Double for Blusens BQR in the first meeting of the 2007 SSC, with vitories for David de Gea (Extreme) and Russell Gómez (SSP)

1st Meeting of the Spanish Speed Championship (SSC)

Albacete, 29 April 2007

EXTREME
A brilliant race by David de Gea in the first meeting of the Spanish Speed Championships, in which he took the victory after a hard-fought duel with Carmelo Morales. As happened last year, also on the Albacete circuit, the Blusens BQR rider got the season under way defending his Spanish Championship title. In spite of having changed manufacturer this year, he took both pole position and victory, which just goes to show that he is the top contender for title - which would be the fourth of his career, and his third on the run. He is currently the overall leader, with 25 points. Josep Sardà also had a good race, challenging for fourth spot, and finally finishing fifth, for which he picked up his first eleven points. Jordi Carchano, the third Blusens BQR rider in this class, carried on in his settling-in and learning period, coming in twenty-first, eight places ahead of his position on the starting grid.

SUPERSPORT
After getting a great start off the grid, and riding a good intelligent race, Russell Gómez picked up his first victory in the Spanish Speed Championship in the first race of the competition this weekend on the Albacete Circuit. The Blusens BQR rider, the current champion of Catalonia in this class, is the first leader of the Championship with 25 points, and is one of the serious candidates for the title. Team-mate, Daniel Rivas, also got off to a flying start, but made a mistake on the fourth lap and came off his bike. He managed to pick his machine up and get back in the race, but a long way off the pace in 34th place, with little option of getting into the points. In spite of this, the Blusens BQR rider didn’t throw in the towel; he carried on fighting, making a great come-back, and finishing in nineteenth place. Coming in two places ahead, and very close to scoring points, was Franki Plana. He didn’t get off to great start either, and had to spend the whole race overtaking his rivals.

1 DAVID DE GEA (Extreme, 1st. 29’19.324): “We’ve done what we came to do: win the first race of the season. And we're really pleased about that. The bike, which is really comfortable going fast and is well suited to my way of riding, went like a dream, and the tyres, too. I’d like to thank the whole team for the great work and the enormous effort they have made, because we've shown that, even with changing manufacturer and with a short pre-season, we're very competitive and can be up there at the front. I didn’t want to risk too much at the start, because the race is very long, and there's always time to make adjustments. But I realised straight away that I was going faster than Carmelo and Javier, so I tried to pull away. But it wasn’t to be. Then, because he was lapping faster than I was, as he could accelerate a little before I could, Carmelo overtook me. But my job was to hang in there, and wait for him to make a mistake or slow down. And that’s just what he did: he slowed down, I managed to keep rhythm going, and I went past him with two laps to go.”

5 JOSEP SARDÀ (Extreme, 5th. 29’38.899, at 19.5): “It was quite a difficult race, because those up ahead were lapping almost a second faster than I was, even though during the first few laps I had managed to keep up with them; in the end they got away from me. We’ve got to keep working on getting the bike tuned up, as I spent half the race fighting it. I reckon it must be a question of tuning, because I'm really happy with the tyres - they performed well from start to finish. In any case, I'm quite satisfied, as even though I expect to be higher, we shouldn't forget that both the bike and the team are new to me, and we've all got to get used to our respective ways of working.”

24 JORDI CARCHANO (Extreme, 21st. 30’46.057, at 1’26.7): “It’s been a very testing weekend, as I’m still adapting to this class, I'm still a rookie, and the weather hasn't helped: rain in training, then dry, then half and half... It's really hard working like that. During the warm-up, in the rain, it was really easy for me, because I know that in the rain I can keep up with the best - I posted the sixth best time without taking any risks - but for the race itself it was dry, and I'm well aware that I'm still not ready to be up there at the head of the field. I got off to a bad start; at the end of the straight I came across some riders that had come off, but I managed to swerve round them without coming off myself; then I caught up with two rivals who were slower than me, but due to my lack of experience, I had trouble overtaking them. I got round them and put some distance between us, and for the rest of the race I was riding on my own. And the last lap was my fastest, which goes to show that my times were improving as the laps went by. I would like to congratulate David on his win, which is very positive for the whole team, and Josep for his fifth place. Now it’s up to me to carry on working and get to Montmeló better prepared”.

17 RUSSELL GÓMEZ (Supersport, 1st. 29’57.826): “I’m really over the moon with my first victory in the Spanish Championship, and I would like to dedicate it to the whole team - which is working perfectly and helping me a lot - and to my family, for all the support the give me. I got off to a flier, and went into first place; I tried to pull away, but just couldn't manage to. I was lapping well, but wasn’t really happy out in front. When I realised I wasn’t pulling way, I preferred to let Bonastre through and sit on his wheel a while. That’s when I saw that I was going better than him, so I decided to overtake. When I saw him lagging back, I kept up my pace to open up a gap, and in the end took the flag out on my own. That was undoubtedly the best race of my career, as I didn't put a foot wrong."

62 FRANKI PLANA (Supersport, 17th. 31’12.541, at 1’14.7): “I had a bad start and lost quite a few places. I finished the first lap way back in thirtieth place, and had to spend the whole race overtaking rivals to end up seventeenth. But I'm pleased, as we've made a lot of progress this weekend; we've taken a step forward, and we've got to keep on working along these lines. The bikes getting better and better, and I'm feeling more settled in and going faster, although I still need a bit more confidence. I like this bike more than last year's, and I think we'll do better this season than last. I'm closer to the points”.

77 DANI RIVAS (Supersport, 19th. 31’18.742, at 1’20.9): “I got off to a great start, I was fifth behind Gowland; I was feeling good behind him and was trying to go past him, but opening the throttle on one of the right-handers, I almost went over on my ear, and when I hit the gravel off I came. I picked the bike up, and got back into the race, but well off the pace. I spent the rest of the race overtaking rivals, and riding to carry on gaining experience. In spite of it all, the weekend went fairly well, and the start of the race, too. It showed me that I can be up there challenging those up front”.