The Moto3 world championship visited Japan for the first race of an Asia-Pacific leg of the 2025 campaign. South African rider Ruche Moodley was among the packed field of young hopefuls who took to the 4,8 km-long Mobility Resort Motegi for the 17th round of the season. It was a daunting task for the sole SA rider in the category.
“I’d only ever seen Motegi on TV, watching my racing heroes compete there since I was very little. It looks extremely fast on a proper race bike. As this was my very first visit to this track, I knew it was going to be a challenge,” said the rookie.
The early practice sessions were a steep learning curve. Motegi has long straights followed by fast corners. On a Moto3 bike some of these corners are taken with just a dab of the brakes before tipping the bike in to maximise corner speed.
“We made very good progress from Friday’s practice sessions to qualifying. Even though I narrowly missed out on passing directly into Q2, my confidence grew with each passing lap. I knew I’d do well in the race if I kept pushing the limits.” Moodley would start Sunday’s main event in 19th place.
Race starts were identified as an area of improvement for the teenager. Earlier in the season, Ruche lost too many positions in the opening sequence of races. This has been addressed in recent rounds. The same approach was adopted at the Japanese GP.
“I had a good start from 19th, with a nice clear run down to turn one on the ideal racing line. That allowed me to brake late into T1. I passed quite a few riders on the first lap.” Moodley was lying in 15th place when the field completed the opening tour.
Moodley’s position yo-yoed in the mid-teens for a while as he battled with rivals. However, at about one third race distance there was light rain. Certain parts of the track experienced a drizzle while others remained completely dry. The rain was not heavy enough to warrant changing from slicks to treaded tyres. This meant riders were second-guessing grip levels at all points of the circuit. Unfortunately, the variable grip levels caught out the rookie.
A tiny error dropped the BOE Motorsports rider from 17th to 22nd place. But there were still many laps left in the race. The rain skirted the track, which meant the remainder of the laps were completely dry. Moodley maintained his composure despite the earlier mistake.
“Some riders were prepared to take bigger risks than others during the wet laps. This really strung out the field, which made it difficult to catch the guys ahead. Without a slipstream it’s not easy to set quick lap times.” Moodley kept his head down and crossed the finish line in 19th place.
“It was a tough weekend from the get-go, but we completed every lap of the race, which has been a goal from the very start of my rookie season. We learn with every lap and take those lessons into the closing part of the season,” concluded the youngster.
Published by: Double Apex on behalf of Ruche Moodley
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