Thomas Chareyre fastest on Triscina’s burning asphalt

Sicily has been waiting almost one year for the FIM SuperMoto World Championship and UEM European Championship to be back on the municipality of Castelvetrano. The hottest weekend of the summer, scene of the Sicilian Grand Prix and the fourth race of the European series, has just kicked off and it saw brave Superiders on the gas during today’s qualifying seeking the fastest times in the S1 and Open categories.


Today’s 35 degrees did not affect Thomas Chareyre’s performance. The French rider ended the time practice session with the spectacular time of 1:10.819 so that his brother Adrien together with Mauno Hermunen and Ivan Lazzarini definitely bit the dust finishing second, third and fourth behind the qualifying’s star.


In the Open class, after the first laps the situation was pretty clear. Teo Monticelli was the main protagonist of the day through the time of 1:12.840 and shared the stage with Czech pursuers Petr Vorlicek and Pavel Kejmar, as well as with Alessandro Tognaccini who was fourth.


Among the sessions of the World and European Championships there were also those for the GoldenTyre Trophy; here the top riders were Domenico Ricchiari, Salvatore Giammona, Giorgio Puglisi and Antonino Vallone.



S1

After turning another page of this season’s calendar the background of the SuperMoto World campaign changed again, so after Busca, Pleven and Pas de la Casa, the series came back to Italy and landed in the southern track of Triscina.


There is no better word than “hot” to describe this rousing first day of action when Superiders rode their machineries at the International Circuit of Triscina. The strongest rider who imposed his pace during the Grand Prix of Sicily time practice was the French member of the TM Factory Racing Team Thomas Chareyre who set an unachievable best time of 1:10.819.


The podium favorite rider had the green light as last year’s race winner, KTM 747 Motorsport Davide Gozzini missed the GP because of the recent surgery at his right wrist and Thierry Van Den Bosch, who clinched the runner up spot in 2010, was missing too. The PMR H20 could not fight for the podium as he broke a vertebra while training so yesterday he underwent surgery and now he has to rest for a while before getting back on his Aprilia.


The time practice session’s star opened up a 0.124 gap over the Fast Wheels ASD rider, Adrien Chareyre, who showed a great determination during the afternoon and thanks to the second best time we will see him racing once again among the front runners.


Third spot of the timesheets went to Husqvarna Factory Mauno Hermunen, involved in a face to face duel with the oldest of the Chareyre brothers for the runner up spot, position that he was not able to keep for himself. Tomorrow the Finnish will seek the rival who stole his spot but, on the other hand, he should keep an eye on Ivan Lazzarini. The HM Honda rider detained the third best time for a while but finished the day with the fourth one.


After Thomas Chareyre abandoned the pack, there was only a little gap dividing the other six riders from one each other. The top five was completed by TDS Faor Uros Nastran, while SHR Racing Matthew Winstanley’s performance was good enough for the English rider to end the day with a solid sixth best time followed by Suzuki Valenti Lux Performance Christian Ravaglia and SBD Union Bike Racing Giovanni Bussei. The ninth position went to Rigo Racing Andrea Occhini, third in Triscina last year, with Alexis Marie Luce of KTM 747 Motorsport tenth.


Unfortunately another rider who will not take part in the GP, like Gozzini and VDB, is Gazza IFG Racing Paolo Gaspardone who faced a crash while training last Tuesday.


S1 Qualifying top ten: 1. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, TM), 1:10.819; 2. Adrien Chareyre (FRA, Aprilia), +0:00.124; 3. Mauno Hermunen (FIN, Husqvarna), +0:00.390; 4. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Honda), +0:00.552; 5. Uros Nastran (SLO, Honda), +0:00.667; 6. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, Honda), +0:00.780; 7. Christian Ravaglia (ITA, Suzuki), +0:00.986; 8. Giovanni Bussei (ITA, Honda), +0:01.281; 9. Andrea Occhini (ITA, Suzuki), +0:01.444; 10. Alexis Marie Luce (FRA, KTM), +0:01.559.


Complete results available at: http://www.youthstream.org/reslists.aspx?ct=4&c=10



UEM

Freccia Team member and Championship star Teo Monticelli has no intention of giving up his leadership and since he wants to feel even more comfortable with his position he decided to grasp the fastest time today thanks to its 1:12.80. The Italian rider was chased by a dangerous Czech duo: Tuning Sport Petr Vorlicek and Pavel Kejmar with KTM 747 Motorsport Alessandro Tognaccini in fourth.



GP OF SICILY - QUICK FACTS

Circuit length: 1.630 mt (1.280 mt slide, 350 mt sky section).
Temperature: 35°
Weather conditions: sunny


Sunday: ECSM Warm Up 09:00; S1GP Warm Up 09:30 (until 9:50, then followed by Superpole); GoldenTyre Trophy Warm Up 10:10; ECSM Race 1 11:15; S1GP Race 1 12:15; GoldenTyre Trophy Race 1 12:40; ECSM Race 2 13:15; S1GP Race 2 14:15; GoldenTyre Trophy Race 2 14:40; ECSM Race 3 15:15; S1GP Race 3 16:15.


As the whole 2011 FIM SuperMoto World Championship, this Grand Prix will be broadcasted delayed and furthermore, Rai Tre will broadcast the hottest moments of the S1 qualifying and races on Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm during the local news.



-Ms. Giulia Rizzi -