The FIM Sportbike World Championship put on another show in what was the brand-new Championship’s final race of their inaugural Pirelli Portuguese Round weekend. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) took the second win in the history of WorldSPB, beating out David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) and Antonio Torres (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) as he shuffled the Spaniards to P2 and P3 for each of their second podiums in the young Championship.

THUNDEROUS PERFORMANCE FROM KAWASAKI: Four of the top five were ZX-6R 636s

Ferre Fleerackers (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) charged ahead of the pack from pole to snag the holeshot. Behind him, a trio of Kawasaki bikes in the form of Antonio Torres, Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) and David Salvador gave chase. After Fleerackers’ pace dropped off, the top four spots were all Kawasaki bikes as they charged into the final sector of the final lap. Veneman tore onto the final straight as he held off the other bikes to win the second race in the Championship’s history. Salvador took second for the second time this weekend, tailed into parc ferme by his teammate Torres, closing the weekend with a win and a P3 podium.

BARTOLINI P5: The Italian takes top Triumph honours

Artigas was the odd man out as he was 0.046s too slow to beat out Torres for P3. He will then settle for P4, closing out the weekend with two finishes within the top five. By Lap 2, Elia Bartolini (CM Triumph Factory Racing) had climbed nine positions to sit P4. He made attacks to sit farther up but was rebuffed each time and will finish the weekend in P5. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) had his nose cut early on in the race on Turn 3 by one of the MTM riders and fell back several positions from the contact, going on to finish in P6. Diego Poncet (Rac41-Honda) can be very proud of his wildcard performance at Portimao, finishing in P7.

SPOILED RECOVERY RUN: Vannucci falls for the second time on the weekend on Turn 5

Despite starting from P10, Vannucci had sent himself up to P1 by Lap 3 after a deft move sent him past Fleerackers and Bartolini. His time breathing fresh air was short-lived, however, as after being overtaken by Veneman on Turn 1, the Italian ran wide on Lap 5, sending him from P2 down to P11 before finishing in P8. While Ferre Fleerackers started from P3 and led for portions of the race, he lost several positions after being shuffled aside and had bad luck that cost him many positions. Joining his teammate in the top ten, Bruno Ieraci (CM Triumph Factory Racing) snagged a P10 finish to close out Portimao before they head on to Assen next round.

The top six from the WorldSPB Race 2: Full results here!

1. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki)
 2. David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) +0.060s
 3. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) +0.094s
 4. Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) +0.140s
 5. Elia Bartolini (CM Triumph Factory Racing) +0.182s
 6. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing)
 Fastest lap: Antonio Torres, Kawasaki – 1’48.514s

Championship standings
 1. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) 41 points
 2. David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) 40
 3. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) 32
 4. Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) 24
 5. Ferre Fleerackers (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) 23
 6. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) 23

Catch WorldSPB next time out at Assen on April 17^th, relive all of the inaugural round with the  WorldSBK VideoPass!