For the first time in this Championship, a female rider has achieved victory in the Moto3 class. Roman Ramos and Jesko Raffin won the first and second Moto2 races, respectively, while Carmelo Morales won in Stock Extreme.
The second round of the CEV Repsol held in MotorLand Aragon became a historic event in the Championship, as it was where Maria Herrera achieved victory for the first time by a female rider in the Moto3 class. In Moto2, Roman Ramos won the first race while the Swiss rider Jesko Raffin won the second. Carmelo Morales took the win in the Stock Extreme category.
Moto3
Maria Herrera wrote today her name in the CEV Repsol history. The rider from Oropesa (Toledo) has been the first female rider to achieve a victory in this Championship and she did so in a very close race.
Since the start of the race, there were five riders –Maria Herrera, Jorge Navarro, Alejandro Medina, Marcos Ramirez and Adrian Martin– that escaped from the rest and formed the leading group, fighting for victory. A win that, after resisting the continuous attacks of her rivals, was for Maria Herrera. This success also gave her a cheque for free fuel for a year, which is the prize awarded to the Moto3 winner by Repsol from this round until the end of the season. Valencia’s Jorge Navarro and Malaga’s Alejandro Medina, second and third, respectively, completed the podium of the class.
With today’s result, Marcos Ramirez is the new CEV Repsol’s leader, followed by the French rider Fabio Quartararo and Maria Herrera, 3 and 4 points behind, respectively.
Moto2
Roman Ramos was the star of the today’s first race in this class. The rider from Cantabria had a great start as soon as the lights went out and no other rival was able to match his pace. Ramos crossed the chequered flag in first position with an advantage of more than 16 seconds over Malaysia’s Hafizh Syarhin and Kenny Noyes.
In the second race, the Swiss rider Jesko Raffin was able to recover from his crash in the first race and take the win, only 133 thousandths ahead of second-placed Roman Ramos. Alejandro Mariñelarena completed the last step of the podium.
After the two races, Roman Ramos leads the overall standings ahead of Mariñelarena, 24 points behind, and Russell Gomez, at 27.
Stock Extreme
In the highest-displacement class, Carmelo Morales took the victory after a breath-taking last lap. The Catalan rider and Valencian Xavi Fores overtook each other several times in the last lap, offering the public attending the round in MotorLand Aragon an awesome battle that was decided in the last metres in favour of Morales. Fores, who finished second, leads the overall standings 7 points ahead of Carmelo Morales and 14 over Ivan Silva.
The CEV Repsol will return in less than one moth, next June 22nd and 23rd at the Albacete Circuit.
Maria Herrera – Moto3 Winner
“It was a difficult race, because I rode in first position nearly every lap. I tried to keep my own pace and be calmed, although the back of the bike skidded a bit. It’s the first time I win a race in the CEV Repsol and it was very difficult. I am aware that without the support of the sponsors and the team it would not have been possible and from now on I must keep taking steps ahead and achieving my objectives.”
Roman Ramos – Moto2 Race 1 Winner
“Today’s race was complicated, as always. At the beginning I didn’t know who was behind me, until the fourth or fifth lap, when I saw Hafizh [Syahrin] and later Alex [Mariñelarena]. The distance over my rivals was increasing and I tried to keep my pace and be as focused as I could. It is difficult to ride alone in the lead, because you never expect a race like this. I am very happy for my first win of the year and for taking the lead of the Championship. We already look forward to the next race.”
Jesko Raffin – Moto2 Race 2 Winner
“It was a perfect weekend until, during the first race, I hit Dani Rivas and we crashed. It’s a shame, but luckily there was a second race. As in the first one, I didn’t have a good start and was fourth, behind Rivas and Hafizh Syahrin. I stayed the whole race behind them and I waited until the last lap to overtake them.”
Carmelo Morales – Stock Extreme Winner
“This weekend was not very good for us, although we were able to get to the race. It was difficult to follow the pace of the leaders and I had already decided to settle for third, but the riders behind were pushing and I increased the pace a bit. It’s the most bittersweet win of my career, because the weekend didn’t go very well and I didn’t even noticed that I had won until they told me later, because I didn’t see Ivan [Silva] crashed. I am happy with the battle with Javi [Fores], which I’m sure the crowd enjoyed.”
