Fernandez wins European Junior Cup thriller in Imola

Spain’s Augusto Fernandez (no. 37, main pic) won today’s third round Pata European Junior Cup, power by Honda Racing, at Imola in Italy today, opening up an 11-point lead in the championship standings.

It was a typically close-fought EJC encounter with the identical Honda CBR500R machines challenging for supremacy around the famous 4.936km Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari as one of the main support races in today’s World Superbike championship programme.

Fernandez was with the leading group throughout the race but had to fight his way up from fifth to snatch victory at Imola’s final chicane on the very last lap. It was the Spaniard’s second successive EJC victory.

He was joined on the podium by fellow Spaniard Javier Orellana and Britain’s Josh Harland, but their joy was match by the agony of Estonian rider Hannes Soomer who had led the race in the early stages but crashed out of a one-second lead with four laps remaining.

“Imola is a very difficult circuit,” said a delighted Fernandez after the race, “but I concentrated on staying with the leading group and I was very happy to be able to pass Javier at the last corner. It’s my second win after Assen at the last round and now I am looking forward to going to Donington Park in the UK.”

Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda Racing – round three

Imola, Italy – result (nine laps):

1 Augusto Fernandez (ESP)

2 Javier Orellana (ESP)

3 Josh Harland (GBR)

4 Jesper Hubner (SWE)

5 Marc Miralles (ESP)

6 Illan Fernandez (ESP)

7 Paolo Grassia (ITA)

8 Stefan Hill (GBR)

9 Lorenzo Gabellini (ITA)

10 Mika Perez (ESP)

Championship points after three of eight rounds:

1 A Fernandez 63, 2 Miralles 52, 3 Orellana 48, 5 Hubner 40, 6 Harland 27, 7 Perez 22, 8 I Fernandez 21, 9 Soomer 20, 10 London 18

Next round: Donington Park, UK – 23-25 May

More, from a press release issued by Alex Wisdom’s publicist:

Third Point Scoring Finish In A Row For Alex Wisdom After Tough Italian Weekend

Alex Wisdom (CADS Racing) overcame a difficult couple of days to claim his third point scoring finish in as many races after a confidence building in today’s PATA European Junior Cup race at the legendary Imola circuit in Italy.

Wisdom, who struggled on the opening day to get to grips with the undulating and challenging nature of the track, had a further setback in final qualifying when he crashed on his second lap, leaving him 19th on the starting grid.

A great start and opening lap saw him move into the top 15 almost immediately but the lack of track time combined with riding with slightly dented confidence prevented the American youngster from progressing into the top ten as he had hoped. Nevertheless, today’s result will allow Alex to move onto Donington Park in a fortnight with the self belief that he can now score points on a consistent basis. The next objective is to improve in qualifying to give himself the best chance on race day.

Alex Wisdom – 13th position: “It was a solid race and I was glad to drop my times in the race. Of course it was a lonely race once and for sure I want to be battling in the top ten at least every week but this is more points and I know the areas that I need to improve both on and off the track. I can’t thank everyone who helped to repair the bike after the crash especially my dad. It was good to finish the race but I want and expect more at Donington Park.”