A very hard fought FIM SuperMoto World Championship will take to the track again this weekend on the brand new Spanish course in Valladolid, hosting the third round of 2008.
Thierry Van Den Bosch and Davide Gozzini lead the S1 and S2 standings with both runners up Bernd Hiemer (S1) and Adrien Chareyre (S2) being extremely close to the leaders.
Also for the UEM series it is time for round three; Oliver Pope leads the S3 standings while Heino Meusburger is on top of the Open series.
S1
The latest Grand Prix at a newly modified Motodromo continued the harsh battle in between archrivals Aprilia Off Road’s Thierry Van Den Bosch and KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer.
Both won one heat but VDB took the eventual victory as he won the final moto; after finishing twice runner up to the Frenchman but being level in points with him, Hiemer will be on fire this weekend in Spain as he desperately wants to mount on the first step of the podium.
Taking his second career podium finish last May with third, Robinsons KTM UK’s Matthew Winstanley stormed to third in the Championship and looks forward to Spain, the country where he collected his maiden podium in 2004 at Finestrat.
French countrymen Thomas Chareyre of Husqvarna CH Racing and Boris Chambon of TM Factory Racing are battling it out for fourth in the Championship, as 2005 World Champion Chambon moved up to fifth after a solid performance in Castelletto.
The highest placed home Superider is GP winner Nestor Jorge, riding his first season with the Yamaha Evolution squad. The Tenerife born Superider is now ninth in the points standings ahead of Ivan Lazzarini, who rounds off the top ten after a bitter GP of Europe.
S2
A superb TM Factory Racing’s Davide Gozzini has left his mark on these first two rounds, winning both in Torino and in Castelletto onboard his 660cc TM machine to take the red plate into Spain.
Husqvarna CH Racing’s Adrien Chareyre sits second, two points adrift S2 expert Gozzini courtesy of two runner up overall finishes; on the other hand 2007 S1 World Champion Adrien Chareyre is at his first year in the category but he is already battling it out with the S2 top Superiders including team mate and 2007 S2 World Champion Gerald Delepine.
After a tough opening round at Torino, two time World Champion Delepine was back on the podium of round two at Castelletto, which was a confidence booster for the Belgian.
Finishing fourth at Castelletto, Aprilia Off Road’s Christian Iddon moved up to third in the standings ahead of Italians Luca Minutilli of PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road and Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio; the 2007 runner up has a fractured left scaphoid from a crash at the GP of Europe and will not be 100% this weekend.
THE UEM EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP
Storming to a double moto victory at Castelletto, Oliver Pope moved up to first in the S3 points standings while Belgian Olivier Scheen remained second at a five point distance from the British leader. Early leader Alessandro Asnicar took a step backwards in Castelletto, dropping down to third in the Championship. Raphael Storning and Kenneth Dekindt are now battling it out for fourth in the standings but the top three might be the next target.
As Graziano Rispoli is out since Castelletto due to an injury, Heino Meusburger jumped up to first in the points courtesy of the overall victory of round two. Viktor Bolsek follows from a close second while Italian countrymen Alessandro Tognaccini and Alberto Dall’Era are respectively third and fourth but they are level in points. Edgardo Borella rounds off the top five.
THE ESTADIO NUEVO ZORRILLA TRACK AND VALLADOLID
The first SuperMoto Grand Prix in Valladolid will be held in the twisty track built in the area of the important football stadium "Estadio Nuevo Zorrilla". The 1600 metre course is divided into 1400 metres of slide section with the remaining 200 metres reserved to the sky section; it has a very technical and twisty layout, with 17 corners in the slide zone and other four in the sky zone while the longest straight will be about 300 metres;
such characteristics make it a very demanding course for the Dunlop tyres and the bikes’ suspensions which have to be perfectly set up in order to guarantee the endurance. After the last month was characterized by rain, Valladolid is expected to be sunny for the forthcoming weekend of FIM and UEM SuperMoto racing.
The Spanish city of Valladolid is located 200 kilometres North West of Madrid, the capital of the country; the city has about 320.000 inhabitants and it is the capital of the autonomous community of Castilla y León. At the beginning of the 16th century Valladolid was the Spanish capital of the Empire of Charles V of Spain. The 20th of May 1506 Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid but his body was then transferred for his burial.
The city still features the house where Columbus lived but also the famous Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (author of the Don Quixote de la Mancha) lived in Valladolid, where his house is still one of the most interesting buildings to see. The University of Valladolid was founded in the 14th century and it is the second oldest in Spain; together with the many other historic buildings, it preserves the ancient side of Valladolid which is now a modern and highly developed city.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Saturday June 21: EC Open Free Practice 1 at 9:00 am; EC S3 Free Practice 1 at 9:30 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
unday June 22: 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; 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
Information, photos and results are online at http://www.supermotoS1.com, the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.
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- Daniele RIZZI -
