Steven Odendaal claimed his second ESBK Spanish Superbike Championship victory of the weekend at Circuito de Navarra this afternoon (Sunday).
The South African championship leader came under firm pressure from Roman Ramos for large parts of the race with Saturday’s pole-sitter even briefly taking the lead at the final corner as the race ran towards its end. Odendaal produced a strong run out of the corner to remain in the lead as they crossed the line however.
With the top two riders fighting over first and second, this allowed the chasing pair of Ivo Lopes and Francisco J. Palomera to close up a little and create a leading group of four. Odendaal was able to pull away slightly in the final laps though, eventually crossing the line just over a second and a half in front of Ramos.
During the final laps, Ramos came under pressure from Lopes, who won two races at Circuito de Navarra just last month. The Portuguese rider wasn’t able to find a way through though, settling for third one tenth of a second behind Ramos.
Palomera was only a little further back when the race came to a close too, and a sizeable margin clear of Christophe Ponsson in fifth. Not only was Palomera fourth outright, but the Honda rider was the leading STCK1000 competitor.
Ville Valtonen was sixth, almost 50 seconds behind the winner, but only just ahead of Juan Pablo Uriostegui. Maruo Gonzalez, Paco Morales and Samuel Diaz completed the top-10.
ESBK Spanish Superbike Championship, Race 2
- Steven Odendaal (New2 Project)
- Roman Ramos (Kawasaki Palmeto JDO), +1.522s
- Ivo Lopes (BMW Easyrace Team), +1.671s
- Francisco J. Palomera (Team Honda Laglisse), +2.738s
- Christophe Ponsson (Alma Racing Team), +11.765s
- Ville Vatonen (Team Sesetec), +49.753s
- Juan Pablo Uriostegui (Team Honda Laglisse), +50.392s
- Mauro Gonzalez (Deza – Box 77 Racing Team), +52.506s
- Paco Morales, +1m.07.705s
- Samuel Diaz (Tecniracing), +1m13.709s