Reigning Campeonato de España de Superbikes title winner Ivo Lopes produced a charging performance to win the second race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon.
The Portuguese rider started from the outside of the second row of the grid in his BMW and initially settled in behind the leaders with Saturday victory Steven Odendall leading out front. Whilst Odendaal headed the pack through the opening half of the contest, Lopes gradually cut through the pack and by the end of lap seven was right on the tail of the South African ahead.
The decisive move came on lap eight when Lopes moved up the inside on Odendaal to seize first. Odendaal fought back on his Yamaha however, appearing to regain the inside line himself at one point, but he was forced to settle for second as the riders streamed down the start/finish line to start their ninth lap.
From there, Lopes surged clear to take the chequered flag first, with Odendaal crossing the line as runner-up, just over four seconds behind.
With the fight for the overall win settled, attention in the final laps was on two battles for position between riders on similar machinery. The final place on the podium eventually went to Tito Rabat, who overtook fellow Kawasaki rider Roman Ramos just three laps from the end of the race.
And just behind that, the race for fifth was decided just a couple of laps from the finish line, with Borja Gomez passing Unai Orradre in an all-Honda fight. Gomez passed Orradre as they came towards the end of lap 15 and held on to complete the top-five as the race came to a close.
Eduardo Montero was seventh, with Paco Morales, Ville Valtonen and Daniel Saez completing the top-10 following 17 laps of the circuit in northern Spain.
Campeonato de España de Superbikes, race two top-10 result:
- Ivo Lopes, BMW, 17 laps
- Steven Odendaal, Yamaha, +4.174s
- Tito Rabat, Kawasaki, +5.745
- Roman Ramos, Kawasaki, +7.231s
- Borja Gomez, Honda, +17.446s
- Unai Orradre, Honda, +20.551s
- Eduardo Montero, Honda, +44.857s
- Paco Morales, Yamaha, +50.677s
- Ville Valtonen, BMW, +55.215s
- Yeray Ruiz, Yamaha, 1m01.672s
Click here for full result.
This weekend's event is about more than just the main ESBK class however, with a range of additional classes forming part of the programme. Indeed, around 130 different riders from as many as 29 countries are competing across the meeting.
Weitere Klassen an diesem Wochenende sind Supersport Next Generation, SS300, PreMoto3, Moto4, BeOn Junior Cup, Superstock 1000 und Superstock 600.
For more information, click here.