World and European Supermoto series in Greece for title deciders

S1 series leader Adrien Chareyre enters Greece with an apparently comfortable advantage of 27 points, but runner up Thierry Van Den Bosch is the reason why Chareyre cannot relax yet. The duo battled it out for the SuperMoto of Nations’ Francesco Zerbi Trophy and won it, alongside third Team France Superider Thomas Chareyre, but in Megara it will be a different story.

There are only 5 points between current S2 leader Gerald Delepine and runner up Attilio Pignotti, who lost the red plate in the latest round, at Busca. But thanks to their latest Grand Prix wins, Davide Gozzini and Christian Iddon are also close to the leading duo. The "Fantastic Four" are spread within 26 points.

The UEM European SuperMoto Championship will be back to action with the S3 Title wrestle in between Baptiste Rheims and Tommaso Iacoboni, with the latter following the Frenchman. In the Open class, Petr Vorlicek already secured the Title, but runner up Lionel Deridder has a hard defence ahead, as the five Superiders following him have all a chance to move past and become the new 2007 runner up.

Reigning World Champion Thierry Van Den Bosch of Aprilia Off Road tried to get back the red plate that he was snatched by Adrien Chareyre at Pleven, but he did not make it at the penultimate round in Busca, where he won heat one but crashed in heat two. VDB has his last chance this weekend, and hopes for a good performance of his SXV 450, which is normally at ease on fast tracks such as Megara.

If the Frenchman won, it would be his fourth Title, while current series leader Adrien Chareyre of CH Azzalin would clinch his maiden crown. For the first time in his career, the youngster enters the final World Championship round in first place, which is already a storming achievement since his best World Championship finish of 2nd in 2005.

With Adrien being fully fit, Thierry Van Den Bosch broke one bone of his left hand at the SuperMoto of Nations, where he showed that injuries are not be a problem by dominating one heat.

Third placed in the Championship Thomas Chareyre will be ready to help his brother and team mate Adrien, as his closest rival Jerome Giraudo is out for an injury, but Van Den Bosch is in his sights. A Chareyre one-two is a possible scenery for the end of this Championship, with Thomas having also a slim chance of winning the Title.

Exploiting Giraudo’s misfortune, Bernd Hiemer, Kevin Berthome, Sylvain Bidart, Massimo Beltrami and Ivan Lazzarini are ready to aim at a spot in the top four. But KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer is probably the fittest in the pack, as he recently reached the top form, clinching his maiden S1 podium at Busca and riding two solid heats at Franciacorta.

On the other hand, Rexfelgen Wheels Cross2R’s Kevin Berthome, who is just one point behind Hiemer, has not been on the podium since his latest appearance in Alcarras -3rd overall.

This circuit is a very important one for Rigo Racing’s Eddy Seel, who came back to the GP scene at Busca after an early season wrist injury, the cause of his current 20th place. In 2001 Seel won here the European Title, beating Thierry Van Den Bosch at the last round.

If the S1 fight for the Title is hot, the battle for the S2 crown is on fire, as leader Gerald Delepine of CH Azzalin has a slight advantage of 5 points over runner up Attilio Pignotti.

The Italian of KTM Italia Miglio declared there is no more pressure for him since he lost the red plate at Busca, and he will give it all in this final round.

Both Delepine and Pignotti are experienced Motocrossers, with an aggressive riding style, while third and fourth placed Superiders Davide Gozzini and Christian Iddon have an incredible speed on the slide section.

TM Factory’s Gozzini, who won the Bulgarian GP, and Aprilia Off Road’s Iddon, winner at Busca, are the other two possible Title winners, and it looks like will battle it out with Delepine and Pignotti until the very last lap of the final moto.

The "Fantastic Four" have been the only Superiders capable of winning GP’s this season, which was the reason why they pulled away from the rest of the field in the points standings.

Having clinched two consecutive podium finishes in the latest two rounds, Gozzini and Iddon are definitely in good shape, while Pignotti and Delepine have been less consistent in this final part of the season, but they have built a wall of more than 10 points from Gozzini and Iddon.

It will be hard to close such a gap, but there is still a chance. Delepine and Iddon scored no points once each, Gozzini twice, but Pignotti was in the points in each of the 14 heats he has raced so far.

The latter and Delepine have been handing each other the red plate this season, while Iddon and Gozzini never held it before in their career.

Traditionally the Greek GP features a handful of surprises, with Ales Hlad and Matthew Winstanley clinching their maiden wins last year, to secure a place in the top ten.

This year it is time for Jorge Nestor to clinch his maiden triumph if he wants to defend his fifth place, as all the five Superiders behind him have a chance to move past.

With team TM Factory looking forward to winning their maiden Manufacturers’ Title, the squad will line up Fabio Balducci in the S2 class, where TM is currently first. On the other hand Husqvarna aims at a double manufacturers’ Title, winning both the S1 and S2 classes for their first time, as the manufacturer is currently first in the S1 standings and second in the S2. Also Aprilia has a chance to win the S1 and S2 Titles, while KTM can only aim at the S2 class.

In this last round of the series, current S3 leader Baptiste Rheims and Tommaso Iacoboni will face each other to decide who will be the European Champion. Rheims now holds a 22 point advantage over Iacoboni, with both youngsters looking very motivated to clinch their maiden Title.

Third placed Riccardo Peroni seems now the only Superider who can surpass Iacoboni, but he is too far from leader Rheims. In the latest two rounds, at Pleven and Busca, Peroni has been feeling the pressure of a very fast Chris Hodgson, winner at Busca, who lies fourth in the points standings, 13 points behind Peroni.

Olivier Scheen rounds off the top five, having a safe cushion of 93 points in between him and sixth placed Brice Gallien, but the Belgian can battle it out with Peroni and Hodgson to improve on his position.

After winning the Title in Pleven, Petr Vorlicek will be back to action to clinch the win in this final round; the Czech was beaten only once this season, by Alessandro Tognaccini, but he missed Busca’s round, where the Italian conquered another victory.

Tognaccini seems all set on improving on his fourth place in the Championship, and he is one of those five Superiders who can still overtake current runner up Lionel Deridder, who has been struggling in the last two rounds.

If they want to move past Deridder, Luca De Angelis, Alberto Dall’Era, Omar Pelliccioni and Uros Nastran have to be more consistent than what they have been in Busca, where none of them scored more than 25 points.

Megara’s circuit played host to its last GP in 2005, and now it is back into the calendar with a newly modified sky section, which will be about 150 metre long. This permanent facility has a fast layout, and reminds a bit of the Italian track at Mores.

Megara is a very important town in Greece, as it was the birth place of the famous philosopher Euclid. Megara, having about 30000 inhabitants, is located in that part of Greece which is called Attica, in the West of the country, and is 40 kilometres away from the capital city Athens.

Saturday, October 20th : Greek Championship S3, Junior, Ladies, Newcomers Free Practice at 8:00 am; Greek Championship S1, S2 Free Practice at 8:15 am; EC Open Free Practice 1 at 8:30 am; EC S3 Free Practice 1 at 9:00 am; EC Open Qualifying Practice at 9:35 am; EC S3 Free Practice 2 at 10:05 am; Greek Championship S3, Junior, Ladies, Newcomers Time Practice at 10:35 am; Greek Championship S1, S2 Time Practice at 11:00 am; S2 Free Practice 1 at 12:00 am; S1 Free Practice 1 at 12:45 am; EC Open Time Practice at 1:20 pm; S2 Free Practice 2 at 2:00 pm; S1 Free Practice 2 at 2:45 pm; EC S3 Time Practice at 3:20 pm; S2 Time Practice at 4:00 pm; S1 Time Practice at 5:00 pm; Greek Championship S1, S2 Race 1 at 5:50 pm; Greek Championship S3, Junior, Ladies, Newcomers Free Practice at 6:15 pm; Greek Championship S1, S2 Race 2 at 6:40 pm.

Sunday, October 21st : EC Open Warm Up at 8:15 am; EC S3 Warm Up at 8:40 am; S2 Warm Up at 9:05 am with Superpole immediately after; S1 Warm Up at 9:45 am with Superpole immediately after; EC Open Race 1 at 10:40 am; EC S3 Race 1 at 11:25 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 on http://www.SuperMotoS1.com , the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.

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