Jerez de la Frontera. Celebrations for the Graphenano EasyRaceSBK Team: Carmelo Morales (ESP) has successfully defended his titlein the Spanish Championship (RFME CEV). Morales was crowned championfor the second time in a row on his BMW S 1000 RR at the weekend.This represents the third title in a row for the Graphenano EasyRaceSBK Team. Morales’ success takes the number of titles won thisseason by racers from the BMW Motorrad Motorsport community to ten.
The final round of the RFME CEV took place in Jerez de la Frontera inthe south of Spain. The season drew to a close with two races, one onthe Saturday and one on Sunday, however, Morales had already wrappedthings up by the end of day one. The BMW rider went into the seasonfinale with a comfortable lead of 31 points, but poor weather at thestart of the weekend made life far from easy for him.
A brilliant fightback in difficult, wet conditions in Saturday’s racemeant he not only finished on the podium, but also secured the title.Morales was forced to settle for 14th place on the gridfollowing a rain-dominated qualifying, but gradually worked his waythrough the field in the race and eventually came home third. In doingso, he earned himself an unassailable lead going into Sunday’s race.
With the pressure off, Morales was able to turn on the style onSunday. In dry, sunny conditions, he ended the season in a mannerworthy of a champion – with win number five of the year and anotherfastest lap. Top-ten finishes also went to BMW racers Marcos Solorza(ESP / Castromaroto Racing), with sixth place on Saturday, and histeam-mate Pedro Rodriguez (ESP), who came home tenth on Sunday.
Morales’ team-mate Julian Miralles finished 17th and11th. This equated to fifth and second in the RFME CEV Openclass and gave Miralles sufficient points to secure the Open classoverall victory.
Carmelo Morales: “The rain played havoc with ourplans, as we did not have good conditions in any of the practicesessions. I had to start from well back on Saturday, but gave it myall without really giving the result much thought. Only when Ireturned to the pits was I told that I had won the title. I amoverjoyed. It is great to win the title in such difficult conditions.It was then superb to end the season with a win. We knew we were goodin dry conditions, and we proved that. The bike and the tyres wereperfect and I had a lot of fun. After a season finale like that, wecan head into the break in high spirits and start to think about 2019.Thank you to BMW, Dunlop and the team for all their work and effort.They were instrumental in ensuring that the season worked out so well.”
