This third edition of the FIM SuperMoto of Nations in Pleven started off with Italy dominating all three qualifying motos.
Ivan Lazzarini (S1), Davide Gozzini (S2) and Attilio Pignotti (Open) put Italy on top of the qualifying standings by winning one moto each today.
Bulgaria took a stunning second showing a very solid shape for tomorrow. S1 rider Alexander Georgiev was fourth with Ales Hlad ending second in S2 and Rosen Tonchev rounding off a positive day with third in the Open class.
Defending Champion Team France rounded off the top three with Sylvain Bidart a solid second in S1 and Adrien Goguet third in the S2. Stephane Blot was sixth in the Open class.
Czech Republic (Petr Vorlicek, David Brabec, Jiri Bocek) and Great Britain (Matthew Winstanley, Chris Hodgson, Ady Smith) qualified in fourth and fifth respectively as the British team suffered with Ady Smith breaking the rear tyre in his qualifying heat.
QUALIFYING HEAT - S1
Lazzarini rode a flawless moto to open up Italy’s winning account for the day. With the Lazza pulling away from the rest of the field, Bidart, Winstanley and Georgiev fought tooth and nail for the runner up spot.
As the race went on Georgiev decided to settle for a safe fourth leaving Bidart and Winstanley alone in the fight. Bidart defended the second place from Winstanley as he was constantly pulling away from the Brit by taking the outside line on the bob in the fantastic sky section. Deitenbach took a solid fifth for Germany right ahead of Vorlicek.
Top five: 1. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), 18:35.567; ; 2. Sylvain Bidart (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:06.172; 3. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, KTM), +0:06.656; 4. Alexander Georgiev (BUL, KTM), +0:17.370; 5. Jan Deitenbach (GER, Suzuki), +0:23.380
QUALIFYING HEAT – S2
Hlad started off with the holeshot as the local crowd went mad for their team leader. Gozzini came out strong after a decent start and chased the Bulgarian for the lead passing at lap three. From then on the Italian pulled away to take the eventual victory. Hlad and France’s young gun Goguet battled it out for second almost banging bars at the sky section.
Hlad was an eventual second followed by Goguet. Spain’s Grau dropped down to fourth after he lost the contact with the leaders. British Hodgson ended fifth despite two crashes. A crash and a right knee injury saw Germany’s Nico Joannidis pull out of the heat at lap one – though he will take part in tomorrow’s heats.
Top five: 1. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), 18:52.712; ; 2. Ales Hlad (BUL, KTM), +0:01.754; 3. Adrien Goguet (FRA, Husaberg), +0:01.950; 4. Angel Grau Rodriguez (ESP, Husaberg), +0:29.278; 5. Chris Hodgson (GBR, KTM), +0:31.363
QUALIFYING HEAT – OPEN
A dominant victory by Pignotti put an end to a perfect qualifying day for Italy as the 2007 S2 World Championship runner up could build a safe gap in between himself and Czech Bocek. The latter went on to take second ahead of Tonchev representing a solid Bulgarian SuperMoto team.
German veteran Spaniol took fourth with Mihelcic finishing fifth ahead of Blot. Breaking his rear tyre at the warm up lap Smith lost vital time in the pit lane. Once the tyre change was made it was too late for the Brit to secure a solid position as he ended 14th with a three lap gap.
Winning the Open class qualifying heat Pignotti completed a 1-1-1 score for Italy
Top five: 1. Attilio Pignotti (ITA, KTM), 18:53.146; ; 2. Jiri Bocek (CZE, Honda), +0:09.991; 3. Rosen Tonchev (BUL, KTM), +0:14.987; 4. Dirk Spaniol (GER, Suzuki), +0:23.823; 5. Rok Mihelcic (SLO, Honda), +0:24.724
DOLNA MITROPOLIA AND PLEVEN
The Dolna Mitropolia complex is the best permanent SuperMoto facility in the world that combines a challenging slide zone in asphalt with a permanent sky section featuring a special asphalt surface that covers the ground.
The combination of the healthy support from the local Government and the hard work of the Bulgarian Motorcycling Federation contribute in keeping up the high Pleven standards as all Superiders look forward to racing on the Bulgarian course. Last year Pleven won the Best SuperMoto Organizer Award at the FIM Off Road Awards.
Pleven is in the North of Bulgaria, about 170 kilometres North-East of Sofia, and lies on the central part of the Danube lowland. Pleven is the seventh largest city in the country, having about 120,000 inhabitants living in its urban centre.
The city has kept a lot of its cultural and historical heritage and is actually known as the town of museums. Some of its main buildings are the theatre house "Ivan Radoev" founded in 1919 and the fascinating building hosting the exhibition-donation "Svetlin Rusev".
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Sunday October 12: SuperMoto Youngsters Show Demo at 9:00 am; SMoN Warm Up Group 1 at 9:30 am; SMoN Warm Up Group 2 at 10:00 am; SuperMoto Youngsters Show Demo at 10:40 am; SMoN Race 1 (S1+S2) at 1:00 pm; SMoN Race 2 (S2+Open) at 2:15 pm; SuperMoto Youngsters Show Demo at 2:45 pm; SMoN Race 3 (S1+Open) at 4:20 pm
The SuperMoto of Nations will be broadcast live on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : Race 1 and Race 2 at 14:00 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): Race 1 and Race 2 at 14:00, Race 3 at 15:00 CET
ART (Pan Middle East): Race 3 at 15:00 CET
SPORT TV (Slovenia): Race 1 and Race 2 at 14:00, Race 3 at 15:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Race 1 and Race 2 at 12:00 GMT
TRANS 7 (Indonesia): Race 1 and Race 2 at 14:00, Race 3 at 15:00 CET
SPORT TV (Portugal): Race 1 and Race 2 at 14:00, Race 3 at 15:00 CET
BNT (Bulgaria): Race 3 at 15:00 CET
MEDIAZONE (Worldwide): Race 1 and Race 2 at 14:00, Race 3 at 15:00 CET
The SuperMoto of Nations will be broadcast delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe): Sunday October 12; Race 3 at 17:00. Monday October 13; Race 3 at 16:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Monday October 13; Race 3 at 9:15, Race 1 and Race 2 at 21:30, Race 3 at 22:30. Tuesday October 14; Race 1 and Race 2 at 02:00 and at 23:15. Thursday October 16, Race 1 and Race 2 at 04:00 GMT
BNT (Bulgaria): Race 1 and Race 2 N/A CET
NOTES :
-Race 1 mixes S1 and S2 classes
-Race 2 mixes S2 and Open classes
-Race 3 mixes S1 and Open classes
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 Women's Motocross World Championship, the FIM Veteran's Motocross World Cup, the FIM Junior Motocross World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship, the UEM Motocross of European Nations and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.
- Daniele RIZZI -
