CEV Jerez 2012 Photo Gallery

Although a little late, here is the photo gallery we put together from the first scoring round of the CEV, held at the Jerez circuit. With very changing conditions, mostly wet, the races were going to be a lottery.

During practice, very little could be ridden on dry tyres, since although it wasn’t raining heavily, the track was wet. Even during the Sunday warm-up, it was already clear that choosing a good tyre for the race was going to be very difficult.

The first race was the Stock Extreme, in which all riders started on wet tyres. From the beginning, Kyle Smith broke away, taking risks on a damp track. His slides at the end of the straight were incredible, enhanced by the fact that the track was drying out as it wasn’t raining. Behind him, Carmelo Morales gradually cut into his lead, but one rider’s crash and the red flag prevented the comeback. Third was Xavi Forés on the BMW, and the first private rider was Alarcos on a Kawasaki.

For the Moto2 race, all riders had decided to start on dry tyres. It wasn’t raining and the Extreme riders had already left a sufficiently dry line. Dani Rivas was unbeatable from the first start, with a surprising Syahrin right behind him. But the crash of Juan Ramírez stopped the race and it was restarted after just 9 laps. And just as the warm-up lap before the start finished, the downpour came. The race had already been declared wet, so the signals and complaints from some riders asking for the start to be delayed were not heeded.

For the second start, Rivas was again the protagonist, along with Mariñelarena and Noyes, who gambled on finishing the race without changing tyres and riding slicks in the rain. The rest of the riders pitted, but by losing nearly two minutes changing both wheels, they lost their chances of victory. In the end, Rivas took the victory, while Mariñelarena lost the podium on the last corner after being overtaken by Kenny.

And in Moto3, more of the same. Wet tyres for everyone and weather alternating between light showers and sunshine. After a great warm-up, in which she set the best time, María Herrera watched in despair as she had to pull off the grid just before the lights went out due to a problem with her bike.

From the start, it was a two-rider duel between Ottl, who took the victory, and Medina, who finished second. Behind them came McPhee, always well off the lead and taking advantage of the setbacks suffered by the Monlau team, which saw Alex Márquez retire, Baldassarri crash and Bagnaia far behind. The best was María, who rejoined and set very good times. The other women had mixed luck. Carrasco finished 7th, Montse Costa 22nd, Herrera 23rd, and the Japanese rider Watanabe crashed while fighting for 8th place.

And in the Kawasaki Ninja Cup, also delayed by the arrival of rain, Oliver Habbib took the victory ahead of Ignacio Contreras and Julio Palao, showing that this is going to be a very hotly contested championship given the mechanical equality of all the bikes.

The next date is April 22nd at the Los Arcos circuit, in Navarre, where we will be back to bring you live and trackside coverage of everything happening in our national speed championship, the cradle of many of the champions who compete in the world championship today.

Photos | Plusmoto