Tony toasts the competition, Arbolino on fire in Austin

April 11, 2022

Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas. Austin, Texas. 10th April 2022.

Qualification:

Not since the sad loss of Nicky Hayden has America had much to cheer about in the premier paddock. This changed in Austin as Cameron Beaubier took pole in Moto2. On form Celestino Vietti was P2 and Aron Canet P3.

The Race:

Celestino Vietti made a clean start to take the lead with Tony Arbolino chasing him down in P2 and Aron Canet in P3. Within a couple of laps, there were bikes and riders scattered all over the tarmac and soon it became apparent that Somkiat Chantra had made a mistake that took out four other riders, Gabriel Rodrigo, Sam Lowes, Fermin Aldeguer and Zonta Van Den Goorbergh all became victims of Chantra’s error, not the start that Somkiat expected after his recent good form. By good fortune all the riders were OK.

Lap two and with the race continuing despite the carnage, it was Vietti leading Aaron Canet in P2 and now Cameron Beaubier in P3, having recovered from being swamped at the start. Aron Canet soon showed good pace as he took the lead from Vietti, with Tony Arbolino P3 and Jake Dixon P4, Pedro Acosta making his way to P5 until an own fault mistake had him hit the tarmac in the middle of the track, Ai Ogura using all his skill and quick reactions to miss Pedro by a small margin.

It all started to look like a race of attrition as on lap 5, Celestino Vietti crashed out not to re-start, spoiling his recent run of good results. This left Aron Canet in the lead with Tony Arbolino P2 and the Brit Jake Dixon P3, style master Ai Ogura P4 and solid Marcel Schrotter P5. Eleven laps to go and Aron Canet crashed out of the race in a low side slide, his own mistake whilst leading the race. This left Tony Arbolino in the lead with Jake Dixon P2 and Ai Ogura P3, Marcel Shrotter steady in P4.

Tony Arbolino was riding on rails, no mistakes, as he held off Ai Ogura, now in P2 after overtaking Jake Dixon, now P3. At this stage, it was Arbolino’s race to lose, but he held a steady pace and showed what a talent he is given the opportunity. Cameron Beaubier kept the American crowd interested until on the last lap he crashed out, his stars and stripes liveried bike scraping the tarmac, leaving the seemingly forgotten Joe Roberts to fly the flag for the USA in P8.

It was a sublime race for Tony Arbolino, taking his first Moto2 win, a great race for Ai Ogura to take P2 and a very welcome P3 for Jake Dixon after some struggle in recent times.