Arai Agaska took a maiden victory in Race 1 of the FIM Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup at Balaton Park after a three-way race-long fight for the lead with Alessandro Di Persio and Teppei Kugawa.

The opening race of the weekend proved to be an unusual affair in R3 World Cup terms, with the leading trio breaking away from the chasing pack. Polesitter di Persio (Italy) led comfortably in the early stages. Still, it soon became clear Kugawa (Japan) and Agaska (Indonesia) would go with him as they battled it out for the win.

Agaska entered the final lap in third, before getting the better of his rivals in the closing stages to take his debut victory in the series. Di Persio further extended his Championship lead with second place, while the winner last time out, Kugawa, had to settle for third.

Aymon Bocanegra (Brazil) crossed the line to take fourth place after a close-fought, multi-bike battle, getting the better of the USA’s Chris Clark, who was able to hold on to second in the standings. Emanuele Pastore (Italy) took fourth ahead of Mario Salles (Brazil), while Kakeru Okunuki (Japan) was able to recover from his long lap penalties (for irresponsible riding at previous events) to take eighth with Xarly Mendez de Oleo (Dominican Republic) and Angelo Mottola (Italy) completing the top ten.

Di Persio now leads the standings by 36 points over Clark, who holds an 11-point advantage over Kugawa, who moves ahead of Mario Salles to sit third in the Championship standings.

A shake-up in the grid, set by the fastest laps from Race 1, will see Bocanegra start on pole on Sunday from Okunuki and Mendez De Oleo. Di Persio lines up fifth and Agaska sixth. Lights go out at 16:15 local time (UTC +2), and the race can be watched LIVE on the Yamaha Racing YouTube here.

Arai Agaska said: “I am so happy to take my first win! It was a very fun race and a great battle. I need to thank Yamaha Indonesia and everyone for their support, now, I want to make tomorrow even better!”