, who was also making a bold stab at a podium finish.
Pulkkinen, the 15-year-old Finn, shot away from the middle of the front row into the lead just as he had on Saturday, chased by 16-year-old Spaniard Garcia and Sasaki, the 15-year-old Japanese. Garcia, brimming with confidence after Saturday’s win, soon then took the lead and left the rest.
Continuing his almost perfect podium run, just the fourth in Race 1 in Assen, the Japanese is defending his advantage at the top of the table.
The single race at Misano takes place on September 9th, with the final two races in Aragon on September 24th and 25th.