From a press release issued by Team Wurth Honda BQR:

Report on today´s second round of the Spanish Formula Extreme National Championship held on Sunday, November 21, 2004 at Jerez de la Frontera (Jerez, Spain)

Kenny Noyes Ninth in Spanish Formula Extreme in Jerez

Jose Luis Cardoso (Laglisse – d´Antin Yamaha R1), won his sixth consecutive Formula Extreme race today at Jerez de la Frontera in the final round of the 2004 Spanish National Championship season. The 29-year-old from Seville, a former 500 and 250 Grand Prix regular, had already clinched the title last week in Valencia and has also signed with the DFXtreme Yamaha team in the World Superbike Championship for 2005.

The top three places were swept by past and current GP riders, with former 250 GP rider David Tomas (Yamaha R1) taking second. José David de Gea (Honda CBR1000RR), current 250 GP and former MotoGP and 500 rider, just got the best of a scrap for third over Carmelo Morales (Suzuki GSX-R1000).

“This is what we needed to do,” said Cardoso. “At 29 years old a lot of people considered me finished and I knew it wouldn´t be enough just to win the title, I needed to win races and break records everywhere if I wanted to get back into the World Championship. I had a couple of 250 offers, but I´m a four-stroke rider now and I´m headed for World Superbike. When I was in the Grand Prix back when I was a teen-ager I didn´t really appreciate how lucky I was, but getting this chance to go back at this point in my career is really something I intend to make the most of.”

American Kenny Noyes (who is Spanish-born with American parents and actually holds dual American and Spanish nationalities) came back from 13th at the end of lap one on his Honda CBR1000RR to finish in the middle of a three-way scrap for eighth, just a bikelength back of another former GP regular, Josep Sardá (Kawasaki) and the same distance in front of three-time Spanish Supersport Champion José Oriol Fernández.

“I got a good start but lost a lot of time when there was a lot of fairing banging in turn one. Then it took me a couple of laps to get my pace back. At the end I caught Sardá and Fernández and was running the same pace as the guys fighting for fifth, but I was a little too conservative on the last lap because after four DNFs with a combination of crashes and bike problems I needed to finish this race on two wheels. I passed Sardá and Fernandez on the last lap but Sardá just got me back,” said the former Formula USA Pro Singles Dirt Track National Champion who has now completed three years in the premier Spanish National FX class and is considering a return to the U.S. to compete in the AMA National Series.

Cardoso´s race average of 149.489 kph (or 92.908 mph) would have placed him fifteenth in MotoGP in 2003 (the last time the Spanish GP was run at Jerez in the dry), just back of Colin Edwards on the Aprilia RS Cube and in front of Andrew Pitt on the factory Kawasaki and three other riders, Hofmann, Melandri and McCoy. In general the Spanish FX races now are being run at the speeds of the 500s of the Mick Doohan era–very fast for 375 pound production machines running under Superstock-type regulations compared to the old 285-pound two-strokes.

Michelin dominated the championship this season, using last year´s MotoGP 17 inch fronts and a new 17 inch rear based on MotoGP experience with the 16.5s. Dunlop, off the pace at mid-season, brought a new and very effective 17 inch rear to the final two races, but by then Cardoso and teammate Ivan Silva has already pulled out insurmountable points leads.

With World Superbike exclusively using Pirelli tires, both Dunlop and Michelin have concentrated their development in the British, American, Spanish and German production-based national championships.

Cardoso will test his new Yamaha DFXtreme at the World Superbike winter tests at Misano on November 29 and 30, his first opportunity to try the control Pirelli tires.

Noyes, a tester for Spain´s La Moto magazine, will have the opportunity to compare the championship-winning Yamaha R1, Morales´ GSX-R1000 Suzuki, Sardá´s Kawasaki ZX-10R, his teammate De Gea´s Honda CBR1000RR and the importer´s Ducati 999RS at Albacete on Wednesday, November 24.

“They wouldn’t let the magazine test until the season was over and then I had some minor wrist surgery to remove a screw from an old dirt track crash on Thursday, but I’m really looking forward to getting the feel of the Suzuki and the Yamaha on Michelin and the Kawasaki on Dunlop to see how they stack up against what de Gea and I had this year. You don’t often get a chance to ride your rivals’ bikes,” said Noyes.

Results Spanish National Formula Extreme
(Production-based machines up to 1000cc)

1. José Luis Cardoso (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´10.757

2. David Tomas (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´16.709

3. José David de Gea (Honda CBR100RR-Dunlop 30´20.340

4. Carmelo Morales (Suzuki GSX-R-Michelin) 30´20.342

5. Lucas Oliver Bultó (Suzuki GSX-R-Michelin) 30´23.855

6. Dani Ribalta (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´26.232

7. Ivan Silva (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´26.878

8. Josep Sardá (Kawasaki ZX-10R-Dunlop) 30’39.751

9. Kenny Noyes (Honda CBR1000RR-Dunlop) 30´39.914

10. José Oriol Fernández (Suzuki GSX-R-Dunlop) 30´40.140

11.Josep Monge (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 30´42.604

12. Paco Ruiz (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 30´53.839

13. Antonio Salom (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 31´02.137

14. Victor Casas (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 31´16.434

15. José Nion (Honda CBR1000RR-Dunlop) 31´16.989

total starters 36
finishers 31 (26 riders finished on lead lap)

Winner´s race average speed 94.244 mph (FX Record)
Pole: Cardoso 1´44.093 (FX Record)
Fastest lap: Cardoso 1´45,144 (FX Record)