Redding relishes home comfort

On Saturday, Japan’s Nakagami had claimed his second pole position within the space of a week, but it was Redding who seized the lead as the red lights went out. Critically for the English rider, much fighting over the remaining rostrum places would prove a decisive element in his first home victory since 2008, when he had claimed a career-first win in the 125 class at Donington Park. A race-long duel between Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team) and Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing) featured various changes of position, not least on the last lap when the duo swapped places at Vale and Club corners before battling deep into the Brooklands complex. The Japanese would finish ahead of the Swiss, with Tuenti HP 40’s Tito Rabat and Technomag carXpert’s Dominique Aegerter in close attendance. Redding’s teammate and Brno winner Mika Kallio was sixth. Sunday was a difficult affair for title contender Pol Espargaro. Following a crash at the start of the Warm-Up session, the Tuenti HP 40 rider started sixth on the grid but lost ground in the early stages of the race – falling to as low as 11th. He fought back up to eighth behind Came Iodaracing Project’s Johann Zarco, but crucially loses a further 17 points in his championship fight with Redding. Six races remain in 2013. Three riders failed to finish. Argiñano & Gines Racing’s Alberto Moncayo was an early faller, while British wildcard Gino Rea (Gino Rea Montaze Broz Racing, fracturing the fourth metacarpus of his right hand) and Xavier Simeon (Maptaq SAG Zelos Team) crashed across the final pair of laps. At JiR Moto2, Australian Jason O’Halloran finished 25th as he replaced France’s Mike di Meglio, injured at Brno, while both Blusens Avintia’s Dani Rivas and Argiñano & Gines Racing’s Steven Odendaal missed the race following a multiple collision at the end of the morning Warm-Up. Moto2™ continues in two weekends’ time, with the GP Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Scott Redding - who has become the first Briton to win an intermediate class race in his home country since Tom Herron triumphed at the Isle of Man TT in 1976 - will head to Italy with a 38-point championship advantage over Pol Espargaro.