MotoGP Valencia: Guevara completes Spanish clean sweep in Moto3

Moto3 Champion Izan Guevara completed a clean sweep of Moto3 victories on home soil with a late move at Valencia on Sunday.

The Valresa GasGas Aspar rider held off a determined Deniz Öncü by 0.062s after a race-long battle between the duo, teammate Sergio Garcia consolidating the successful season with third in the race and one-two in the championship standings.

The final race day of 2022 lined up under perfect conditions as Guevara commanded the grid ahead of his move to the intermediate class. John McPhee prepared for his own world championship swan-song from tenth after over a decade in the paddock while Sterilgarda Husqvarna teammate Ayumu Sasaki, Leopard’s Dennis Foggia and GasGas Aspar’s Sergio Garcia got ready to battle for second in the season standings.

Lights out and Guevara maintained control from Tech3’s Öncü and Aspar teammate Garcia. Angeluss MTA’s Ivan Ortola heading MT Helmets’ Diogo Moreira and Sasaki as CIP Green Power Kaito Toba and Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jaume Masia started from pitlane following their trackside altercation - the pair also facing a long lap penalty as the race unfolded.

Guevara’s advantage was almost half a second as the first lap completed. Tatsuki Suzuki bettering teammate Foggia for eighth as KTM’s Daniel Holgado did likewise on McPhee. Moreira rapidly dispatched his long lap penalty - for crashing under yellows in Friday practice - and rejoined the action in seventh. BOE’s David Muñoz attempted to advance as he took a look at Sasaki for fifth before the Japanese rider defended. The top four breaking free and over two seconds ahead after five laps on track.

The mid-pack battle saw McPhee drop back to 15th behind Sic58’s Riccardo Rossi, MTA stand-in David Salvador and an equally fading