Jorge Navarro achieves the victory in Moto3, Jesko Raffin in Moto2 and Angel Rodriguez and Ivan Silva share the wins in the two Superbike races held in this fifth round of the FIM CEV Repsol.
The Albacete Circuit saw today yet another success for the Spanish riders at the FIM CEV Repsol, as they took the highest step of the podium something that had not happened since the first round in Jerez. In Moto3, the rider that made the national anthem sound was Valencia’s Jorge Navarro, whose victory stopped French Fabio Quartararo’s winning streak, as he was second today. Swiss rider Jesko Raffin achieved a crushing victory in the intermediate class, while Angel Rodriguez and the rider from Barcelona Ivan Silva won each one of the races that were held today in the Superbike class.
Now the FIM CEV Repsol will take a break and will resume the action next September 7th, in Navarra.
Moto3
Jorge Navarro will have good memories from today. The Valencian was able to stop Fabio Quartararo’s streak of four consecutive wins by taking his first victory at the FIM CEV Repsol. Despite the French rider was starting from pole position, Navarro and Gabriel Rodrigo surprised him at the start and they both reached the first corner ahead of Quartararo, who finished the first lap in fourth place. In the fourth lap, the Frenchman was already second, but Navarro took advantage of the first laps to build a margin of more than two seconds, that Fabio was not able to recover and so finished in second.
Behind them, up to 7 riders were battling for the third step on the podium, offering a beautiful show that lasted until the very last corner, where Australian Remy Gardner passed Italian Andrea Migno through the inside and took the third place in Albacete. Maria Herrera, who started fourteenth, finished ninth.
In the overall standings, Quartararo keeps the lead with 165 points, followed 47 points behind by today’s winner, Jorge Navarro, and by Japan’s Hiroki Ono, 71 points behind.
Moto2
In the intermediate class, Jesko Raffin closed the first half of the season in style, with his fourth victory of the year from five races. Today, the Swiss rider started better than anyone else and quickly built a margin over the rest of riders, who could do nothing to stop him. There were many crashes in Moto2, and one of them forced to consider the race finished on lap 17 of the 20 originally in the program, due to some oil on track. At that moment, Raffin was leading with a 4-second advantage over Sebas Porto and Xavi Vierge, who accompanied him on the podium.
With this result, Jesko Raffin increased his overall lead to 14 points ahead of the second, German Florian Alt, and 31 over the third, Sebas Porto.
Superbike
In the biggest displacement category, Ivan Silva finished the two races held with a good result: the overall lead. Although the rider from Barcelona had an off-track excursion in the first race and finished fifth – victory went to Angel Rodriguez–, in the second race he took his revenge and achieved his first win of the season ahead of Dani Rivas.
Those two results, combined with a crash and a fourth place for Noyes, allowed Silva to take the overall Superbike lead with 97 points. Kenny Noyes is now second 9 points behind and the rider from Venezuela Robertino Pietri is third, 11 points behind Silva.
Jorge Navarro >> Audio
Moto3 race winner
“It was my first victory and I’m very happy because I had fought for it for a long time and always lost it by very little, both this year and the last one. We were very motivated after saving a very complicated weekend in Barcelona and I knew that this circuit would suit me well. We were very fast since Friday and, although yesterday I could not set a good lap time, I had a very good pace for the race. Today we did a good start and Fabio [Quartararo] too, but in the first corner Rodrigo was very aggressive and I saw a space and was able to pass too. From then on I pushed to the max because I knew that if I could build a margin of a couple of seconds Fabio would have a hard time to catch me. I want to thank the team for their great job”.
Jesko Raffin >> Audio
Moto2 race winner
“I’m very happy with this victory; we worked during the whole weekend to have a good pace for the race, not to set a fastest lap, and to be able to escape from the rest. I knew it would be difficult, because the track is very narrow and we were very close together. This is not one of my favourite circuits and I’m happy to have won here. Thank you to my team, who did a terrific job. Now we need to start thinking about the next race”.
Ángel Rodríguez >> Audio
Superbike first race winner
“It was a very complicated race, it was very hot. In the last laps, Ivan Silva had a very fast pace– it was difficult to keep up with him in some places– and I didn’t feel too comfortable when accelerating. I decided to stay behind him and attack in the last lap, but he had an off. I want to thank my team for their good job, because we started the year a bit behind and we’ve been improving steadily”.
Iván Silva >> Audio
Superbike second race winner
“The result of the first race was a bit disappointing, but in the second, that was very hot, we knew the bike will work well under those difficult conditions. Yesterday we already set a good pace in the Qualifying in the afternoon. The first laps of the race were a bit of a mess and then I touched with Kenny [Noyes]. I passed him in the inside and I didn’t see him, but I felt a hit on the back and I don’t know what part of it was my fault. I think I didn’t cross his path. In the last laps, Dani [Rivas] had some problems with the front of his bike and I was able to finish the race more comfortably, but we were very close, especially in the leading group”.
