Thrilling start to European Junior Cup The opening round of the Pata European Junior Cup Powered by Honda took place yesterday at Motorland Aragon, in Spain, and, as expected, produced a close and exciting race. Riders from no fewer than 18 countries around the world lined up on the Aragon grid for eight laps of the 3.32-mile Spanish circuit on identical Honda CBR500Rs. With a leading group of 11 riders locked together throughout, it was difficult to predict the final outcome, but the race was eventually won by New Zealander Jake Lewis. He took the victory by just 0.003 second from Spanish wildcard rider Albert Arenas, who had taken pole position in Saturday’s final qualifying. The final podium position went to Italian rider Michael Canducci. French rider Guillaume Raymond just missed out on the final podium spot by finishing fourth, a fraction ahead of Ilian Fernandez and Zac Levy who grabbed 6th on the final lap. The top six at the flag were covered by 0.7 second. Sabrina Paiuta from Brazil was once again the fastest of the female competitors, at one point making the fastest lap of the race, before eventually finishing in 13th position. The next round of the series will take place at Assen, The Netherlands, on 28 April.