Last minute flight bags glory for Darwin teenager
Joel Kelso answered a last-minute call-up from the CIP-GREEN POWER Moto3 Team that he will join in 2022 last week to replace regular incumbent Maximilian Kofler, after the Austrian returned a positive Covid-19 test.
Arriving in Portugal only a couple of hours before first practice, Kelso qualified 19th before then slowly working his way up during the race to finish 14th. Team-mate Kaito Toba struggled more and crashed at the first corner on the first lap.
The CIP-GREEN POWER team now heads to Valencia for the final race of the season scheduled for next week.
Joel Kelso – P14
“Overall it was a good weekend. What can I say? The team and I did a great job this weekend. We made a lot of progress with the bike, and that’s a very positive thing for the coming year. Honestly, it gives me a lot more motivation. Everything went incredibly well in the opening 13 laps until I made a small mistake. In the end we finished 14th, so two points. I also set my best lap on this track. Overall, I am very happy. I know I could have done better, but anyway, we have to take the positive. We worked well. We’ll see what happens after that, but I’m looking forward to next season with this team.”
Alain Bronec (Team Owner)
“On Thursday morning we learned that Maximilian tested positive for Covid-19 and we had to call Joel Kelso at the last minute. He arrived at the track at 0630 on Friday morning. He missed Q2 by only one-tenth and qualified 19th. He had a great race and finished 14th, nine seconds after the leader and scored two-points. So it was an interesting weekend for both him and us and it looks good for 2022. As for Kaito, he was in trouble all weekend. He crashed on the first lap. We will work with him to find solutions to his problems and try to finish the season in the best way. We are sorry for Maximilian and we are waiting to hear from the Dorna health protocol to know what we will do.”
Moto3 Race Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Pedro ACOSTA | KTM | 38m04.339 |
| 2 | Andrea MIGNO | Honda | +0.354 |
| 3 | Niccolò ANTONELLI | KTM | +0.88 |
| 4 | Jeremy ALCOBA | Honda | +1.768 |
| 5 | Izan GUEVARA | GASGAS | +1.839 |
| 6 | Ayumu SASAKI | KTM | +1.874 |
| 7 | Romano FENATI | Husqvarna | +1.972 |
| 8 | Xavier ARTIGAS | Honda | +2.333 |
| 9 | Tatsuki SUZUKI | Honda | +3.423 |
| 10 | Filip SALAC | KTM | +6.591 |
| 11 | Adrian FERNANDEZ | Husqvarna | +6.94 |
| 12 | Carlos TATAY | KTM | +9.392 |
| 13 | Daniel HOLGADO | KTM | +9.93 |
| 14 | Joel KELSO | KTM | +9.996 |
| 15 | Alberto SURRA | Honda | +10.416 |
| 16 | Stefano NEPA | KTM | +11.65 |
| 17 | Lorenzo FELLON | Honda | +11.695 |
| 18 | Riccardo ROSSI | KTM | +11.736 |
| 19 | Jaume MASIA | KTM | +13.616 |
| 20 | Yuki KUNII | Honda | +30.001 |
| 21 | Ryusei YAMANAKA | KTM | +30.183 |
| 22 | Andi Farid IZDIHAR | Honda | +30.249 |
| Kaito TOBA | KTM | +8 Laps | |
| Not Classified | |||
| DNF | Dennis FOGGIA | Honda | 1 Lap |
| DNF | Sergio GARCIA | GASGAS | 1 Lap |
| DNF | John MCPHEE | Honda | 17 Laps |
| DNF | Darryn BINDER | Honda | 0 Lap |
Moto3 Championship Standings
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Pedro ACOSTA | KTM | SPA | 259 |
| 2 | Dennis FOGGIA | Honda | ITA | 213 |
| 3 | Sergio GARCIA | GASGAS | SPA | 168 |
| 4 | Romano FENATI | Husqvarna | ITA | 156 |
| 5 | Jaume MASIA | KTM | SPA | 155 |
| 6 | Niccolò ANTONELLI | KTM | ITA | 145 |
| 7 | Darryn BINDER | Honda | RSA | 136 |
| 8 | Izan GUEVARA | GASGAS | SPA | 116 |
| 9 | Ayumu SASAKI | KTM | JPN | 114 |
| 10 | Andrea MIGNO | Honda | ITA | 110 |
| 11 | Jeremy ALCOBA | Honda | SPA | 85 |
| 12 | Deniz ÖNCÜ | KTM | TUR | 84 |
| 13 | Tatsuki SUZUKI | Honda | JPN | 76 |
| 14 | John MCPHEE | Honda | GBR | 72 |
| 15 | Kaito TOBA | KTM | JPN | 64 |
| 16 | Gabriel RODRIGO | Honda | ARG | 60 |
| 17 | Filip SALAC | KTM | CZE | 58 |
| 18 | Stefano NEPA | KTM | ITA | 53 |
| 19 | Xavier ARTIGAS | Honda | SPA | 47 |
| 20 | Ryusei YAMANAKA | KTM | JPN | 47 |
| 21 | Carlos TATAY | KTM | SPA | 32 |
| 22 | Riccardo ROSSI | KTM | ITA | 29 |
| 23 | Adrian FERNANDEZ | Husqvarna | SPA | 28 |
| 24 | Jason DUPASQUIER | KTM | SWI | 27 |
| 25 | Yuki KUNII | Honda | JPN | 15 |
| 26 | Maximilian KOFLER | KTM | AUT | 10 |
| 27 | Elia BARTOLINI | KTM | ITA | 7 |
| 28 | Daniel HOLGADO | KTM | SPA | 4 |
| 29 | Andi Farid IZDIHAR | Honda | INA | 4 |
| 30 | Syarifuddin AZMAN | Honda | MAL | 3 |
| 31 | Joel KELSO | KTM | AUS | 2 |
| 32 | Alberto SURRA | Honda | ITA | 1 |
2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar
| Round | Date | Location |
| Austria, |
||
| Round 16 | Oct-24 | Italy e dell’Emilia Romagna, Misano |
| Round 18 | Nov-14 | Valencia, Circuit Ricardo Tormo |
Source: MCNews.com.au