Story and photos from motoamerica.com

Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts and American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier completed the final MotoGP in Europe before the flyaway races begin with ninth- and 11^th-place finishes, respectively, today at the Grand Prix of Aragon in Spain.

Roberts started 10^th and raced mostly alone after losing touch with the group ahead of him to finish a comfortable ninth, some six seconds behind eighth-placed Jorge Navarro and five seconds ahead of 10^th placed Celestino Vietti.

“Today was not the result we had worked for,” Roberts said in a team release. “Let’s look on the bright side: we have scored a few points, and we are in good shape to face the trips overseas. We can’t wait for Japan to arrive.”

Beaubier, meanwhile, started 15^th, ended up in a battle for 10^th and came up just .141 of a second behind Vietti in 11^th with just a second separating 10^th from 14^th.  

American Racing’s Sean Dylan Kelly’s race was ruined in the first few corners when he had to run off track to avoid a melee on the opening lap. Kelly continued on and finished 21^st.

The race was won by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta, the young Spaniard’s first victory since breaking his femur in a motocross training crash earlier in the year. Acosta beat Flexbox HP40’s Aaron Canet by 2.6 seconds with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez finishing third.

Fernandez continues to lead the championship by seven points over Ai Ogura, 214-207. Canet is third with 177 points.

Roberts sits seventh in the championship with Beaubier 16^th.