American Kenny Noyes, who never roadraced before he returned “home” to Spain eight years ago, finished second at Valencia in what was his last ride in the Spanish Championship before moving on the Moto2 World Championship in 2010. He got a poor start off pole and was fourth into the first corner behind Martinez, del Amor and Morales, all three on Yamahas, but quickly took the lead with some spectacular moves on the brakes, the bike crossed up dirt track style. On lap two he set what would be the fastest lap of the race in 1’35.773, as he tried to make a break. As the race wore on he realized that he did not have the same grip from the rear tire that he had had on Friday and Saturday when the track was cooler. The three exchanged positions but Noyes seemed to have the upper hand until the group came upon a lapped rider with four laps to go. Kenny made his move to the outside but was pinched to the edge of the track when the lapped rider widened his line on the exit. Both Morales and del Amor swept past on the inside leaving Kenny with nearly a second to make up. He got past del Amor and closed hard on Morales, but with only four corners to go and when he was right on the rear wheel of the Yamaha, Kenny snagged a false neutral coming out of the hairpin. That decided the race and the American came home second less than a half second behind Morales, who took the Spanish 1000cc Extreme title for the second year in a row. Two technical problems that resulted in DNFs kept Kenny out of the battle for the championship, but with a win, two seconds, a third and a fourth in his five finishes in the seven-round series, he was fourth overall and completed his best ever season in the tough Spanish series. In his eight years in the CEV he has come a long way: from being a raw rookie fighting for a grid slot to being recognized as one of the fastest riders in the premier class of the Spanish Nationals. After this last ride with the Palmeto Kawasaki team he now turns his attention to the new challenge of the Moto2 World Championship riding a Promo-Harris for Antonio Banderas Racing in 2010. Kenny Noyes Second by .469 sec. with fastest lap of the race in 1’35.773 “Things went very well for us from Friday on and I felt good and fast. We barely made any changes to settings all weekend. With the qualifier I got in a good lap and took the pole. The start wasn’t so good and I was fourth going into turn one but I was able to get into the lead and I tried to get away. Our problem was that the track was a lot warmer than in practice and I wasn’t getting the same grip as on Friday and Saturday. No matter how hard I pushed I just didn’t have the traction I needed off the corners and I couldn’t break away from Carmelo Morales and Javier del Amor so I realized we’d be together right to the end. It was all working for me until we came upon some lapped riders who were into their own race. I tried to go around the outside on one guy and that wasn’t the right choice. My choice, my fault. I got balked real bad and both Carmelo and Javier got by and it was hard to get back past Javier so I could make an attack on Carmelo. I finally got back past del Amor and on the last lap I took back a lot of ground from Carmelo and was right on him going into the hairpin with only four corners to go. I thought I had a good shot at it, but I got a false neutral on the exit and that was it. I want to congratulate Carmelo for his great season. I am real happy with the way this team worked all year because it didn’t look back in the Spring that the Kawasaki would be that competitive. But the hard work from Palmeto Kawasaki and the strong support from Michelin kept us up front whenever we were on track. This was my last race in the Extreme class and also the last race in the class which is being replaced next year by Superstock and so it was real special for me to go out with a pole, podium and fastest lap. During these years in the Spanish Championship I have learned and developed as a rider and reached the level I’m at today. If things go good for us in the new Moto2 World Championship, and I believe they will, it will be thanks to all I have learned battling with Carmelo and the other top CEV riders.”