Valladolid will host its very first FIM SuperMoto Grand Prix this weekend, in what has been predicted like the hottest weekend of the season with temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius.
S1 series leader Thierry Van Den Bosch of Aprilia Off Road is all ready to face this Gran Premio de España Ciudad de Valladolid, as this represents a sort of second home Grand Prix for the Frenchman living in Andorra.
Runner up Bernd Hiemer of KTM Italia Miglio is at least as motivated as VDB; Hiemer has the same Championship points as the three time World Champion and is hungry for his first win of 2008 after two second overall finishes.
A superb Robinsons KTM UK’s Matt Winstanley is sitting third in the series after his podium from Castelletto, while Thomas Chareyre and Boris Chambon are battling it out for fourth.
Ninth placed in the standings Jorge Nestor, who is the highest placed home rider, will sit out of this third GP due to a broken thumb while Jerome Giraudo will go for victory after he showed a solid potential at the race in Castelletto, eventually ruined by a mechanical failure.
In the S2 class Davide Gozzini of TM Factory Racing wants to keep up the good work after two back to back wins; this is going to be the first GP out of his home country Italy and it will be harder for the series leader to defend the red plate from Adrien Chareyre.
The Husqvarna CH Racing rider is already a Title challenger despite this being his maiden year in the class; the 2007 S1 World Champion is just two points away with each moto victory paying 25 World Championship points, as Chareyre himself experienced already twice this season.
Aprilia Off Road’s Christian Iddon recently crashed and broke his left wrist; after undergoing surgery early this week the Brit has to sit out of the series, where he currently holds the third place, for about six weeks.
Attilio Pignotti is another rider to race injured this weekend, as last year’s runner up has a fractured left scaphoid from the latest GP in Castelletto.
On the other hand 2007 S2 World Champion Gerald Delepine is in perfect shape after his first podium from the GP of Europe and he will try to move up the standings exploiting the rivals’ misfortunes and his great talent.
Right after his first double heat win from Castelletto, new S3 series leader Oliver Pope is looking forward to this third seasonal meeting. Runner up Olivier Scheen will try to close the five point gap and snatch the red plate while Torino’s winner Alessandro Asnicar is currently third in the points.
Current Open class leader Heino Meusburger and Viktor Bolsek are battling tooth and nail for the red plate as the two are separated by just nine points. Third and fourth placed Alex Tognaccini and Alberto Dall’Era are level in points but they are close enough to the leaders to still enjoy a Title chance.
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
Sunday 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 -
