The rain at Silverstone cascaded down and as the 36 riders of the Moto3 category went off on their warm-up lap ahead of the final race of the MotoGP World Championship's British Grand Prix.

Starting from the pole, Jorge Navarro led the field to the opening corner. Romano Fenati had a flying start and began to move up through the cautious riders ahead of him. Isaac Vinales slotted into second. Maria Herrera, one of two female riders in the field, moved from 14th to sixth.

Navarro and Karel Hanika battled together on the opening lap but both went down at Turn 3, leaving Vinales out in front and Kent in second.

Vinales pushed on to lead the opening lap by a considerable margin. Jorge Martin crashed out on Lap 2 as his MAPFRE Team MAHINDRA bike slipped out from underneath him on the wet surface.

Brad Binder made a move underneath Fenati in the battle for fourth, with 15 laps to go, but he lost control of the bike and suffered a low-side of his own.

Fenati then had to fend off the challenge of Herrera who appeared to be enjoying the wet conditions at Silverstone.

Kent was sitting calmly in second with Enea Bastianini, his championship rival, back in 11th.

Vinales appeared to be going well, with no problems but crashed out from the lead himself, leaving Kent alone in front with Jakub Kornfeil in second and Fenati in third.

Martin had a second off in the race with 13 laps to go.

With 12 laps remaining, Kent opened up a seven-second gap over Kornfeil. Further back, Fenati closed the gap after pulling away from the battle between Niccolo Antonelli and Herrera - which was won by Antonelli after Herrera lost control of her bike and crashed out. The weather was proving to be difficult for all the riders and gaps were opening up that are not normally seen in a Moto3 race.

Fenati was pushing from third behind Kent and Kornfeil but went off with nine laps to go as he lost the front end and as the rest of the field came flying by, he found it difficult to get the bike going and dropped down the order.

Out in front, Kent had a massive lead of 10.5 seconds, but the difficulty of varying degrees of rain at different parts of the circuit were forcing him to concentrate on every turn.

As the lap boards were issued to show seven laps remaining, the battle for third was beginning to build between Antonelli, Locatelli and Francesco Bagnaia.

Livio Loi had made his way through the field and was chasing down Kent's championship rival Bastianini, closing the gap with each passing lap.

Jorge Martin had a third crash with six laps to go; it was turning out to be a nightmare race for the Mahindra rider.

Kent continued to control the race out in front with five laps to go, opening up a 10.7 second gap to Kornfeil who set a personal best.  He had to, as Antonelli and Bagnaia were firing on all cylinders, chipping away at the gap that he had opened up.

Bagnaia attempted an undercut on Antonelli who flip-flopped through the turn to push his fellow Italian to the outside and regain third position.  Bagnaia struggled to control the bike going into Brooklands and slid in, allowing Antonelli to open up a slight gap.

Luke Hedger, the young wild card entry from British Supersport, unfortunately crashed out with four laps remaining, but was able to get the bike back up and rejoin the race.

The gap between Kornfeil in second and Antonelli in third had closed down to just 1.5 seconds with Baganaia right behind the Italian. Locatelli, who had dropped back, spun out in fifth place.

Out in front Kent had a hairy moment with three laps to go as the bike twitched, throwing him off the seat. It was a heart stopping moment for the British fans, but the championship leader managed to regain control and the onboard camera showed the relief on his face. Additionally, as he passed by the pits with two laps to go, his pit crew waved for him to calm down.

The battle for third was still alive, with Bagnaia looking for every opportunity to get by Antonelli. As they rounded the Grand Prix start finish straight, Bagnaia lost control and was thrown from his bike, with the riderless Mahindra bike veering back onto the track and smashing into the side wall.

The last lap proved to be as eventful when Kent's rival, Bastianini, went off and frantically tried to rejoin the race. He dropped down the leaderboard and out of the points. His afternoon would end in disappoint and his championship challenge made more difficult when he was unable to rejoin the circuit.

Kornfeil finished second, his first ever podium finish, with Antonelli in third and the impressive 16 year old, Fabio Quatararo, in fourth.

Another British racer, John McPhee, gave the British fans even more to cheer for when he came home in sixth.

Heading to San Marino in two weeks' time, Kent's lead over Bastianini is 70 points.

Next up for the three categories of the MotoGP World Championship is Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on September 13th. Follow @VAVELMotoGP on Twitter for coverage leading up to and during the upcoming round in Italy.

Neil Simmons is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @world_racing.