South African rider Steven Odendaal was victorious in the opening Campeonato de España de Superbikes contest at the Circuito de Navarra on Saturday afternoon.
The Supersport World Championship runner-up in 2021 showed his abilities to dominate the 17-lap encounter despite wet conditions, at times lapping over a second quicker than his rivals.
The Yamaha rider ultimately finished almost 17 seconds clear of his nearest rival, championship leader Unai Orradre, though in the early stages it look as if a close fight was in store, especially when the duo lapped within 0.002s of one another on the third lap, with just 1.6s splitting them at the time.
Odendaal pulled away from there, while Orradre was comfortable in second, earning his 11th podium of the season to extend his title advantage.
Kawasaki's Roman Ramos passed Eduardo Montero's Honda on the 13th tour to complete the podium finishers.
Portuguese contender Ivo Lopes made excellent progress throughout the event to take fourth, with a pass of his own on Montero with two laps remaining.
The BMW rider was one of stars of the race; having started ninth on the grid, he gained two spots on the first lap, and went past Yamaha rider Daniel Saez for P6 on lap two. He then passed quick-starting Borja Gomez to hold fifth, before taking fourth from Montero late on.
Montero still claimed fifth place on his Superstock 1000-specification Honda, ahead of Gomez who gained six places on the opening tour to run third early on before fading to sixth.
Saez, another Superstock rider, was just 0.679s behind in seventh, and a good distance clear of Ville Valtonen, with Paco Morales (Yamaha) and Yeray Ruiz completing the top-10.
WorldSBK contender Tito Rabat fell foul of the tricky weather conditions, crashing out on lap seven, while pole sitter Facundo Llambias didn't take the start.
Odendaal's fastest lap of 2m00.983s is the fastest recorded during a motorcycle race on the new Circuito de Navarra layout so far, but that time should improve considerably with more favourable weather conditions.
Campeonato de España de Superbikes, race one top-10 result:
1. Steven Odendaal, Yamaha, 17 laps
2. Unai Orradre, Honda, +15.716s
3. Roman Ramos, Kawasaki, +22.583s
4. Ivo Lopes, BMW, +24.535s
5. Eduardo Montero, Honda, +27.965s
6. Borja Gomez, Honda, +38.640s
7. Daniel Saez, Yamaha, +39.319s
8. Ville Valtonen, +1m02.155s
9. Paco Morales, Yamaha, +1m42.087s
10. Yeray Ruiz, Yamaha, +1m53.199s
Pulse aquí para ver el resultado completo.
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.
Otras categorías en acción este fin de semana son Supersport Next Generation, SS300, PreMoto3, Moto4, BeOn Junior Cup, Superstock 1000 y Superstock 600.
Para más información, pulse aquí.