This weekend’s Moto3 race at the Generali de la Comunitat Valencia will see an epic battle of the Spaniards as RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom and Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Vinales fight it out for the runner-up spot in the championship.
Both lost their chance in Phillip Island to extend or cut each other’s lead significantly, as Salom was penalized with a ride-through for a jump-start, and Vinales crashed out towards the end.
Salom is in the strongest position heading into the Valencia race with a nine-point lead over Vinales, however the Blusens rider was victorious at the track last year, and will no doubt be hoping he can muster up some of that magic once again.
Behind the battling duo will be another fierce encounter with Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins and Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati involved in a tussle for Rookie of the Year. Rins currently holds the upper hand with a five-point lead over the Italian, as well as a home advantage. Fenati however, has proven to be a race winner in Spain earlier in the year, and will not rule himself out of contention just yet.
Sixth place in the table looks set to go to Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent, who like his Moto3 World Champion teammate Sandro Cortese, will just be out for the win, without worrying about any competitors.
Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira could throw a spanner in the works with all of the above, after the Portuguese rider took his best ever result last time out in second. A repeat performance will undoubtedly be on his mind, yet he will also have to hold of Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger and AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin.
Mahindra Racing’s Riccardo Moretti is out with injury and will be replaced once more by Czech rider Miroslav Popov. There will also be two wildcards in the form of Wild Wolf BST’s Juan Guevara and HP Moto Kalex’s Philipp Oettl.
2012 Valencia Moto3 on TV
SPEED TV will broadcast Valencia Moto3 at noon EST Tuesday, Nov. 13.
