The Madrid-based Palmeto PL Racing Team, supported by the Spanish Kawasaki importer and Michelin tires, has arrived at the Circuit of the Algarve in Portimao, Portugal, for the penultimate round of the FIM CEV Superbike Championship, the first SBK round of the newly internationalized and formerly Spanish National Championship.
This is a completely new circuit for Palmeto PL’s two championship contenders. American Kenny Noyes, the only rider in the class to have three wins this season, is third in points, but only four points out of the lead. Venezuelan Robertino Pietri is fourth and only 12 points behind the leader.
Noyes, Pietri and the team’s youngest rider, Lucas de Ulacia (Spain) tested during recent days both in Portimao and in Valencia, Spain, where the final round will be held in two weeks.
The Portimao weekend is especially important because the SBK class will hold two races there on Sunday, November 1st, followed by a single race at Valencia.
It has been an up-and-down season for Noyes who began the season on the pole in Jerez but was knocked off on the first lap by a rider who was subsequently penalized. He came back to win both races of a double-header at Motorland Aragón and followed that up with a third win at the Circuit of Catalunya, moving into the points lead.
Then at Albacete he crashed out of the lead in race one and finished fourth in the second race, dropping nine points back, but recovering all but four with a third place finish after getting the best of a long duel with championship leader, Spaniard Ivan Silva (BMW).
Pietri is having his best CEV season highlighted by a second place in Aragon and two thirds in Albacete. He is of only two contenders to have scored in every race this season.
Second in the championship, Spaniard Santi Baragan (Kawasaki) took second at Albacete, his third second place of the year and is just one point ahead of Noyes in a battle that, with three races to run, is still hotly contended with just 26 points covering the top five.
The race can be seen live in the United States on the FIM CEV 2014 page of Youtube.com with race starting at 12:00 Portuguese time and race 2 at 3:00. (4 and 10 AM Eastern).
José Lázaro (Team Manager): “This is the key weekend of the season with 50 points on the table and two PL riders in contention. Both Kenny and Robertino know what they have to do. The fact that this is a new track for us complicates things a bit but we are satisfied after our recent tests that we have good set-ups for the remaining races. We are where we need to be and ready to go for it,”
FIM CEV International Superbike Points standings
1.Ivan Silva (Spain) BMW 108 pts, 1 win
2.Santi Barragan (Spain) Kawasaki 105 pts
3.Kenny Noyes (USA) Kawasaki 104 pts, 3 wins
4.Robertino Pietri (Venezuela) Kawasaki 96 pts
5.Dani Rivas (Spain) BMW 82 pts
6.Carmelo Morales (Spain) Kawasaki 70pts, 2 wins