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FIM Supermoto World Championship Series Round :2: GP of Greece s.g"~~ ,,~~L~~ Eddy Saal bacomas tha first non-KTM World round wlnnar STORY AND PHOTOS By MARIO MARINI HERAKLlON, GREECE, MAY 10-11 fter the solid strike achieved by factory KTM's Jurgen Kunzel in the first GP of the 2003 World Supermoto series, at the next round in Greece it was time for another contender to get full and exclusive access under the spotlight, as Belgian Eddy Seel practically dominated the event on his works Husqvarna. Seel, who was coming from a really poor debut in the season opener and was hoping to regain part of the margin lost in the provisional standings, and to keep himself in the championship battle, found in Greece the right ground for his revenge. Starting with Saturday's free practice, he put some fast laps together, later saying that he felt dialed in to the circuit immediately. "Since the first steps on the course I was just feeling perfect," Seel said, "but that comes pretty much from the extended testing before the GP. In fact, the bike was much better than the one we had in Marseille. Now we have adopted a new frame that is different from the prototype we used in France." SeeI comfortably got the third time in the first free practice on Saturday while checking the track's straights and corners before pushing more in the timing session, where he easily got the pole before stopping for 10 , minutes and surprisingly A getting beaten by Husaberg's Ivan Lazzarini in the last stages. In the Sunday morning warmup, Seel was again the fastest. While, as per the new GP format, the GP win comes only from getting first in the SuperFinal, Seel didn't save himself in the preliminary heats, collecting a second and a first. By doing so he gained a good bounce of World points as well. He got the holeshot in race one, but due to a little lack of confidence, he spent a few laps trying to find the right rhythm, and that allowed Vertemati's Max Manzo, who jumped second out of the gate, to pass him without worry. The Italian took advantage of the faster outside line in the off-road section and easily pulled away from Seel, who held second position and left the hard fight for the next heats. "I had a great start, but in the first laps I wasn't feeling perfect mentally, and Max took advantage of that," SeeI said. "So, I used the first final to study the track and Manzo." Race two was another story, with Seel starting second behind the first race winner, Manzo. The Belgian didn't hesitate this time, and he went on the attack early, taking the lead and giving it all he had in an attempt to cushion his advantage. In a few laps, Manzo was some three seconds behind, and SeeI went on to a muchdeserved win. Coming into the SuperPole, SeeI was leading the points combination of race one and race two, and it was really easy for him to prevail. "I had a look at the times of the other riders involved in the SuperPole, and they looked a bit slow, so I went confident for the SuperPole, and I wasn't surprised I accomplished that," SeeI said. The SuperFinal was kind of boring, as the Belgian collected all he invested in the preliminary stages of the GP and basically rode his own race. He aggressively grabbed the lead and pushed really hard for three laps in order to put some distance between him and the followers, headed by Manzo. At midrace the Vertematibacked Manzo was five seconds behind, and at that time the Belgian slowed his pace to cruise all the way to the checkered flag safely. With the GP win and the excellent heat results, See I gained several spots in the standings and now sits sixth. "It was a perfect GP to me, and this puts everything together the way I wanted to battle for the title," SeeI said. "It's not gonna be easy at all. It's a long series, and I see many guys into that fight. Let me say that this was the best GP of the entire series history. The circuit was fantastic, the crowd and the location amazing. I can't say the same on the opening round in Marseille. "I'm kind of surprised for Kunzel's race, though," Seel continued. "When I first saw the circuit, I thought this would have been one where he could play his role." But Kunzel, the Mediterranean GP winner, was never really in the chase after setting fast time in the first free practice on Saturday. He rode reasonably well in race one and race two, with a fifth and a third, but never appeared to be a threat. In the SuperFinal the German had a good start though, with second out of the gate, but he wasn't able to take advantage of it. Later, at the end of the long straight, he lost control and went down. He remounted in around eighth but finished the race J 2th. He would leave Greece second in the standings, 16 points behind new leader Manzo. In fact, Manzo was very happy after the Greek GP, as his goal is the World Title, and consistency is the key in such a long series. His weekend didn't start perfectly: He didn't look extremely fast in Saturday's free and timing sessions, but then he won race one and in the second race felt okay to finish behind See I. The same happened in the SuperFinal - Manzo got a good start behind the Belgian and secured an important second place. "Things are going just fine," Manzo IRlghtt Ivan Lazzarini (7) was the only rider capable of matching lap times with seetin Greece, but the Husaberg rider fell short In the Supert'inal, finishing third, behind new serles points leader Mall Manzo. BRIEFLY••• Despite the fact Ihat no official statement has been released yet. rumors are that the Swiss round (supposed to be held in Dijon-Prenois. France, on June 15) may be canceled, That being the case. the next event would be the Belgian GP on June 29th at Spa-Francorchamps, The general consensus was that the '03 Greek GP was one of the best rounds of the series. Run in the Heraklion port area. the Crete Island location is not new. as several nationals have been run there before. In 2004, there won't be S1GPs and MXGPs on same weekends. "That's the direction we are working to help Youthstream to have a most comfortable schedule possible. - stated CSM (Motocross Sport Commission) president Wolfang Srb, In fact. with Youthstream taking motocross GPs over from the beginning of next year, the company run by Giuseppe Luongo will be involved in two specialties at the same time and requested a schedule with no conflicts between the two series. n e _ s