CEV provides opportunities for aspiring MotoGP riders

This weekend will see the second round of Spain´s CEV Buckler (Campeonato de España de Velocidad or Spanish national championship) at the Circuito de Catalunya just outside Barcelona, with Red Bull MotoGP Academy riders Cameron Beaubier and Danny Kent two of the names on the 125cc entry list.

With seven rounds on the calendar, including visits to MotoGP circuits Jerez and Valencia in addition to Catalunya, and a high level of competition, the Spanish championship provides great opportunities for young riders to hone their skills before making the move up to the World Championship.

Following the recent trend, the current Red Bull MotoGP Academy riders follow in the footsteps of their predecessors Takaaki Nakagami, Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Efren Vazquez and Danny Webb in competing domestically on Spanish soil – that quintet all having now taken the step up to 125cc Grand Prix riding.

The director of the Red Bull MotoGP Academy Alberto Puig, who is also premier class title candidate Dani Pedrosa´s manager in MotoGP, comments, `What we try to do at the Academy is give the riders a comprehensive grounding in the sport, so that they get a taste for competition and give them a start. We provide them with the material they need and support them in the CEV, so that from there they can demonstrate their potential.´

In addition to the former Academy riders, Pedrosa himself, along with the likes of MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner, premier class stars Jorge Lorenzo and Toni Elias, and 250cc front runners Alvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli also have CEV backgrounds.

As former World Championship rider and MotoGP Alice Team owner Luis d´Antin puts it, `I think it is a great championship, a starting point, from which a number of World Championship winning riders have come. There are still lots of good riders coming through and it will keep producing them. It´s a good place to be and a good place to have a team, in order to spot young talent and help the riders develop.´

D´Antin´s compatriot and 250cc and 125cc team owner Jorge Martinez `Aspar´, himself a former CEV and World Champion is in full agreement. He still runs a team in the Spanish competition and states, `For me the CEV is very important. I won 12 CEV titles and as a team we have won it seven times. We are true believers in its merits and after MotoGP I think it is the most important championship in the world.´