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Austin Moto3: Alex Rins wins as Jasper Iwema crash interrupts race

Alex Rins claimed his maiden Moto3 victory at Austin in a race split by a severe accident for Jasper Iwema

The Dutchman suffered a horrible high-side on lap 12, and had to be treated on the track after landing on his neck.

The medical team later reported that his vital signs were OK, while Iwema was conscious enough to move his arm while on the stretcher.

His crash led to a final five-lap shootout, with the order reset to the lap 10 standings - the final full lap completed before the crash.

Rins therefore lined up on pole, with Maverick Vinales - who had congratulated Rins following the first stoppage when he believed the race was over - second and Luis Salom third.

The latter pair had been the only men able to stay with Rins over the opening part of the race, as his unrelenting pace caused huge fractions. Jonas Folger in fourth was more than 15 seconds down the road when the race was stopped.

The final five laps therefore presented Vinales, Salom and the rest of the field a chance to snatch victory from Rins's grasp.

Salom came the closest, passing Rins on the first run down to Turn 1 and then trading positions with him several times over the closing stages.

Rins finally settled matters at the penultimate turn, and when Salom ran wide Vinales was also able to steal through and grab second, just over one quarter of a second down from Rins.

Folger came home fourth, a position he held almost exclusively throughout the race, caught between the faster lead trio and a slower, multiple-bike squabble behind.

Alex Marquez had been in a similar position in fifth, but a crash on the first lap of the restart put him out of the running and meant Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller's scrap became one for fifth.

It was Oliveira who eventually got the better of it, although he had been trailing Miller as part of an eight-strong fight for sixth prior to the stoppage.

Zulfahmi Khairuddin took seventh ahead of Alexis Masbou, who had not even been part of the top 13 prior to the restart.

Results - 5 laps: (red flag/restarted)

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                   Time/Gap
 1.  Alex Rins            Monlau KTM             11m26.535s
 2.  Maverick Vinales     Laglisse KTM             + 0.244s
 3.  Luis Salom           Ajo KTM                  + 0.547s
 4.  Jonas Folger         Aspar Kalex-KTM          + 1.230s
 5.  Miguel Oliveira      Mahindra                 + 8.276s
 6.  Jack Miller          Caretta-RTG FTR-Honda    + 8.603s
 7.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin  Ajo KTM                 + 10.147s
 8.  Alexis Masbou        Ongetta FTR-Honda       + 12.037s
 9.  Brad Binder          Ambrogio Suter-Honda    + 12.263s
10.  Jakub Kornfeil       RW Kalex-KTM            + 12.737s
11.  Danny Webb           Ambrogio Suter-Honda    + 13.221s
12.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                 + 14.030s
13.  Isaac Vinales        Ongetta FTR-Honda       + 15.822s
14.  Efren Vazquez        Mahindra                + 16.593s
15.  Niklas Ajo           Tecno KTM               + 21.094s
16.  Juanfran Guevara     CIP TSR-Honda           + 21.205s
17.  Philipp Oettl        Paddock Kalex-KTM       + 21.351s
18.  Alessandro Tonucci   Tasca Honda             + 21.599s
19.  Matteo Ferrari       Ongetta FTR-Honda       + 21.772s
20.  Ana Carrasco         Laglisse KTM            + 22.003s
21.  John Mcphee          Caretta-RTG FTR-Honda   + 23.267s
22.  Francesco Bagnaia    Italia FTR-Honda        + 30.965s
23.  Eric Granado         Aspar Kalex-KTM         + 31.591s

Retirements:

     Lorenzo Baldassarri  Gresini FTR-Honda          2 laps
     Alex Marquez         Monlau KTM                 2 laps
     Toni Finsterbusch    Kiefer Kalex-KTM           0 laps

Retired during first start:

     Romano Fenati        Italia FTR-Honda
     Jasper Iwema         RW Kalex-KTM
     Florian Alt          Kiefer Kalex-KTM
     Niccolo Antonelli    Gresini FTR-Honda
     Alan Techer          CIP TSR-Honda

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