Australia Moto3: Dalla Porta seals title, Canet crashes out

Dalla Porta needed to outscore Canet by four points to seal the crown in Australia, but his coronation appeared in doubt when he slipped from sixth to ninth at the start of the race.

However, Canet, who was battling for the lead after starting on the front row, lost the rear of the bike at Turn 1 on lap 3, marking his fourth DNF in five races and ending his slim chances of snatching the title.

With Canet crashing out of the race, Dalla Porta hit the front a lap later, but was unable to break away from the field at a track where slipstreaming often plays a major role.

Romano Fenati, Tatsuki Suzuki, Darryn Binder and Kaito Toba all enjoyed stints in the lead, but Dalla Porta was always able to return to the lead as the field virtually shuffled every lap.

On the final tour Suzuki seized the lead from Dalla Porta at Turn 3 and managed to hold onto the bike amid a massive moment, only for Dalla Porta to snatch the spot back at Turn 8.

The Leopard Racing rider held onto victory by just 0.077s and with it clinch the title, with his teammate and pole-sitter Marco Ramirez securing second place at the last moment.

Angel Nieto’s Albert Arenas denied SIC58 rider Tatsuki Suzuki a podium spot for the second race running, with Petronas Sprinta Racing’s John McPhee finishing fifth.

Binder was classified sixth astride the CIP bike, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas) and the South African's teammate Tom Booth-Amos. 

Stefano Nepa was ninth for Avintia, with VR46 rider Dennis Foggia 10th and Fenati slipping to 11th at the flag.

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Gap
1	48	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Honda
2	42	Marcos Ramirez	Honda	00.077
3	75	Albert Arenas	KTM	00.088
4	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	00.126
5	17	John McPhee	Honda	00.330
6	40	Darryn Binder	KTM	00.772
7	71	Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	01.029
8	69	Tom Booth-Amos	KTM	01.545
9	14	Tony Arbolino	Honda	01.635
10	82	Stefano Nepa	KTM	02.023
11	7	Dennis Foggia	KTM	02.340
12	55	Romano Fenati	Honda	03.723
13	21	Alonso López	Honda	07.564
14	79	Ai Ogura	Honda	07.676
15	84	Jakub Kornfeil	KTM	08.109
16	61	Can Öncü	KTM	16.735
17	22	Kazuki Masaki	KTM	16.744
18	76	Makar Yurchenko	KTM	42.326
19	15	Rogan Chandler	Kalex KTM	1 Lap
	5	Jaume Masia	KTM	1 Lap
	13	Celestino Vietti Ramus	KTM	1 Lap
	27	Kaito Toba	Honda	3 Laps
	16	Andrea Migno	KTM	3 Laps
	25	Raúl Fernández	KTM	6 Laps
	12	Filip Salač	KTM	8 Laps
	19	Gabriel Rodrigo	Honda	8 Laps
	11	Sergio García	Honda	10 Laps
	9	Yanni Shaw	Kalex KTM	20 Laps
	44	Arón Canet	KTM	21 Laps
	54	Riccardo Rossi	Honda
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