Motourage

Gigaset Mapfre Laglise Racing Team’s Jordi Torres snatched the 2011 UEM European Supersport Championship title, which took place on Sunday, October 9 at the Spanish circuit of Albacete, with

Only great racing was on display at Albacete with the top-five riders from the Spanish, French, German, Italian and Dutch national championships and the top four from the Scandinavian, Eastern Europe and Alpe-Adrian Championship contending for the UEM Road Racing titles at the Circuito de Albacete in front of 13,000 spectators.

Jordi Torres topped the time sheets all weekend and was the first to reach the finish line in Sunday’s race. Despite his lack of experience in the Supersport category, in Saturday’s second qualifying session Torres lapped the track in an impressive 1:30.815 to secure a comfortable pole position. Dominating the race from start to finish, Torres held off advances from Gomez on the first lap, and then proceeded to circulate alone in the lead until the very end. The Spaniard rode his R6 to the checkered flag in a clear win to clinch the gold medal and his first ever European Championship title.

Joining Torres on the podium were the Danish rider, Alex Schacht of the Schacht R.SBK ONE team, in the second-place spot and Dutchman Jos Van De Raa from Vice Versa AA Racing in third place.

FTR Moto and Kevin Coghlan are just one point off the lead of the Spanish CEV Moto2 Championship after the young Scotsman won Sunday’s second round of the Championship at Albacete.

Coghlan out ran Carmelo Morales by just 0.367s in a thrilling race, run in two parts – three laps and 16 laps – after rain hit the 2.20-mile circuit and the original race was red-flagged. Having qualified in fifth place on the Monlau Competicion FTR machine, Coghlan led for half of the main 16-lap race before sitting behind Morales to ensure his debut win in Moto2.

“It was a tough day with the first race being stopped then the result on aggregate time,” said Coghlan. “Towards the end of the 16-lapper I needed to push on a little and I’m pleased I was able to do that. I’m still getting used to the machine but I felt really comfortable throughout the weekend so all credit to the team and to FTR.”

Coghlan sits one point behind Daniel Rivas in the seven-round Championship with the third round at the Jerez circuit on June 13.

FTR’s Steve Bones commented: “Kev did an excellent job, he rode like a demon at the end of the race to ensure victory. The team gave him the signal to protect the lead he had on aggregate time and he responded superbly.”

Russian youngster Alexey Ivanov, also riding an FTR machine, qualified in 31st place and finished 22nd as he continues his progression in the new class and in his first year of competition in Spain.

Carmelo Morales celebrates after his European Championship win

From October 31 to November 1,  107 riders from across Europe took to Spain’s Circuito de Albacete to fight it out in the single event championship.  Reigning 2008 Superstock champion Carmelo Morales made short work of defending his title on his 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1.  The quickest rider of the weekend in most sessions, Morales was hotly pursued by fellow Yamaha rider Bernat Martinez in the race but held on retain the title for the second year with Martinez taking second.  Morales and Martinez were two of six Yamaha riders taking top ten finishes.  Spanish rider Javier Fores took the second place honors in the Supersport class on his Yamaha R6, with Yamaha again dominating to take six of the top ten spots in the race and subsequent championship standings.

For more information, visit www.europeanchamp.com.