The FIM SuperMoto World Championship season opened in Torino last April with the stunning victories of Thierry Van Den Bosch (S1) and Davide Gozzini (S2) and is due to continue this weekend with the second round at Castelletto di Branduzzo, Italy.

On the popular SuperMoto venue which has recently been completely renewed the UEM SuperMoto series will also take place, with the leaders Alessandro Asnicar (S3) and Graziano Rispoli (Open) being hungry for victories as they enter the second meeting of 2008.

The Gran Prix of Italy at Torino was an incredible battle in between two Superiders who had a score to settle since a long time, when they were team mates inside the KTM Red Bull Racing squad in 2005. Bernd Hiemer and Thierry Van Den Bosch’s chance to battle it out for the win eventually came at the Oval, with the duo collecting one heat win each at the end of a superb day of racing.

Aprilia Off Road’s Van Den Bosch walked away with the overall as KTM Italia Miglio’s Hiemer slipped to second on the podium by losing heat two from VDB. Though the fight for glory is set to continue this weekend, with none of them willing to let the other by.

Husqvarna CH Racing’s Thomas Chareyre was a solid third at the first Grand Prix but the 20 year old Frenchman aims higher as he wants to beat his older brother Adrien by one year to be remembered as the youngest SuperMoto World Champion.

DRC Aprilia Off Road’s Ivan Lazzarini slightly missed the podium at his first GP outing with the Italian manufacturer but the Pesaro born Superider will try harder this weekend, being at home again.

Robinsons KTM UK’s Matthew Winstanley was the third Superider to collect a total of 36 points at Torino, alongside Lazzarini and Chareyre, to make a solid debut in the class.

Being sixth in the points standings, Suzuki Valenti’s Fabio Balducci is the second highest placed Italian Superider in the series. Crashing out and hurting himself at Torino, he held on to finish both moto’s but he will be in much better shape for this second round.

TM Factory Racing’s Davide Gozzini was one of those four Superiders who could battle it out for the Title at the final round of the 2007 season in Greece but he missed his change to finish the lowest he could with fourth in the Championship. At Torino, the Italian took his personal revenge to collect the first GP win of the season.

2007 S1 World Champion Adrien Chareyre was astonishing at his maiden Grand Prix in the class, as he challenged Gozzini for victory to finish second on the podium. Chareyre showed to be an extremely mature and experienced Superider and will be a threat throughout the entire season.

One year after he clinched his best World Championship finish with second in the S2 series, KTM Italia Miglio’s Attilio Pignotti was back to action at Torino, where he collected the remaining spot on the podium. Pignotti had a shoulder operation throughout the winter and could not train properly; he will head to Castelletto in better shape to try and repeat his 2007 victory, which is still the only Grand Prix success in his career.

Home Superiders Luca Minutilli of PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road and Massimo Beltrami of DRC Aprilia Off Road rounded off the top five of the opening Grand Prix, both showing to have adapted perfectly to their new team situations for 2008, as both enjoy factory support.

Torino was a negative weekend for two major players of 2007, in the likes of defending Champion Gerald Delepine and Christian Iddon. Both Superiders crashed in the heats to finish respectively seventh and eleventh in the Championship. Delepine even injured his ribs but will be fit to ride this weekend at Castelletto.

Home Superider Alessandro Asnicar looks forward to this second S3 round in Castelletto, where he will ride to defend his Championship lead from runner up and Torino’s poleman Olivier Scheen. The Belgian is actually followed from close by British Oliver Pope, as Raphael Storning and Kenneth Dekindt round off the top five. In occasion of this second round of the UEM S3 series, Janina Wuerterle will enter the Championship to be the first female Superider to ever ride an S3 round.

In the Open class, experienced Graziano Rispoli won round one with authority; though the Italian exploited first moto winner Viktor Bolsek’s misfortune in heat two, as the Croatian crashed while Rispoli was on route for victory. Bolsek ended a bitter third and will be raring to make up for it in Castelletto. Heino Meusburger is second in the Championship with KTM fellow Superiders Alberto Dall’Era and Edgardo Borella being fourth and fifth respectively.

Castelletto di Branduzzo’s Motodromo has been always linked to SuperMoto as it is one of the few permanent structures dedicated to the sport. The race track did undergo major changes throughout the winter and since April 2008 it looks completely different than it was last year. With the oval section and the sky zone being the only parts of the track that remained untouched, the rest of the Motodromo has become more flowing and fast.

Basically the back straight is now longer and ends with a new section leading into the start straight; the twisty section which was opposite to the start straight is now changed into a technical series of two turns which will require a very fine set up work. There will be new lap records in each class. Last year’s event was won by Van Den Bosch in S1 and Pignotti in S2 at the end of a sunny weekend while the weather forecast for this weekend is cloudy.

Castelletto di Branduzzo is a town in the province of Pavia, which is also the closest main city being just 20 kilometres away. Though Castelletto is inside a triangle area edged by three major cities in Italy: Milano, Alessandria and Piacenza. The actual name of the town comes from the mergence of the two towns Castelletto Po and Branduzzo, which dates back to 1928.

Saturday May 24: EC Open Free Practice 1 at 9:00 am; EC S3 Free Practice 1 at 9:30 am; KTM Italia Trophy Free Practice 10:05 am; EC Open Pre Qualifying Practice at 10:30 am; EC S3 Free Practice 2 at 11:00 am; S2 Free Practice 1 at 12:00 am; S1 Free Practice 1 at 12:40 am; EC Open Qualifying Race 1 at 1:30 pm; S2 Free Practice 2 at 2:00 pm; S1 Free Practice 2 at 2:40 pm; EC Open Qualifying Race 2 at 3:30 pm; S2 Time Practice at 4:00 pm; S1 Time Practice at 4:50 pm; EC S3 Time Practice and EC Open Last Chance Qualifying Practice at 5:40 pm; KTM Italia Trophy Time Practice at 6:15 pm

Sunday May 25: KTM Italia Trophy Warm Up at 7:45 am; EC Open Warm Up at 8:05 am; EC S3 Warm Up at 8:30 am; S2 Warm Up at 8:55 am with Superpole immediately after; S1 Warm Up at 9:30 am with Superpole immediately after; KTM Italia Trophy Race 1 at 10:15 am; EC Open Race 1 at 10:50 am; EC S3 Race 1 at 11:35 am; S2 Race 1 at 12:25 am; S1 Race 1 at 1:25 pm; EC Open Race 2 at 2:25 pm; S2 Race 2 at 3:25 pm; S1 Race 2 at 4:25 pm; EC S3 Race 2 at 5:25 pm; KTM Italia Trophy Race 2 at 6:00 pm.

Information, photos and results are online at http://www.supermotoS1.com, the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.

- Daniele RIZZI -