Thai rider fights through the pain to finish P14 at Round 3 as Matsuyama, Ogden and Cook crash out on Saturday afternoon
Tatchakorn Buasri claimed his maiden FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Championship points during Round 3 at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, the Thai rider completing the race on his first visit to the venue, despite nursing injury, to finish P4 on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, Buasri was the only Junior Talent Team rider to finish the race as Takuma Matsuyama, Scott Ogden and Max Cook crashed out, with Bill Van Eerde and Mario Aji side-lined after sustaining injuries during qualifying.
Buasri started 31st for the only JWC race on Saturday in Andalucia, but the Thai star was able to capitalise on misfortunes ahead of him on track and produce an excellent ride to take the chequered flag in P4, claiming two points in his first JWC race. Busari will now recover before facing two more races on Sunday, where he’ll be aiming to try and fight for the points again.
After a JWC best grid slot in P9 and P12 respectively, both Matsuyama and Ogden’s races ended at the final corner in the opening exchanges. The Japanese and British riders both crashed at Turn 13 after getting good starts and looking like they could contend with the leading group of riders. Thankfully, both riders were ok and will be raring to go on Sunday to make amends.
Cook, who started P19, had latched onto the back of the leading group and was on the fringes of the top 10 before the British rider suffered a nasty Turn 2 highside. Cook hobbled away from the incident and after a trip to the medical centre, it was confirmed that the number 30 had suffered contusion of the buttock. Cook will sit out tomorrow’s action in Jerez.
Van Eerde and Aji were both absentees on the grid after their qualifying crashes on Friday. Aji – who sustained three broken metacarpals in QP1 – was in the JTT box cheering on his teammates and will be doing the same on Sunday, with Van Eerde undergoing successful surgery on his fractured left femur on Friday evening. We wish them both a speedy recovery and hope to see them back on track as soon as possible.
A depleted JTT will take to the Jerez circuit on Sunday for two races at 11:00 and 14:00 local time (GMT+2) when Round 4 gets underway.
