If Spain and Italy are the two dominant MotoGP nations today, it is also because the passion they developed for motorcycling competition was able to express itself in the 50s with urban races. In Spain, we found them almost everywhere, but those near Jerez (see here) and the Valencian Community (see here) were so developed that, for security reasons, they ended up giving rise to the creation of the circuits well known today.
In Italy, the same phenomenon gave rise to the Mugello circuits (see here) and Misano (see here), and little by little urban races disappeared from European cities: no more smell of two-strokes in the city center, no more bales of straw on the sidewalks, no more Bultaco, Montesa, Ossa and other Derbis brushing past spectators, and, in summary, the end of the spectacle of motorcycle competition made available to as many people as possible free of charge, which has aroused so many vocations in the regions concerned...
Unless… except The Bañeza, a small town of 10 inhabitants in the north of Spain which, like Asterix and the Gauls, resists without fail in the face of modernity and has organized “El Gran Premio de la Bañeza” in the heart of the city since 000.
Last weekend the 62nd edition of this now very atypical race took place, to the great pleasure of the spectators. We'll spare you the results but, to really realize that we are very far from a parade, we'll show you the 125/Moto3 race, partially filmed by a drone at the start in the first video, then taken with an on-board camera in the second. Impressive !
In our current environment, the subject can be controversial, and it would be difficult to imagine it in France, but it remains a preservation of a very important cultural heritage in Spain, and it remains very punctual and has not made any harm to any of the 70 people present: well done!
