Riichi Takahira of Japan came out on top of another thrilling battle in the FIM Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in a historic Japanese 1-2 with Rintaro Takemoto taking second.
Starting on pole position, local wildcard Romeo Moneyron (France) had looked to make his mark on his maiden appearance in the series and got off to a strong start by taking the holeshot and sitting within the leading group throughout.
However, in typical R3 World Cup fashion, a multi-rider battle right until the end left the race open until the very end, when an incident between Moneyron and championship-contender Aymon Bocanegra (Brazil) broke the pack up allowing Takahira, Takemoto and Switzerland’s Alessandro Binder to break clear on the final lap.
Takemoto pushed hard to beat his countryman in the final corners, but it was Takahira who took the honours by just 0.195 seconds with Binder crossing the line third.
Championship leader Xarly Mendez (Dominican Republic) was able to extend his lead atop of the standings with a fourth-placed finish despite starting from the back of the grid, with Italian riders Emanuele Pastore and Angelo Mottola (Italy) rounding out the top six.
Hinata Okada (Japan) finished seventh, ahead of the USA’s Chris Clark and following Moneyron’s crash, Louis Papelard (France) took the position of leading French wildcard, crossing the line ninth after battling for the lead earlier in the race. Nathan Bettencourt (USA) completed the top ten.
With the fastest laps from Race 1 setting the grid for Sunday’s second race, Aymon Bocanegra will start on pole position ahead of Mottola and Pastore. Mendez will start fourth ahead of Takahira and Daniel Krabacher (Austria).
The second race of the weekend takes place at 10:10 CET and can be watched LIVE on the Yamaha Racing YouTube channel here.
Riichi Takahira said: “I am so very, very happy! The last corner was a little bit scary, but I managed to make it through and take my first win. To win my first race is important, and I will try my best to do it again tomorrow!”