The South African rider secures the European Moto2 title at the Autodromo do Portimao after winning both races today. Over at Moto3, Marcos Ramirez took another victory and Carmelo Morales takes a double win in Superbike.
The FIM CEV Repsol already knows one of its champions for the 2016 season: Steven Odendaal. The Moto2 rider took the title of the class today in a brilliant fashion, after taking the two wins up for grabs today. The South African left no chance to his rivals this season and in 8 races he took 6 victories, one second place and one third place, as he only missed the podium in one of the two races held in Barcelona.
Over at the Moto3 Junior World Championship, Marcos Ramirez took the victory at the Autódromo do Algarve by only 3 thousandths over the current leader of the class, Lorenzo Dalla Porta. After this result, the Italian has an advantage of 31 points in the overall standings over Ramirez, his closest rival. Competition is closer at the Superbikes European Championship, where Carmelo Morales won the two races held today at Portimao and increased his advantage in the lead of the provisional standings to 17 points over Chilean Maximilian Scheib, who was second in today’s races.
The Jerez circuit will hold the next round of the FIM CEV Repsol −the second-to-last before the finale in Valencia– where Moto3 and Superbike will have two races, and Moto2, one.
Marcos Ramírez
Moto3 race winner
“It was a very tough race because it was very hot. I didn’t do a good start and had to recover positions, but 6 laps from the end I took the first place and I pushed a lot. Although I was able to get some advantage, in the corner before the end I had a scare and was about to crash. At that moment my rivals caught up with me, but in the last lap I did my best and I was able to win in extremis.”
Steven Odendaal
Moto2 first race winner
“I feel great after another victory, but I was a bit lucky because Nagashima went too long in the last corner and I took advantage of it, after trying to catch him during the last lap without risking too much. I’m very happy and we added another first place, which is very good for the championship. Let’s see how it goes in the second race, under such tough conditions.”
Steven Odendaal
Moto2 second race winner
“It was a tough day; the high temperatures didn’t allow to improve the feelings with the front tyre. I knew that in the race I had to do a perfect line. I tried to be on top and see what I could do and when Alan [Techer] overtook me I thought I didn’t want to take risks, but it seems he made a mistake and I won. I want to thank the team, and from now on we’ll keep fighting until the end of the season.”
Carmelo Morales
Superbike first race winner
“It was a more difficult race that it seemed. Today it was hotter than the other days and the tyres worked differently. The race had two parts: the first, the start, where I pushed hard, and the second, by mid race, where I lowered the pace when I had built some advantage. I made two mistakes due to lack of concentration that gave me a scare. Overall, the tyres worked well and it seems that our rivals had trouble with the high temperatures. I’m very happy, it’s our second race with the new suspension and we found a base setup I like more”.
Carmelo Morales
Superbike second race winner
“I’m very happy with the double win of this weekend. This year’s progression has been very good. In the first race the rear tyre failed and we couldn’t score, but from then on we were forced to win and there was quite a lot of pressure. We suffered in Albacete, but we left that race as leaders and that allowed us to work more calmly with the new suspensions. I was injured during the holidays while doing motocross and I couldn’t train, but I felt good on the bike, also physically.”
