Thierry van den Bosch and Adrien Chareyre took Olbia's Poles

Thierry Van Den Bosch and Adrien Chareyre made it a French domination as both took pole in the S1 and S2 class respectively.

In the UEM SuperMoto Championship Olivier Scheen took pole in the S3 class with Heino Meusburger taking pole in the Open class.

Thierry VDB took the S1 pole after he lost the red plate in Spain

DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory’s Thierry Van Den Bosch took the eventual pole courtesy of a storming lap towards the end of the session.

The Frenchman overtook Spanish GP winner and DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory team mate Ivan Lazzarini, who battled it out for pole with VDB throughout the whole session as the two were the only ones to have seen the top spot of the time sheets.

KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer took a positive third quickest time at his first S1 Grand Prix with the red plate while Husqvarna CH Racing’s Thomas Chareyre was fourth quickest ahead of a surprising Eddy Seel.

The Rigo Racing Suzuki mounted Belgian took the fifth quickest time which was his best qualifying result of the 2008 season.

Former World Champion Eddy Seel was fifth quickest today

Nestor Jorge was 13th quickest at his first outing since he broke his thumb ahead of his home GP while former European series star Chris Hodgson was at the bottom of the time sheets due to a crash.

Top five: 1. Thierry van den Bosch (FRA, Aprilia), 1:03.058; 2. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), +0:00.362; 3. Bernd Hiemer (GER, KTM), +0:00.672; 4. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:00.727; 5. Eddy Seel (BEL, Suzuki), +0:00.920

The fight for today’s S2 pole position reflected the Championship standings as the leading duo Adrien Chareyre and Davide Gozzini battled tooth and nail for the top of the time sheets.

Adrien Chareyre will be the last to enter tomorrow’s Superpole as he was today’s quickest

The eventual pole went to Husqvarna CH Racing’s Chareyre, as the Frenchman was 0.041 seconds quicker than TM Factory Racing’s Gozzini, who had led until the final minute.

Husqvarna CH Racing’s and defending Champion Gerald Delepine rounded off the top three by moving past MRC Racing’s Lorenzo Mariani in the final stages. The latter slipped down to fourth but earned his first Superpole chance of the year ahead of Italian countryman Massimo Beltrami.

Lorenzo Mariani was a solid fourth

Last year’s runner up Attilio Pignotti was sixth while local hero Lorenzo Pes ended 15th.

Top five: 1. Adrien Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), 1:03.842; 2. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), +0:00.041; 3. Gérald Delepine (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:00.204; 4. Lorenzo Mariani (ITA, TM), +0:00.540; 5. Massimo Beltrami (ITA, Aprilia), +0:00.562

The winner of the Spanish round Olivier Scheen took pole in the S3 class and he looks ahead to tomorrow when he will try to snatch the Championship lead from British rival Oliver Pope. The latter had a bad day in Olbia and ended fourth quickest, as the Wuerterle brothers Kevin and Janina rounded off the top three. Alessandro Asnicar rounded off the top five.

Top five: 1. Olivier Scheen (BEL, Suzuki), 1:08.919; 2. Kevin Wuerterle (GER, KTM), +0:00.217; 3. Janina Wuerterle (GER, KTM), +0:00.962; 4. Oliver Pope (GBR, KTM), +0:01.014; 5. Alessandro Asnicar (ITA, Yamaha), +0:01.972

Open class leader Heino Meusburger took the pole from last year’s S3 series winner Baptiste Rheims, who is now onboard an Aprilia machine. Luca D’Addato was third as Alessandro Tognaccini and Alberto Dall’Era rounded off the top five. Early Championship leader Graziano Rispoli came back from a left leg injury and took eighth quickest while Spanish winner Edgardo Borella was 11th.

Top five: 1. Heino Meusburger (AUT, Yamaha), 1:05.483; 2. Baptiste Rheims (FRA, Aprilia), +0:00.408; 3. Luca D'Addato (ITA, Honda), +0:00.583; 4. Alessandro Tognaccini (ITA, Aprilia), +0:00.789; 5. Alberto Dall'era (ITA, KTM), +0:00.804

For the first time in history the World and European SuperMoto series head to Olbia, another new venue which makes the 2008 calendar a very interesting one. The Grand Prix of Sardegna will be held on Olbia’s industrial port, where an area of 30.000 square metres has been dedicated to the course. The race track will have a slide zone and a sky zone made of natural ground, with the latter featuring also a demanding three wave section.

The city of Olbia is in the North East of the Italian Island Sardinia and it is the key port in the Costa Smeralda area, which is one of the most beautiful coasts in Italy. Olbia has about 50000 inhabitants and it has witnessed a solid development in the latest 30 years, with the tourism being the most fruitful business in the area.

Sunday July 13: EC Open and S3 Warm Up at 8:30 am; KTM Italia Trophy Warm Up at 9:00 am; EC Open and S3 Race 1 at 10:15 am; S2 Warm Up at 10:45 am with Superpole immediately after; S1 Warm Up at 11:20 am with Superpole immediately after; KTM Italia Trophy Race 1 at 12:05 pm; EC Open and S3 Race 2 at 12:45 am; S2 Race 1 at 3:25 pm; S1 Race 1 at 4:25 pm; KTM Italia Trophy Race 2 at 5:25 pm; S2 Race 2 at 6:25 pm; S1 Race 2 at 7:25 pm

EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe): S1 Race 2 at 19:00 CET

SPORTITALIA (Italy): S2 Race 2 at 18:00, S1 Race 2 at 19:00 CET

ART (Pan Middle East) : S1 Race 2 at 19:00 CET

Sport TV (Slovenia) : S2 Race 2 at 18:00, S1 Race 2 at 19:00 CET

Trans 7 (Indonesia) : S2 Race 2 at 18:00, S1 Race 2 at 19:00 CET

Mediazone (Worldwide) : S2 Race 2 at 18:00, S1 Race 2 at 19:00 CET

EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday July 13, S1 Race 2 at 22:30; Tuesday July 15, S1 Race 2 at 9:30 and at 19:00 GMT

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 -