Carmelo, Torres, Ramírez and Habib the fastest in the CEV Montmeló Warm UP

Once again we find ourselves at another round of the Spanish Speed Championship. Today we are at the Circuit de Catalunya, and the Warm UPs for Stock Extreme, Moto2, Moto3 and the Kawasaki Ninja Cup have just concluded. For now the temperature isn’t very high, but it’s gradually rising. Although it doesn’t look like it will get as hot as yesterday during practice, the riders will surely suffer some extra wear due to this circumstance.

In the Stock Extreme class, the earliest to get going, Carmelo Morales was half a second faster than second place, Xavi Forés. On this circuit Carmelo once again shows he is a bit better than his rivals, but we all know that in the race this is no longer decisive, and anyone behind him has the ability, and plenty of it, to put him under serious pressure.

Third place went to Santiago Barragan, rider of the Kawasaki Palmeto PLR. He will have to push a little extra today to try to achieve a result that lets him cut into Morales’ points lead. He will also have to try to slow him down as much as possible by placing as many riders as possible between them, which is very difficult.

The first of the privateers Raúl García, from RCM Competición, qualified in eighth position, more than two seconds off Carmelo’s time. He set a very good time this morning.

Moving on to Moto2, Jordi Torres, despite his injury, remains the fastest, with more than 600 thousandths of a second ahead of Jesko Raffin of AJRacing. And that’s even though Jordi is running a special, custom-style gear change, where he presses down with the toe to upshift (as is normal, remember the shifter is reversed), but downshifts with the heel. Third place went to Alejandro Mariñelarena, who finished 785 thousandths behind Torres, just ahead of Román Ramos.

Kenny Noyes, who went out to ride on a worn tyre, is very confident heading into the race. He managed to work over the past week to solve the chattering, and in the warm up he finished seventh.

As for Moto3, rider Marcos Ramírez was the fastest. The fourteen-year-old seems very strong and is a great promise to keep an eye on. Behind him was Alex Márquez, who is riding the World Championship bike here. A big difference can be observed between his bike and those of his rivals. We hope he knows how to get as much out of it as he did in the race here in the World Championship.

Third place went to Francesco Baganaia, the Italian rider who wants to show once again his great talent. And why not here at Montmeló? What better place than the one your team knows best.

Closing the KNC, where Oliver Habib was again the fastest, just ahead of Palao. Third was Hugo Martínez, who with a time of 1:53.224 is much closer than yesterday.

Photos | Alejandro Batán, David Gómez (Plusmoto.com)