After a month away from Grand Prix racing the World SuperMoto Championship riders will be back in the saddle this weekend in Greinbach with this new venue marking the series’ comeback to Austria after its last appearance in Melk 2006.
German Bernd Hiemer is topping the S1 standings with multiple World Champion Thierry Van Den Bosch following from close. Ivan Lazzarini is a distant third as he blames a difficult start to the season.
Adrien Chareyre keeps leading the S2 Championship since Spain but former leader and current runner up Davide Gozzini is closing in after sealing his third season’s win in Olbia.
In the UEM European Championship Oliver Pope continues to lead the S3 standings while Austrian Heino Meusburger leads the Open class.
S1
Since DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory’s Ivan Lazzarini opened his winning account in Valladolid the Italian continued his podium streak in Olbia by ending runner up to team mate Thierry Van Den Bosch at the end of the hot Sardinian Grand Prix.
Though the "Lazza" still pays for a difficult start to the season and he is now third in the Championship with a gap of 43 points from leader Bernd Hiemer. On the other hand VDB made up for a difficult Spanish GP with Olbia’s win and he is just seven points behind Hiemer.
The KTM Italia Miglio’s German looks forward to the event in Austria which is the closest to his home country in this year’s calendar. It will be a good reason to visit for Hiemer’s fans.
The 2006 World Champion still looks for his first GP victory and appointed Melk as his favourite target; the result could help him keep runner up VDB at a safe distance in the Championship standings.
Robinsons KTM UK’s Matthew Winstanley and TM Factory’s Boris Chambon aim at repeating another strong result such as the one from Olbia, where the duo rounded off the top five overall while fourth placed in the Championship Thomas Chareyre needs a confidence booster after a bitter eighth overall in Sardinia.
For this occasion also three time SuperMoto GP winner Juergen Kuenzel will race the S1 class onboard a Husqvarna machine.
S2
By taking victory also in Sardinia Davide Gozzini of TM Factory Racing reinforced his role of winningest rider so far in 2008; even though the Italian is runner up in the Championship he has won three of the first four GP’s.
Valladolid was the sole time Gozzini missed the podium and in that occasion Husqvarna CH Racing’s Adrien Chareyre wrapped up both the overall and the Championship lead, which he still keeps courtesy of another podium finish in Olbia.
Defending Champion Gerald Delepine of Husqvarna CH Racing and KTM Italia Miglio’s Attilio Pignotti, who fought tooth and nail for last year’s Title until the final round in Greece, are in a close dice for third. Delepine is currently third with Pignotti level in points in fourth.
Aprilia fellow riders Luca Minutilli of PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road and Massimo Beltrami of DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory are also close. Minutilli sits in fifth with a five point gap from Pignotti while Beltrami, who took his first season’s podium in Olbia, is sixth, a single point away from Minutilli.
THE UEM EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP
Olivier Scheen took his second season’s victory in Olbia, following his maiden S3 win in Spain, but could not move past Oliver Pope in the series as the British is still first. With only four points dividing the duo, third placed Alessandro Asnicar is 20 points adrift Scheen.
Kevin and Janina Wuerterle took part in Olbia’s event impressing the SuperMoto collective by taking a second (Kevin) and a fifth overall (Janina). The results were surely the confidence booster they needed ahead of the event in Austria.
Moreover upcoming talent Lewis Cornish will make his UEM series debut this weekend in Austria; the 15 year old Brit aims at becoming a regular contender in the GP series.
Retaining the Open series lead in Olbia Austrian Heino Meusburger will receive a warm welcome from the local fans at his home in Austria. Though Meusburger is followed by a close Alex Tognaccini who sits just a couple of points adrift after he ended second overall in Olbia.
The latest round was won by last year’s S3 Champion Baptiste Rheims, winning at his first time out with Aprilia machinery. Edgardo Borella, Luca D’Addato and Alberto Dall’Era round off a close top five in the points standings while Rheims is tenth.
THE PS RACING CENTER AND GREINBACH
Hosting its first SuperMoto Grand Prix this weekend the PS Racing Center in Greinbach welcomes the SuperMoto series’ comeback to Austria as Melk was the last Austrian venue to have hosted a GP in 2006.
The course is very technical and twisty, featuring a wide variety of corners to be linked together at high speed. The minimum width is around 10 metres and the sky section is interrupted by a short stripe of asphalt making the competition more selective. The PS Racing Center is a permanent facility surrounded by a charming forest.
Greinbach is an Austrian municipality located in the district of Hartberg, Styria (a region in the South East of the country). Greinbach has about 2000 inhabitants and it is just 70 km away from beautiful Graz, which is the capital of Styria. Wien is 130 km North.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Saturday August 23: 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 1:00 pm; S1 Free Practice 1 at 1:40 pm; EC Open Qualifying Race 1 at 2:30 pm; S2 Free Practice 2 at 3:00 pm; S1 Free Practice 2 at 3:40 pm; EC Open Qualifying Race 2 at 4:30 pm; S2 Time Practice at 5:00 pm; S1 Time Practice at 5:50 pm; EC S3 Time Practice and EC Open Last Chance Qualifying Practice at 6:40 pm
Sunday August 24: 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 10:40 am; S2 Race 1 at 11:25 am; S1 Race 1 at 1:10 pm; EC S3 Race 1 at 1:50 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 -
