Dixon dares to dream as the deficit comes down

Four races ago, Jake Dixon (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) sat 105 points adrift of World Championship leader Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI).

Now, heading to the San Marino GP, that deficit has shrunk to 43 points after the Briton claimed a second win of the year in Aragon. And what a weekend it was at MotorLand, with Dixon converting his first pole of the season into a win that has propelled the #96 into the Championship chase equation.

That’s partly because it was another weekend where title favourites failed to pick up sizable points tallies. Garcia retired from Sunday’s race in what was, truth be told, a weekend to forget for the current Championship pacesetter. Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) – on his injury return – dug deep to pocket eight crucial points in P8, while Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing) and Fermin Aldeguer (BetaTools SpeedUp) both suffered tougher ends to their Aragon GPs with crashes.

That meant race winner Dixon and Alonso Lopez (BetaTools SpeedUp) – the Spaniard finishing P4 – were the big movers in the title race. Lopez, a bronze medallist at Misano in 2023, is now P3 behind the MT Helmets – MSI duo, 31 points off Garcia, with Dixon P5. 50 points split the top six – Garcia to Aldeguer – as we land at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Now that’s what we call a Championship battle.

Obviously, we can’t go racing again without mentioning the other two riders who stood on the Aragon rostrum – Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo). The former made his way onto the box for the first time this season and ran Dixon close, as Öncü strung together a fantastic weekend to claim his debut intermediate class rostrum. More of the same will be craved from both between now and Valencia.