In the new ESBK Talent category, the winner was the Malaysian Quabil Irfan, while Marcos Vinagre achieved victory in Moto4.
In the new ESBK Talent category, the winner was the Malaysian Quabil Irfan, while Marcos Vinagre achieved victory in Moto4.In the Yamaha R7 Cup, David Real achieved victory.
"April 5, 2025." The engines at the limit of their revolutions, the atmosphere in the paddock and spectator stands, and the magic of the competition returned this weekend to the Jerez Ángel Nieto Circuit after a month of hard work to restore the facilities following the damage caused by the storm in early March, and to resume activity and full performance.
And the hard work pays off, as once again, this weekend, April 5th and 6th, the competitions returned to the Jerez circuit, which hosted the first scoring round of the ESBK - Spanish Superbike Championship. The season kicked off in Jerez, the venue where the championship will also come to an end in November with the second and final scoring round.
Today's schedule included the official practice sessions for all the categories from early in the morning, which would determine the starting grids for the first race heats of the weekend. These races were set to take place starting at 1:00 PM, offering a preview for the fans present today of the second race heats of the weekend, which will take place tomorrow, Sunday.
The South African Steve Odendaal, an experienced rider in the Moto2 World Championship and the Supersport World Championship, kicked off the year with a victory in the Superbike top category. Odendaal took advantage of the off-track excursion of Borja Gómez, one of the favorites for the win, on lap 3. Then, near the end of the race, when he was chasing the Portuguese Ivo Lopes, who had been dominating the race up until that point, mechanical issues for the Portuguese rider caused him to drop down the standings. This allowed the South African to take the lead, which he never gave up until the checkered flag, securing the victory in this first event of the season. The Cantabrian rider from Kawasaki, Román Ramos, one of the four riders who stood out early in the race, secured second place, while the third spot on the podium went to the French rider Christophe Ponsson. It’s worth noting the seventh-place finish of the Murcian Borja Gómez, one of the category favorites, who, after his crash, mounted a strong comeback that took him to seventh place out of a total of 16 riders who saw the checkered flag.
Juan Francisco Risueño, with a time of 2:04.313, claimed pole position in the Supersport 300 category, the first to race today. However, his race was short, lasting only 3 laps, as a trio of riders took the lead. As the laps went on, this group was reduced to just two riders: Daniel Ocete and Tomás Marín, who had an intense battle throughout the final laps, with changes in the lead. In the end, Daniel Ocete won the race ahead of Marín in a photo finish, with a difference of just 17 thousandths of a second. Meanwhile, Miguel Bernal secured third place on the podium, although several seconds behind the lead group.
One of the new additions this season to the ESBK is the new ESBK Talent category, aimed at riders aged 13 and up as a stepping stone to the Talent category of the FIM Junior Championship. The category had a solid entry with 33 riders participating in this promotional class, where the young Jonathan Ramila, with a time of 2:01.242, claimed pole position. In the race, Malaysian rider Qabil Irfan took the lead, with Izan Rodriguez being the only one able to keep up with his pace. The two riders engaged in a beautiful and intense battle until the Jorge Lorenzo corner, where Rodriguez ran a bit wide, allowing the Malaysian rider to take the lead and secure the first-ever victory in the debut race of the ESBK Talent category. Andalusian rider Andrés Garcia settled for third place on the podium.
In the Yamaha R7 Cup, the victory was contested by a trio consisting of David Real, Nahuel Santamaria, and Raúl Navarrete, who maintained their intense battle all the way to the finish line. David Real emerged as the winner, with just a 6-thousandths-of-a-second advantage over Santamaria and a 41-thousandths-of-a-second lead over Navarrete.
The main categories of the ESBK would first see action with the Supersport NG category, where Catalan rider Eric Fernández was defending his title. In practice, the dominant rider was Australian Archie Bob McDonald, who set a time of 1:48.306. However, the race told a different story. Fernández, a rider for the Speed Racing team, had a clear strategy to push from the start, with only Andalusian Daniel Muñoz able to keep up with him for a while. As the laps went by, Fernández’s faster pace created a significant gap between the two, with Fernández crossing the finish line as the winner, Muñoz in second, and Hugo de Cancellis securing the third spot on the podium.
The afternoon of racing concluded with the Moto4 category, where Marcos Vinagre claimed pole position and ultimately won the race. He made an early break from the pack, allowing the others to battle for the remaining podium spots. Antonio López secured second place, while Shengbo Sun finished in third.
