Viñales, Barragán and Morales make it a Spanish clean sweep in European Championship
The momentum of Spanish motorcycling transferred from MotoGP to the UEM European Championship at Albacete today where a total of 12,000 spectators witnessed three Spanish riders crowned continental Champions.
In the 125GP class a fantastic race took place with two of the most promising young riders of the moment in Europe battling it out as Spanish talent Maverick Viñales and Portuguese prospect Miguel Oliveira went head to head. The pair delighted the crowd with an intense race which tested their respective skills to the limit, riding at a record pace having already set the best time in practice. Victory was eventually taken by Viñales with Oliveira second at just four‐tenths of a second back. Alex Rins came in third after a great fight with the Italian Tonuzzi, having made his break with four laps to go.
In Superstock Santiago Barragán secured victory thanks to an impeccably ridden race. In the opening stages Javier Forés, Barragán, Javier del Amor and Bernat Martínez formed a close group in which the lead swapped hands many times, until the Honda rider upped his pace and opened up what proved to be a definitive gap on his rivals. In the fight for the remaining podium positions Martínez achieved second, with Del Amor third ahead of Forés. The junior European Champion title went to Spanish youngster Enric Ferrer, who finished the race in tenth.
In Supersport another Spaniard, Carmelo Morales, confirmed what had been a superiority in the practice sessions by imposing his authority on the race and adding to his previous titles which include victories in Superstock 1000 in 2008 and 2009. In the opening laps it appeared as if Slovenian rider Jerman and Dutchman Schouten could cause Morales some difficulties, but their opposition lasted just three laps after which the Yamaha rider started to regularly turn in laps at around half a second faster than his rivals, eventually taking a comfortable victory. The new junior European Supersport Champion is Spanish rider Alberto Santamaría, who finished in fourth place.
Earlier in the day during a morning ceremony former 500cc World Champion Alex Crivillé was honoured as turn two of the Albacete circuit was named after the Spaniard. Present to mark the occasion were various World Champions including Ángel Nieto, Julián Simón and Wayne Gardner.
The UEM European Championship returns to the Albacete circuit on October 9th, 2011.
Source: European Championship
