The PS Racing Center in Greinbach is all set to host one of the greatest events this season, the Austrian GP, marking both the series’ comeback to Austria and the return to action of the Championship after a month break.
With current leader Bernd Hiemer and defending Champion Thierry VDB fighting tooth and nail for the S1 Title, the S2 class looks the same with the dogfight in between red plate holder Adrien Chareyre and Davide Gozzini.
In the UEM series Oliver Pope leads the S3 class from Olivier Scheen while Austrian Heino Meusburger leads the Open class from Alex Tognaccini.
S1
KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer hungers for his first season’s GP win. He enters his "closest to home" event as the German expects tons of fans supporting him in Greinbach where he will be on route for victory.
DRC Aprilia Off Road’s Thierry Van Den Bosch has won three of these first four GP’s and is a close second to Hiemer.
Other Aprilia mounted rider Ivan Lazzarini has stormed to third in the points standings after Valladolid’s first win followed by another solid performance in Olbia. Though the Italian is a bit far from the top after a difficult start to the season, his first with the Italian manufacturer.
Matthew Winstanley and 2005 World Champion Boris Chambon round off the top five.
As three time GP winner Juergen Kuenzel will enter this fifth GP, Christian Ravaglia is due to sit out because of an elbow injury.
S2
Sealing his third season’s win in Olbia, TM Factory Racing’s Davide Gozzini put himself back into the chase to current series leader Adrien Chareyre of Husqvarna CH Racing. Gozzini is second in the Championship, seven points adrift.
Chareyre is experiencing a storming debut year in the category as team mate and defending Champion Gerald Delepine is 51 points behind in third, level in points with last year’s runner up Attilio Pignotti sitting in fourth.
Aprilia fellow riders Luca Minutilli and Massimo Beltrami, with the latter having taken a podium in Olbia, round off the top six.
Both Paolo Gaspardone and Michael Paul will miss this Austrian GP while Christian Iddon will make his comeback to action despite not being fully fit – a left wrist injury plagued his mid season.
THE UEM EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP
Current leader Oliver Pope and runner up Olivier Scheen are in a dice for the S3 title with the duo being separated by only four points. Scheen took victory in the latest two rounds as Pope never missed a podium finish in these first four rounds. Third place holder and Torino’s winner Alessandro Asnicar is 20 points behind the leader with Raphael Storning and Kenneth Dekindt rounding off the top five.
Three upcoming talents are expected to perform well in Greinbach; Janina and Kevin Wuerterle and debutant Lewis Cornish.
Keeping the Open series lead after Olbia, home rider Heino Meusburger is pumped for this weekend’s event as he hopes to pull away from Alex Tognaccini in the Championship standings. Only two points are in between the two and the Championship looks as close as ever.
Edgardo Borella, Luca D’Addato and Alberto Dall’Era round off a close top five in the points standings.
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
The Grand Prix will be broadcast live on:
SPORT ITALIA (Italy) : S2 Race 2 at 15:00, S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
ART (Pan Middle East) : S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Sport TV (Slovenia) : S2 Race 2 at 15:00, S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Trans 7 (Indonesia) : S2 Race 2 at 15:00, S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Sport TV (Portugal) : S2 Race 2 at 15:00, S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Mediazone (Worldwide) : S2 Race 2 at 15:00, S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
The Grand Prix will be broadcast delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe): Sunday August 24, S1 Race 2 at 19:15 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday August 24, S1 Race 2 at 20:00. Monday August 25, S1 Race 2 at 04:45, at 10:30 and at 18:00. Tuesday August 26, S1 Race 2 at 03:00 and at 14:30. Wednesday August 27, S1 Race 2 at 00:00 and at 20:45 GMT
Information, photos and results are online at http://www.supermotoS1.com, the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.
MediaZone Moto is the leading global online broadcaster of Motocross and SuperMoto events. Fans worldwide can watch the thrills from this and every race of the 2008 FIM Motocross & SuperMoto World Championships LIVE and On Demand exclusively at www.MediaZoneMoto.com .
Youthstream is the company that manages the exclusive television, marketing and promotional world wide rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Motocross of Nations, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.
- Daniele RIZZI -
