MISANO DISHES UP ANOTHER EUROPEAN JUNIOR CUP SIZZLER
In temperatures approaching 30˚C at Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simonceli’ in Italy yesterday, the Pata European Junior Cup powered by Honda Racing maintained its reputation for some of the closest racing on the World Superbike championship calendar.
After 10 laps of the 4.226km Misano circuit on identical Honda CBR500R machines, Spaniard Augusto Fernandez (#37) took his third win of the season by a remarkable three thousandths of a second (0.003s). It was his fourth podium of the year, which extended his championship lead to 18-points.
Second place went to Italian wildcard rider Matteo Ciprietti, who was beaten in a far-from-unusual photofinish, while another Spaniard, Ilian Fernandez, who set the fastest lap in the race, finished third – just 0.2s further back – so moving up to fourth place in the overall points standings.
He beat Javier Orellana – another of the EJC’s Spanish contingent – by 6.1s but, with his fourth place finish, Orellana retains second place in the championship behind Augusto Fernandez with three rounds remaining.
Augusto FernandezI’m very happy with my third win! I was very nervous and the start was delayed, which was not easy. But in the end I felt good and pushed very hard from the beginning. We were in a leading group of three of four and on the last lap I knew that I had to be leading at the end of the back straight. So, I closed the gas a little bit before the straight so that I could slipstream the other guys and then I was able to pass them on the brakes. It was a great result for me and I look forward to the next race in Portimao.
Gerry Bryce – European Junior Cup directorIt’s been another great EJC race here at Misano and to have a photo finish between first and second and then just 0.2s back to third shows what a humdinger of a battle those guys had. I think Augusto Fernandez’s talent is now really shining through. He’s consistently strong and, having finished second last season, he is proving himself to be a worthy contender for this year’s title. We’ve developed a lot of interest from Italian riders this weekend as well, so the series goes from strength to strength.
Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda Racing – round four
Misano, Italy – result (ten laps):1 Augusto Fernandez (ESP)2 Matteo Ciprietti (ITA)3 Illan Fernandez (ESP)4 Javier Orellana (ESP)5 Josh Harland (GBR)6 Angelo Licciardi (BEL)7 Hannes Soomer (EST)8 Paolo Grassia (ITA)9 Mika Perez (ESP)10 Camen Geissler (SUI)
Championship points after five of eight rounds:1 A Fernandez 104, 2 Orellana 86, 3 Miralles 62, 5 I Fernandez 50, 6 Licciardi 44, 7 Jesper Hubner 40, 8 Perez 40, 9 Harland 38, 10 Soomer 34
Next round: Portimao – 4-6 July
