If you've never watched a Moto3 race, now is the time to start — especially with a young, talented Irish rider on the grid in Casey O’Gorman.
Moto3 is unlike almost any other racing category. It’s not unusual to see a leading train of five, six, seven or eight riders locked together in battle for the entire race. The margins are notoriously fine, and the competition is as intense as any form of motorsport you care to mention.
That is the environment in which Portlaoise-born O’Gorman is competing this season.
The grid is remarkably young — the average age barely out of the teenage years — so youthful exuberance is always evident.
On the surface, they race with what appears to be wild abandon. It is anything but reckless. At the speeds involved, and with the dangers inherent in close-quarters racing, their craft must be controlled and measured.
Often, the gap between the winner and the chasing pack is measured in tenths - sometimes even hundredths - of a second.
The opening race of the season at Thailand's Buriram Circuit didn’t disappoint.
Casey O’Gorman started tenth on the grid, while Michael Laverty 's GRYD MLav Racing duo, Joel Kelso and Eddie O’Shea qualified in 16th and 20th positions, respectively.
The young Irish rider made an excellent start forcing his way through to eight position on lap 1 of the scheduled 19-lap race. From there a race long battle began with Britain’s Scott Ogden. Lap after lap they exchanged places as they raced hard in a midfield group that also contained, Brian Uriarte, Marco Morrelli, Joel Esteban and David Munoz.
Meanwhile at the front, two riders had broken clear of the initial leading group. Championship favourite Max Quilles and pole sitter David Almansa were quite literally out on their own on this occasion. They produced some thrilling racing over the closing laps and when they crossed the line, they were separated by the narrowest of margins; three thousandths of a second, the joint-closest finish in Moto3 history.
Almansa taking the win, Quiles in second, while Valentin Perrone finished third.
Casey O’Gorman came home 11th to make a points-scoring start to his season.
Speaking afterwards to RTÉ Sport, he acknowledged it wasn’t the perfect start, but there were positives to take from the first race weekend of the season.
"It's not been a great race but certainly hasn't been a disaster. The super-hot conditions today caused me to have a lack of front grip. Lack of confidence in the front made it very difficult to overtake.
"Despite this there are still positives to take away from the race. Most importantly we finished the race, fighting for P7 all-race long. Only finishing two seconds from the podium with this issue says a lot about what could've been. Anyway, I did the best I could today and it's better to take a finish than throwing it down the road."
MLav Racing didn’t leave the Buriram Circuit empty handed. Joel Kelso was 14th and Eddie O'Shea 15th to give the Irish team three points for their efforts.
MotoGP Sprint Race
What a start to the MotoGP season in Thailand. World champion Marc Marquez and fellow Spaniard Pedro Acosta going at it, hammer and tongs in Saturday's sprint race. The young challenger showing all the speed, control and determination that helped him to the Moto2 World Championship in 2023.
Most observers were confident Acosta would immediately be competitive in MotoGP and sixth place in the championship on a satellite KTM in 2024 was very good. He faired even better last season. Again, he was a frequent visitor to the podium aboard the factory KTM and he reduced the number of crashes from his debut season.
That’s that part of the learning curve out of the way.
Watching him hassle and harry the wonderful Marc Marquez was in some ways nerve wracking, but a thrilling spectacle, nonetheless. Both riders pulled off breathtaking overtakes. On the final lap Marquez was deemed to have gone beyond what was deemed safe by the race officials and he was forced to give up the position to Acosta, the 21-year-old KTM rider claiming his first MotoGP sprint race win in the process.
Had pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi not crashed out, we would most definitely have had a three-way battle for victory. That was merely the appetiser for Sunday's main race.
Aprilia raises the bar
Marco Bezzecchi was fastest in every session over the first race weekend but crashed three times on Saturday, once in practice, once in qualifying and again in the sprint race.
His crew chief had urged a little more caution during the early laps of Sunday’s main race. That advice seemed to fall on deaf ears as he blasted into the lead right from lights out. Raul Fernandes, Marc Marquez and Jorgé Martin attempted to give chase, but such was Bezzecchi’s dominance, a real challenge never materialised.
Marquez went out when he ran wide, damaged a rim and punctured on lap 21. That put an end to his enthralling battle with Pedro Acosta and Jorgé Martin.
Bezzecchi won comfortably on the Aprilia, with Acosta’s KTM second and Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia in third. It was the first time in 88 races that a Ducati didn’t finish in the top 3. A great start to the MotoGP season.
Moto2 melee
Unfortunately multiple on-track incidents caused the Moto 2 race to be red flagged twice. In the end it had to be reduced to a seven-lap sprint. It was won by Manuel Gonzalez, Izan Guevara finished second and Daniel Holgado third.
Of the five riders injured during the race, Luca Lunetta and Sergio Garcia will require further treatment and assessment before the next round of the championships in Brazil.
