Munich. Successful start to the season in Spain and Italy: the
first races of the year in the Spanish Championship (RFME CEV), the
Italian Superbike Championship (CIV) and the Italian National Trophy
1000 (INT) took place at the weekend. The BMW teams had plenty of
cause to celebrate. In the RFME CEV, champion Carmelo Morales (ESP)
began his title defence with a win. His Graphenano EasyRace
team-mate, Julian Miralles (ESP), reached the podium in the open
class. Luca Vitali (ITA) also secured a podium finish at the CIV
season-opener. In the Italian National Trophy 1000, Federico
D’Annunzio and Luca Maurizio Salvadori (both ITA) claimed a one-two
result for the BMW S 1000 RR.
Spanish Championship at Albacete, Spain.
Albacete, Spain, hosted the season-opener for the Spanish
Championship (RFME CEV) at the weekend. BMW rider Carmelo Morales
(ESP) and the Graphenano EasyRace SBK team arrived in Albacete as
reigning champions and Morales showed in the first race that he and
his team are taking the title defence seriously. The team used
Saturday for fine-tuning the BMW S 1000 RR and Morales secured fourth
place in qualifiying. He also announced that his objective was to win
the race. The champion proved his point: Morales won the season-opener
and also recorded the fastest lap of the race. His team-mate Julian
Miralles (ESP) rounded off the team’s success by finishing second to
reach the podium in the open class.
Carmelo Morales:
“I am delighted as the first race of the year is normally pretty
nervy and it is not easy to win. I was also on the second row of the
grid and I didn’t get off to a particularly good start but our speed
was very good and I was able to fight my way up, place by place. It’s
always great to win but it is even better to do in such a beautiful
race. I would like to thank the team for all their work and I hope
that the season will continue in this vein.”
Italian Superbike Championship at Misano, Italy.
The Italian Superbike Championship (CIV) visited the Adriatic coast
for the first race of the year at Misano (ITA). BMW rider Luca Vitali
(ITA) kicked off the new season with a podium finish. The DMR Racing
rider had to retire early from the first race on Saturday but he
improved his performance on Sunday to claim third place with his BMW S
1000 RR. His team-mate Axel Bassani (ITA) finished fifth in both
races. Alex Bernardi (ITA), also competing for the DMR Racing team,
logged top-ten results both times, finishing eighth and tenth.
Italian National Trophy 1000 in Misano, Italy.
The Italian National Trophy 1000 (INT) is a new addition to the BMW
Motorrad Race Trophy for 2018. The races in the series are taking
place as part of the Italian Superbike Championship (CIV). In the
season-opener at Misano (ITA), the BMW S 1000 RR racers celebrated a
one-two result: Federico D’Annunzio (ITA) won ahead of his compatriot
Luca Maurizio Salvadori. A total of four BMW riders finished in the
top five. Remo Castellarin secured fourth place, followed by
Alessandro Polita in fifth.
MFJ Superbike All Japan Road Race Championship at Motegi, Japan.
The MFJ Superbike All Japan Road Race Championship (MFJ) season
started at Motegi, north of Tokyo (JPN). Many teams used the weekend
to prepare for the eight-hour race at Suzuka (JPN), including the BMW
customer team Tone RT Syncedge 4113 and the two riders Tomoya Hoshino
and Atsumi Cocoro (both JPN). A race took place in two parts,
emphasising the endurance character of the event at Motegi. Hoshino
finished in eighth and eleventh positions, while Cocoro crossed the
line in 20th and 17th.