After a summer break of almost three months, the Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda’s CBR650F, returns to action this weekend for the seventh and penultimate round of the 2015 series at Jerez in Spain.

Despite most of the championship's riders taking part in a test day at Almeria earlier this week, it’s been a long wait for series leader Javier Orellana, who was on his way to clinching the title in the previous round at Misano in Italy. With one metaphorical hand on the trophy, however, he was taken out of the race by another rider just three corners from the chequered flag.

Since that Misano race, Spaniard Orellana has turned 18 and still holds a 34-point lead in the championship as it heads to his home round. He’ll be taking nothing for granted, however, since French rider Giullaume Raymond can postpone Orellana’s celebrations if he wins Sunday’s race and the Spanish rider finishes lower than third.

It’s also likely that Sunday’s race will produce the first FIM Europe Women’s European Champion, a series that has run for the first time this season within the European Junior Cup.

New Zealander Avalon Biddle, who has dominated the inaugural women’s European championship and will celebrate her 23rd birthday on Monday, will be crowned champion on Sunday, as long as she brings her Honda CBR650F home in the points.

Gerry Bryce - series director

After a long summer break, all the riders are really looking forward to getting back in action at the fantastic Jerez circuit. We had a very successful test day with almost all the series riders at Almeria on Monday this week to get everyone back in the groove after the three-month lay-off since the last round in Misano. Needless to say, they’re all warmed up and raring to go! This weekend should see both the European Junior Cup and Women’s European Championship titles decided so we’re hoping for an incident-free weekend and looking forward to presenting the trophies on the podium on Sunday.