Junior Talent Team take another big haul of points in Albacete
After a sunny and successful Saturday for the Junior Talent Team at Albacete, the conditions had, as predicted, changed a lot for race day. The sky was gloomy above Warm Up before the heavens opened mid-morning, but the worst of the torrential rain was avoided by the Moto3™️ Junior World Championship and conditions were wet but with dry skies – setting the scene for another good haul of results for the Junior Talent Team.
Yuki Kunii led the charge as he did in Jerez, taking a well-fought third place and another podium to consolidate his P3 overall in the standings. Duelling for the place throughout the race, the Japanese rider was able to find some time in the latter stages to escape a late race attack from Apiwath Wongthananon.
Tom Booth-Amos was the next of the Junior Talent Team, with the British Talent Team rider moving steadily up from a P13 starting position to battle it out to complete the top five. Eventually getting the better of Championship contender Manuel Pagliani and pulling away from the group, the Brit crossed the line for his best finish so far in fifth. He was only just ahead of Somkiat Chantra, however, as the Thai rider took P6 for a solid result building on his awesome home GP wildcard last weekend. Chantra also set the fastest lap.
Ai Ogura, the lead Junior Talent Team rider in qualifying, had a more difficult race than expected and the Japanese rider crossed the line in P7, getting ahead of Pagliani but then too far back on his teammates on the final laps to mount an attack.
Gerry Salim, meanwhile, had a top day at the office. The Indonesian rider made it into the points in P15 after having just missed out in Jerez – taking his best finish of the season!
That’s it from Albacete and the penultimate round of the FIM CEV Repsol. The season finale will see the Junior Talent Team taking on Valencia once again as we return to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo but that’s not until late November – with plenty of time to recharge before the last round of the year.
