Thomas Chareyre And Christian Iddon Make It To Maiden GP Win

TORINO, 26 May 2007- The first night time Supermoto Grand Prix will be remembered as one of the most fascinating events that the Oval Lingotto ever hosted. The weather was the only negative mark of the event, as there was a lot of rain in the morning; it stopped in the afternoon, but the race conditions were wet.

The FIM Supermoto World Championship saw two young riders grasp their maiden GP wins: Thomas Chareyre in the S1 class, and Christian Iddon in the S2.

The UEM European Supermoto Championship was another wet race, but Baptiste Rheims quickly got to grips with the wet ground to win the S3 class. Petr Vorlicek was his solid self in the Open class, and won his second event in a row.

S1

Thomas Chareyre of CH Azzalin Husqvarna showed part of his potential in Castelletto di Branduzzo with a podium, but this first GP victory means much more to the Frenchman. Thomas was in front of Championship leader Thierry Van Den Bosch of Aprilia Off Road, second on the podium, that finished with Adrien Chareyre.

Thomas Chareyre pushing his Husqvarna to the limit

S1 GRAND PRIX RACE 1

Thomas raced a wise opening moto, and got to grips with the wet Oval Lingotto to finish third. His brother and team mate Adrien fought with Aprilia Off Road’s Thierry Van Den Bosch for victory, but Championship leader VDB made to pass with ten laps to go.

Thomas did not have a good start, but he was good in making up ground, as Yamaha Evolution Ivan Lazzarini slipped and crashed out.

Aprilia Off Road’s Jerome Giraudo raced a solid moto and finished fourth, ahead of KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer, who started from tenth on the grid.

S1 GRAND PRIX RACE 2

The final moto was a different story, with the Chareyre brothers willing to take their revenge on countryman Van Den Bosch.

Adrien got another storming start ahead of Thomas and VDB, but Thomas had no mercy for his brother, and passed him as soon as he left an open door.

Adrien Chareyre tried not to lose the contact with the leader, but there was more pressure coming from third place, in the shape of Thierry Van Den Bosch.

The Aprilia rider took no risks, and settled for third behind Adrien; Yamaha mounted Aurelien Rolland –racing in the FIM Supermoto World Championship since last year- made it to his first top five finish with a solid fourth, as the top five ended with Ivan Lazzarini.

On the other hand, Jerome Giraudo, Massimo Beltrami and Sylvain Bidart rounded off the top ten, with Hiemer fourteenth.

Belgian Eddy Seel of Rigo Racing did not take part in this second round because he injured himself in a training session.

S2

CH Husqvarna’s Gerald Delepine opened the day with the victory in the first moto, but a very strong Christian Iddon of Aprilia Off Road came back in the final heat, to win also the overall and conquer a well deserved GP win, the first of his career. Gerald Delepine was second on the podium, ahead of Davide Gozzini, clinching his first podium finish since he moved to TM.

The S2 riders on the podium, with Iddo on top of the block

S2 GRAND PRIX RACE 1

In moto one, Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio was the quickest to enter in the first turn, but he lost the front in the off-road and crashed. He handed the lead to countryman Robert Baraccani of Husaberg WP Factory IPA, but both Gerald Delepine and Christian Iddon had the Italian on their sights.

Matthew Winstanley of KTM Robinsons Rochdale UK was the first to pass him, but he crashed in the off road.  Delepine took the chance to lead the race until the chequered flag, where he arrived before Iddon and TM factory’s Davide Gozzini.

Winstanley made up for the crash with a fourth place, ahead of KTM fellow rider Attilio Pignotti.

S2 GRAND PRIX RACE 2

In the second moto, Iddon broke the ice right from the start, to lead the pack into turn one and pull away with the lead. It was not an easy moto for the Brit, who felt massive pressure from a very determined Gerald Delepine.

The Belgian had a bad first lap, at the end of which he was 16th, but once he saw he could easily make up ground, he smelled the GP victory and set his sights on leader Iddon. Once he got rid of Pignotti and Winstanley, Delepine attacked Iddon, but the Brit closed all doors.

Pignotti arrived third, less than two seconds behind Delepine, and Gozzini was fourth. Matt Winstanley was once again consistent, and ended the top five ahead of an Italian duo made of Graziano Rispoli and Max Verderosa.

IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS

Thierry Van Den Bosch is still on top of the S1 standings, with a seven point advantage over runner up Adrien Chareyre. This GP’s winner Thomas Chareyre is still third, followed by Jerome Giraudo.

Massimo Beltrami dropped down to ninth, and was snatched fifth by Aurelien Rolland. Bernd Hiemer is sixth, just one point behind the Frenchman.

In the S2 class, both Christian Iddon and Gerald Delepine made to overtake Attilio Pignotti, who is currently in third place. Delepine leads with just three more points than Iddon, but Davide Gozzini is making up ground, and moved from seventh to fourth. Graziano Rispoli moved up to seventh, as Matt Winstanley changed his 15th place into a solid eighth. Lorenzo Mariani and Marcel Goetz round off the top ten.

The paddock at the Oval Lingotto was a futuristic facility

UEM-EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP

Poleman Baptiste Rheims clinched two flawless victories to top the overall classification with a full score. Italian Fabio Lavetti was second by 10 points, but countryman Tommaso Iacoboni was on the podium with the same score.

British Chris Hodgson brought the bike home with fourth overall, followed by KTM fellow rider Eddy Richer.

Rheims earned the lead of the series, followed by Tommaso Iacoboni and Riccardo Peroni, who finished sixth today in Torino.

It was a tough round for the Open class, where Petr Vorlicek and Heino Meusburger were the protagonists of a dogfight for the victory. Vorlicek made to top the overall by winning the final moto, as Meusburger won the first one.

With the Austrian second, Uros Nastran completed the podium thanks to two solid moto’s –he finished third and sixth; the first home rider was Fabrizio Bartolini, fourth overall, ahead of Dejan Opet.

Petr Vorlicek was the dominator of these first two rounds of the season

WHAT’S NEXT

The next round of the FIM Supermoto World Championship and UEM European Supermoto Championship will be on next weekend at Villars sous Ecot; in the Open class of the European series there will be a brand new qualifying system, with the second free practise being used as a timed practise. The top 32 will take part in the race.

Information and results on http://www.SuperMotoS1.com, the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.

Fans worldwide can watch this and every race of the 2007 FIM Motocross & SuperMoto World Championships live and on-demand exclusively on The Moto Channel on MediaZone (moto.MediaZone.com). MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specialized in sports, entertainment and international programming.

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