Beaubier Seventh In Malaysian Grand Prix
American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier finished seventh in the Grand Prix of Malaysia on Sunday. Photo by American Racing
American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier fought back from the turn-two incident ahead of him on the opening lap of the Grand Prix of Malaysia to finish seventh on Sunday at the Sepang International Circuit.
With Pedro Acosta and Somkiat Chantra crashing in front of him in the second corner of the Grand Prix, Beaubier almost came to a dead stop to avoid the melee. The incident cost the Californian at least five spots and he finished the opening lap in 13th place. From there he fought forward until settling into eighth in the final laps. On the last lap, however, drama unfolded ahead of him with then World Championship leader Ai Ogura crashing out of the lead on the final lap. Ogura’s miscue moved Beaubier up to seventh at the finish.
Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts, meanwhile, had a Grand Prix to forget as his Kalex had issues from the start. Roberts finished lap one in eighth but was 14th at the end of lap two. It got worse from there and Roberts was forced out of the race on the eighth lap.
Beaubier’s teammate Sean Dylan Kelly finished a lonely 18th.
The race was won by Elf Marc VDS Racing’s Tony Arbolino, the Italian battling with Ogura in the closing laps after being caught by the Japanese rider. On the final lap, however, Ogura dove up the inside of Arbolino, lost the front of his IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex and crashed out of the race.
Inde GASGAS Aspar Team’s Jake Dixon inherited third place with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez finishing an all-important fourth.
With just the Valencia round remaining, Fernandez is now 9.5 points clear of Ogura in the battle for the Moto2 World Championship, 251.5-242. Aron Canet, eighth in Malaysia, is third with 200 points.
Roberts sits ninth in the World Championship with Beaubier 15th. A good race in Spain could lift Beaubier to 13th in the title chase in his second and final season of Grand Prix racing.
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