Texan Mikey Lou Sanchez, age 13, finished fifth and third in the two RFME ESBK PreMoto3 Spanish National Championship races Sunday at Circuito de Jerez, in Spain.
Riding his MRE Talent Team BeOn, Sanchez finished fifth, just 0.448 second behind the winner, in 13-lap Race One.
Then in 13-lap Race Two, Sanchez placed third, 1.685 seconds behind the winner.
More, from a press release issued by Sanchez Racing:
Mikey Lou Sanchez podiums for the 3rd time in the ESBK PreMoto3 at the Circuito de Jerez this past weekend.
Even though Jerez is one of Mikey’s favorite tracks in Spain, he had a slow start to the weekend finishing P16 during Friday’s free practice. Then he improved to 1.2 seconds off in qualifying for P13 on the grid.
He started on the fifth row for Race One and he pushed hard from the start. Mikey spent the first couple of laps making his way through the field and on lap eight of 13 he caught the front group. On the last laps with many changes of position, Mikey finished a strong fifth place only 0.4 second off of the winner.
Michael Sanchez (father) said, “Being over a second and a half off the leader on Friday was huge, but the team and Mikey kept working, and come race time, Mikey did what Mikey does.”
In Race Two, Mikey started from the middle of the second row in P5. He immediately went with the front group and with five laps remaining he was in a battle with another rider that was being black flagged because his rear brake caliper was dangling, only being held on by the rear brake line. Mikey was able to keep focused and finish the race in P3.
“For couple of laps I was thinking I got to stay real low. Low below my windscreen just in case the brake line broke. I didn’t want to get hit with the brake caliper. Once I saw the brake line wrap around the exhaust pipe I knew it was good to go.”
With one round remaining in Barcelona November 18-19, Mikey now sits fifth in the ESBK PreMoto3 National Championship.
Mikey’s race can be seen at the link below starting from 1:14:00 mark.
¡En directo! ESBK Jerez 2. Campeonato de España de Superbike 2023
We would personally like to thank all our sponsors Roadway Traffic Control, HJC Helmets,Texas Motorcycle Academy, San Marcos Iron Doors, Williams Custom Painting, Moto Liberty, 212 Decals, Mark Niemi. Fred and Maggie Beck, Theo Bick, Ben Fondu, Paul Stamper, Stacey Pawelek.
