GP1 FIM SUPERMOTO S1 + S2 – EUROPE (Castelletto di Branduzzo, Italy) Giraudo and Hiemer won in Italy

French Jerôme Giraudo (Aprilia) and German Bernd Hiemer (KTM) won the opening round of the 2006 FIM Supermoto in Castelletto di Branduzzo (Lombardia), home of the Grand Prix of Europe. Hiemer got a perfect score (1/1) in S1, while Giraudo (1/2) shared the wins with Eddy Seel (Suzuki) in the S2 class.

The sky was overcast for this opening round of the championship, but hopefully it was not raining on Sunday and all the races took place on a dry track. Unfortunately the off-road section was not used on Sunday, damaged by the heavy rains of the night.

The S2 races were probably the best we ever saw in this young championship, and in both heats we had three or four riders battling for the win until the finish flag. The Aprilia riders got the first three positions during the super pôle, and Eddy Seel started both races from the inside of the first row. He was the main rival of the Aprilia riders, but he lost his chances when he crashed early in the opening race. He took his revenge in the following race; he did all the race with Bolley, Van Den Bosch and Giraudo, and finally beat them all! Winner of the first moto and probably the fastest rider on the track this weekend, Jerome Giraudo had bad start in both races but came back strongly to win his first GP since a while. "We touched our handle bars at the start with Eddy in both races, and I had to come back twice. Without the off-road section it was difficult to pass on this track, and easy to make a mistake so I was really carefull. In the first heat I was waiting behind Bolley when he did a small mistake in the last lap, and in the second race I passed in the same lap Bolley and Van Den Bosch but couldn’t pass Seel. Anyway I’m happy with my results, it’s much better than last year," said the 2004 World Champion. He beats his teammate Frédéric Bolley, who lead most of the races but had troubles with his tyres and the settings of his bike. Second and fourth, Bolley finished second overall followed by Spaniard Nestor Jorge (Honda) and the fourth Aprilia of Thierry Van Den Bosch who crashed in the first race.

Pole, super pôle and two wins, it was a perfect day for Bernd Hiemer and KTM. The German rider was fastest than anyone in the S1 class today, and luckily for the numerous public he made a silly mistake while leading the second race. Losing ten seconds in this crash, he came back on the track in third position behind Chris Iddon (Aprilia) and Ivan Lazzarini (Husqvarna). He promptly passed Iddon and then pushed to come back on Lazzarini who was leading the race by six seconds. He overtooked the Italian rider pretty easily, and won the GP followed by Lazzarini (2/2) and Iddon (4/4). "I’m happy with the result but not with me, as I did some mistakes today. My bike was perfect, the track suits to my style but I was not riding perfectly even if I won both races," said Bernd Hiemer who is now racing for his own team. Reigning World Champion Gerald Delepine was involved in a pile up at the first start, and finished third in the second race.

S1 podium (from left to right): Ivan Lazzarini (second), Bernd Hiemer (winner) and Chris Iddon (third)

Next Grand Prix will take place in France (Villars sous Ecot) on May 27th and 28th.

Information and results on http://www.supermotos1.com/ , the official website of the Supermoto World Championships.



- Pascal HAUDIQUERT, also photos -