Sanchez leads Women’s Cup after round two

Valencia welcomed the Women’s European Cup for an intense double round at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit last weekend.

The Hurly Grand Prix saw Yamaha’s Beatriz Neila Santos (Team Trasimeno) and Kawasaki’s Sara Sanchez (511 WithU Racing Team) split the stakes between race one and race two with Sanchez the new championship leader at the close of play.

The reigning champion stood out once again in qualifying, as she snatched pole position in 1.50.754 ahead of Sanchez and the winner of the Misano race, Jessica Howden. Neila Santos cruised to the win in race one with ease, dominating throughout the ten laps of the race and displaying an unmatchable pace. Sanchez finished in P2, seven seconds off the pace but ahead of Jessica Howden. The South African engaged in a fiery battle until the end with the young Josephine Bruno (Gradara Corse Team, Yamaha) and had the upper hand on the rookie. Fifth place went to MotoXRacing Yamaha’s Roberta Ponziani, who initially was fighting for the podium but later began to struggle towards the end, still physically strained following a heavy crash on Friday.

Team Trasimeno’s own Sara Cabrini finished as she started, in sixth, ahead of Ran Yochay (Runner Bike, Yamaha) while Aurelia Cruciani (Team 03, Yamaha) also qualified and ended the race in eighth, having opened a gap of over three seconds on Sabrina Della Manna (RaceStasr, Yamaha) and Martina Guarino (Franchini Corse, Kawasaki).

Race two provided a thrilling end to the weekend owing to the exciting battle for victory between Neila Santos and Sanchez. The latter crossed the line in second place but inherited the victory following the exclusion of the two Yamahas of the Trasimeno team due to a technical infringement. Bruno was therefore promoted