Tag: Valencia
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Valencia proves unlucky for Nesbitt
Nesbitt had high hopes after having to sit out the two Moto3 Junior World Championship races at Barcelona where he injured his left hand in an accident. Another rider had been dawdling on the racing line in free practice when Nesbitt ran into the back of him.
The injury also ruled him out of valuable test at the Ricardo Tormo circuit prior to this weekend’s race, but the Swindon rider remained positive. In the first free practice session he didn’t suffer any major pain from his hand. The afternoon session was wet so it was decided it wasn’t worth risking an injury when the weather forecast for qualifying and the race were dry.With rider and team on the back foot Nesbitt had to use the first qualifying session to continue with bike set-up and posted the 24th fastest time. In the hotter conditions of the afternoon it was harder for riders to improve on their times. However, Nesbitt was one of the few that did. He finished 9th in the second qualifying session. With the two qualifying session times combined Nesbitt lined up 18th on the grid for the two races.
On Sunday morning Nesbitt was feeling confident. In the warm up session he set a fantastic ninth fastest lap time just over half a second behind the fastest rider Dennis Foggia.
However, race one didn’t last a lap when another rider t-boned Nesbitt at the start. The Monlau Engineering rider manged to pick the bike up but the gear linkage had been broken in the crash which meant his race was already over.
In the second race Nesbitt was determined to have a good race and made a steady start. With seven laps gone Nesbitt was running 18th. He lost a position later on before more bad luck struck. Dan Jones (another British rider) high-sided coming out of the last corner in front of Nesbitt. Nesbitt was just inches away from the back wheel and had nowhere to go. He rode into the unmanned motorcycle and was thrown from his machine.
Desperate to continue Nesbitt picked his bike up and managed to remount, albeit in last place and 15 seconds behind the nearest competitor. He went on to cross the line 33rd having amazingly caught and overtaken two other riders.
Charlie Nesbitt said, “I was disappointed to miss both races at Barcelona and then the test at Valencia, especially as the accident wasn’t my fault. So I was really looking forward to this weekend. The hand stood up well, but in race one I was knocked off on the first lap. Then in the second race it was just one of those things and I thankfully Dan [Jones] is ok. I knew I didn’t have a chance of getting any points but I just wanted to get back on and finish the race. I’ve got the pace, as Q2 and the warm up showed this morning. I just need a bit of luck at the moment. Now I’ve got to look forward to the next race in Estoril.”
Charlie Nesbitt’s next race in the round in Portugal on the 23 July 2017 at the Estoril circuit.
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Nesbitt in the points on Moto3 Junior World Championship debut
Following his Hel Performance Motostar British Championship title victory Swindon’s Charlie Nesbitt was in Spain last weekend, competing in the final two races of the Moto3 JWC in Valencia.The Moto3 JWC is seen as one of the best shop windows for riders looking to make the move to MotoGP paddock in the future. Nesbitt was riding for a new team, on different tyres and on a circuit he had never ridden before.
Fortunately for Nesbitt he was in great company as he was riding for the extremely professional Spanish team Monlau Engineering. In addition, he was being mentored over the weekend by none other than British MotoGP rider Scott Redding.
Due to the numbers of entries at the final round the qualifying was split into two groups. In the first qualifying session Nesbitt managed a lap time of 1:40.885 which placed him ninth on the time sheet and less than 1.2 seconds from the eventual championship winner Lorenzo Dalla Porta!
In the second qualifying session Nesbitt was unable to beat his previous time. After the lap times of both groups had been combined and the huge 44 rider grid for the two races on Sunday worked out, Nesbitt would line-up on row 6 in 18th position, a marvellous achievement in itself.
On Sunday morning the track temperature was cool for the first race, but despite this there was drama before the race even started. Championship leader Dalla Porta’s bike caught fire on the start line and had to be quickly removed from the circuit. After a short delay the lights went out and Nesbitt began his first ever Moto3 JWC race. He made up one position quickly.
Mid-way through the race Nesbitt was battling hard with Stefano Nepa and Vicente Perez as he held on to 15th position. Nesbitt went on to finish race one in an incredible 11th position and score five points in his first Moto3 JWC race.
In the second race Nesbitt lost a place early on in the frantic exchanges of the opening laps. By the end of the fourth lap he had recovered the position and was then second in a large group battling for most of the race. By the halfway stage Nesbitt had fought his way to 16th place and held his own in a group of riders to cross the line just six hundredths of a second away from scoring points again in only his second Moto3 World Junior Championship race.
Charlie Nesbitt said, “Firstly I would like to thank Scott [Redding] and Michael [Bartholemy] for giving me this opportunity with Monlau it was such an amazing experienc. The racing is so close I even have rubber off someone else’s front tyre on my left leg! In the first race I had a good start and where the track was cold and spitting with rain everyone took a few laps to settle in and then battled all the way to the line finishing 11th in my first race there was unreal.In the second race I had to start a row further back in the Centre and got away well. I was a little to cautious in the first two laps, I think just because of the lack of time on the bike, but the battles through the race were amazing.
Overall I am really happy with my debut in the CEV but a bit disappointed in my position in the second race.
I would like to say a massive thankyou to my family friends and sponsors for everything this year everyone has put in so much effort and I’ve had the time of my life doing it thank you all again.”
