Superstock 1000 FIM Cup rider Kev Coghlan (MRS Yamaha) was initially credited with fourth place at the intense 4.592km Portimao circuit at the end of the 14-lap race, but he was later declared fifth after a photo finish decision went in favour of Ondrej Jezek.
Riding with a fractured metacarpal bone behind his right little finger Coghlan rode on the back of the group that contested second place behind race winner Roberto Tamburini. The injury Coghlan carried into this race was made worse while saving a potential highside with a few laps to go, meaning the final few laps were a particular challenge for the gritty British rider.
Finishing only 4.721 seconds from the winner, and a fraction of a second from the runner-up spot, was a strong performance from the new Yamaha YZF-R1M and a satisfying improvement for all in the MRS team.
A heroic performance from returning MRS Yamaha team regular Florian Marino saw the Frenchman ride with surgical plates in his right forearm and perform well above expectations.
He finished a painful 14 laps in 11th place, having been up as high as fourth in the early part of the contest after putting in a second row qualifying performance on Saturday.
Coghlan, who had been on the third row of the grid, is now fifth in the championship fight, five points behind the rider in overall third place. Marino is still inside the top ten, thanks to his ability to tough it out for the full race distance in Portugal.
Five Yamaha riders packed the finishing positions from eighth to 12th place today, with Jeremy Guarnoni (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) eighth, his team-mate Luca Marconi ninth, Sylvain Barrier (G.M. Racing Yamaha Team) tenth, Marino 11th and Christoffer Bergman (MG Competition Yamaha) 12th. In the current rankings, Guarnoni is sixth overall, 16 points behind Coghlan.
Round six of the eight round series will take place at Misano, on Sunday 21st June.
