Sam Lowes crashed out of a strong second place at Valencia this afternoon but still sits within six points of the lead in the Moto2 World Championship.

After experiencing a mixture of completely wet and damp-but-drying conditions across both Friday and Saturday, Sunday’s warm-up session was the only chance for Moto2 riders to test their set-up at this challenging 4.0km track in fully dry conditions, ready for the 25-lap race.

A slow start caused the 30-year old to lose three positions off the line on the opening lap before a scary front-end moment at turn eight provided further drama as the race got up to speed. Regrouping quickly, however, Lowes looked comfortable as found his rhythm, overtaking four riders in a six-rider fight for the win as he climbed to second.

Eager to chase down Marco Bezzecchi, the Brit reduced the Italian’s lead to just half-a-second before disaster struck on lap 16, the Marc VDS machine losing the front at turn six and crashing out of contention.

Having rejoined the race, Lowes eventually retired five laps from the finish. The result hands the championship lead to Enea Bastianini but his 178 points-tally sits just 6 adrift, with 50 to play for over the coming fortnight.

“The conditions have been different all weekend. Today was a completely dry race. I didn’t make a good start but then I was enjoying the battle with the guys and I was in second place. Bezzecchi was really fast so I was happy to sit there and understand everything until the last few laps,” said Lowes.

“Unfortunately, in turn six we had a crash. We are still trying to understand exactly what happened. Obviously, it’s a shame. We were in a great position with three races to go. But now there are two races left, we are just six points behind and we still have a good chance.

“We have to stay positive because I crashed from second position, not 15th. I was in a good way, like I have been in the last few races. The team has done a great job once again with not much dry track time and the bike was really good in the race.

“We’ll stay positive and look forward to Valencia 2 and improving on today.”