VOSTATEK FELL SHORT OF THE WINNERS’ PODIUM IN VALENCIA
After a month-long holiday intermission, the Spanish CEV Championship races took place on 8-9 September 2018 on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. Czech rider Ondřej Vostatek had a great race in the Premoto3 category; he beat the leader of the championship and finished in a valuable fourth place.
Right from the opening practice sessions, riders of the Spanish championship were faced with unpredictable weather, with the forecast of rain for the entire four days proving wrong in the end. This meant that the riders ran their practice sessions on Thursday and Friday under clear and sunny skies. However, rain arrived on Saturday and complicated the qualifications, which took place on a wet and then drying track. Ondřej did well under both the wet as well as more difficult conditions. Despite all the efforts of the Spanish, where Adrián Fernandez was added to the second qualifying round on a moto3 motorcycle in order to help the domestic riders, Ondřej still placed fourth in the qualification with a minimal deficit to pole position.
Ondřej started the race from the second row and immediately moved up to third place. A group of six riders formed at the head of the race and would battle till the end for the win. Riders in the leading group constantly changed positions, although our rider generally held fourth place. At the race's halfway mark, Ondřej's position was attacked by Alex Escrig, the leader of the championship. Thanks to this manoeuvre, the first four riders were able to slightly pulled away. Ondřej tried to catch up and return to fight for a place on the podium; however, he was unable to catch the leading racers while he continued to fend off the attack on his position. As the race came to a climax, he was able to prepare a better line into the last turn and beat Alex Escrig in a sprint to the finish. One of the competitors was disqualified after the race resulting in Ondřej being moved up to a final fourth place finish.
After the races, Ondřej Vostatek said:
"I was able to achieve good lap times, comparable to my greatest rivals. I only lost a little bit on the straights, but their tempo was acceptable. I wasn't really sure about how the qualification would turn out because all of our practices took place on a dry surface and we didn't have a chance to test the motorcycle under wet conditions at all. But everything turned out well. The track dried out a bit before the second qualification and I was able to grab the fourth starting position. Right after the race started, I was able to make my way into the leading group. Too bad that the first four pulled ahead in the middle of the race. I wanted to cooperate with Alex and get back into the lead, but unfortunately that didn't eventuate. Our mutual battle slowed us down even more. In the end, I was able to beat him at the finish line and finish in fourth place. I really have to thank my team for their excellent work, my family, all our partners and all my fans. We still have one more race in CEV, my favourite circuit in Jerez. I'm really looking forward to it and I hope that I can pull off an even better result!" Ondřej Vostatek added to conclude.
