BMW racer Carmelo Morales crowned champion in Spain.
Celebrations for the Graphenano EasyRace SBK Team: Carmelo Morales (ESP) has successfully defended his title in the Spanish Championship (RFME CEV). Morales was crowned champion for the second time in a row on his BMW S 1000 RR at the weekend. Morales’ success takes the number of titles won this season by racers from the BMW Motorrad Motorsport community to ten.
Jerez de la Frontera. Celebrations for the Graphenano EasyRace SBK Team: Carmelo Morales (ESP) has successfully defended his title in the Spanish Championship (RFME CEV). Morales was crowned champion for 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 EasyRace SBK Team. Morales’ success takes the number of titles won this season by racers from the BMW Motorrad Motorsport community to ten.
The final round of the RFME CEV took place in Jerez de la Frontera in the south of Spain. The season drew to a close with two races, one on the Saturday and one on Sunday, however, Morales had already wrapped things up by the end of day one. The BMW rider went into the season finale with a comfortable lead of 31 points, but poor weather at the start of the weekend made life far from easy for him.
A brilliant fightback in difficult, wet conditions in Saturday’s race meant he not only finished on the podium, but also secured the title. Morales was forced to settle for 14thplace on the grid following a rain-dominated qualifying, but gradually worked his way through the field in the race and eventually came home third. In doing so, he earned himself an unassailable lead going into Sunday’s race.
With the pressure off, Morales was able to turn on the style on Sunday. In dry, sunny conditions, he ended the season in a manner worthy of a champion – with win number five of the year and another fastest lap. Top-ten finishes also went to BMW racers Marcos Solorza (ESP / Castromaroto Racing), with sixth place on Saturday, and his team-mate Pedro Rodriguez (ESP), who came home tenth on Sunday.
Morales’ team-mate Julian Miralles finished 17th and 11th. This equated to fifth and second in the RFME CEV Open class and gave Miralles sufficient points to secure the Open class overall victory.
Carmelo Morales: “The rain played havoc with our plans, as we did not have good conditions in any of the practice sessions. I had to start from well back on Saturday, but gave it my all without really giving the result much thought. Only when I returned to the pits was I told that I had won the title. I am overjoyed. 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 good in dry conditions, and we proved that. The bike and the tyres were perfect and I had a lot of fun. After a season finale like that, we can 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.”