Moto3 rider Alex Rins lives every racer’s worst nightmare by celebrating a win one lap too soon

YOU’VE fought your way to the front, crossed the line first and started celebrating your big win. Only problem is, there’s still one lap to go ...

IT is every racer’s worst nightmare.

You’ve slogged your heart out, crunched all the numbers and made all the right moves to get yourself in front when the chequered flag comes out.

You cross the finish line and immediately start celebrating your majestic victory, only for the swarm of rivals around you to keep racing flat out.

Suddenly it dawns on you. You’ve done your sums wrong.

The race still has one lap to go, you no longer have a chance to win because you backed off and, worse still, you now look like a bit of a twit.

All of the above are feelings that Alex Rins now knows all too well after Sunday’s Czech Republic Moto3 race at Brno.

PEDROSA SNAPS MARQUEZ’S MOTOGP WIN STREAK

The Spaniard worked his way to the front of the pack in the closing stages of what had been a manic race, where over 15 riders all fought for the win among the lead group.

As the chequered flag neared it was Rins who surged to the front, the Honda rider sitting up and pumping his fist in triumph after he crossed the line.

Then he turned his head and realised that he was the only one slowing down. After leading the start of the final lap, he fell to near the tail of the group before fighting his way back into ninth.

“It was completely my fault,” a dejected Rins said when he arrived back at the pits.

“Although I know it’s no excuse, there were many riders in the group, I made a mistake and I apologise.”

Despite the gut-wrenching defeat, Rins, who started the race from fourth on the grid, could still see a silver lining among the clouds.

“If we take the last lap out of the equation, overall the weekend was positive. At the next race I will try to be more focused and do things well.”

He wasn’t the only rider left ruing a rough final lap.

Jack Miller took the lead after Rins’ brain explosion, holding off all challengers until the final chicane when veteran Alexis Masbou stuck his Honda down the inside of the Australian’s KTM two corners from home.

Masbou didn’t look back, taking his first race victory in his 133rd race start in the sport’s lightweight class.

Miller tried to switch back and get a run on the Frenchman out of the final corner but made a tiny error which cost him in the drag to the line, the snarling pack bumping him down to fifth.

The good news for Miller is that he actually managed to extend his championship lead by two points over Alex Marquez, who beat Miller to the line by a scant 0.017 seconds.

“Step-by-step we are improving,” Miller said.

As one Twitter user said, “that’s not a lead group, that’s a peloton!”

“On the last chicane I had a good position, but I made a small mistake on the corner leading onto the straight and lost four places. The race could have gone better, but we should be happy because we have extended the lead in the Moto3 World Championship standings by two points.

“We must be satisfied with the weekend. We suffered but, in the end, we had the chance to fight for the victory, which would have been great.”

That he survived the wild race to score any points was an achievement in itself, with positions chopping and changing almost faster than the timing system could keep up.

The top 15 riders were separated by just 1.838 seconds at the finish, the closest ever in the history of the world championship.

An ecstatic Masbou celebrates his maiden victory.

Originally published as Moto3 rider Alex Rins lives every racer’s worst nightmare by celebrating a win one lap too soon