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appeared almost invincible as he took the pole. Beltrami, Kunzel and the race would be dry, Seel knew that this time he couldn't permit another Lazzarini challenged for the Super holeshot for Lazzarini. The two raced Pole as well. Beltrami was the first to bar to bar up the start straight, with go out but didn't perform one of his See I winning the fight for the inside best laps. That opened the door to line. Then Lazzarini lost another spot Kunzel, but once Seel was up, things in midcorner to the billiant Hiemer, changed dramatically as he cut a lap but he regained the second spot right that was a full second faster than the away to keep Seel in sight and hope average lap times of all the previous to fight for the win. sessions. Lazzarini didn't go that fast, Alone in front, Seel was able to put but he was still good enough to get some really fast laps in and gain the second-fastest time, thus con- some ground, though not as much as firming the great day that he'd had to he wanted. Lazzarini was in great that point. shape and feeling perfect with his Just minutes before the start of the bike like never before. But that was Super Final, clouds showed up to the end of any battling, as the rain intimidate riders with the possibility decided to fall, making the course of rain. Knowing that the early laps of slippery. It wasn't much water, but ~ Boris Chambon struggled BRIEFLY••• at sa.- but . . m• •1 ...... t1dn18IId ratrIn .......... pofnta ..... Max Manzo didn't compete in the Czech round due to the suspension inflicted by the Italian fed· eration for an altercation Manzo had begun in a national race with another rider. Rumors report that the decision was actually boosted by some statements concerning representatives of that federation that the Italian made at the press conference dUring that previous world round in Monza. Whatever the reason is, after officially apologizing. Manzo could probably be back before the suspen· sion's expiration date of September 14th and could enter the Romanian GP the weekend before. With such a long circuit, the number of Super Final laps were reduced. and the contenders had to complete 20 instead of 24 in order to keep standard race time. The preliminary heats were of 10 laps instead of the usual 12. - Before Monza I went to the hospital for five days for some intestine problems," confessed winner Eddy Seel, "and I'm still suffering a big intemal infection. I'm not in a good shape. and at the end of the main event. I was finished and sore. But it was a great win. In the first two motos it was impossible to pass Lazzarini. I showed more aggressiveness in the second. but he didn't make mistakes. and that was alii could do. The Super Pole came easy, as when I'm alone on the track I always do good laps. I knew that with a better start things could change, and I really went for it in the Super Final. Once ahead, I pushed immediately, and I won. My goal today was to collect points because I have two bad races under my belt already, and it's time to get consistent." Positive comments also from Ivan Lazzarini: "We had a lot of problems in Monza, but we fixed most of them up. So this was the first race I'm entering 100·percent ready to give alii have. This is how things are supposed to go, and I'm really happy, and today Seel and I had different pace than the rest of the group. In the first heat it was really easy. In the second Seel started attacking, and I had to go really fast to keep him away from win. I made a scary mistake in the final lap before a jump, and I got legs off. In the main, Seel and I went really close at the first cor· ner, and he forced me out of the best line. Then I had to chase him. but when the rain started, I decided that I didn't have to ruin such a great weekend. I think in general I make the difference in the dirt, and also my Husaberg and my tuner Marco Riga helped me a lot. .. "My mission in Europe is to get some experience because the tracks in America are nothing like the tracks over here," said Doug Chandler. "At KTM they said it would be good for me to come over here and see what it was like, and it's a big change. a lot different from what I'm used to. but I like it a lot. and I wish we had more time. You know we had just a little testing, and it's difficult. I didn't know what to expect. They told me it was faster here. but I didn't know it was this fast. At home we ride karting tracks, and it's nothing like this. This Is a real Supermoto track. The corners here are longer and faster. and in America if we slide a little bit going into the corners, we rarely slide on exit. and here you slide on exit a lot. But it's okay, it's just matter of leaming. The organization and all this reminds me of when I was doing GPs. It's pretty much the same, really profeSSional. It's perfect. In America. it's too new to compare." This won't be the last experience for Doug Chandler in World Supermoto. He and other Americans might attend more events iater in the season, according to John Zolikoff. who was responsible for the KTM USA's Supermoto program. Zolikoff was in Sosnova supporting Chan· dler with KTM's motorsports marketing manager Ron Heben and HMC's Mitch Hansen. The American crew in the Czech Republic also investigated the possibility of organizing a World Supermoto round in America next year. possibly in concomitance with an '04 AMA Supermoto round. What it pays: At every FIM World Supermoto GP, the winner collects a check of 10,000 Euros (more than $10,0001. Ivan Lazzarini is rumored to have received interesting offers from Aprilia. Husqvarna and KTM for next year. and most probably he will be teammate to Chambon and Kunzel in '04. He will compete at South Boston in America on August 30 at the AMA Red Bull Supermoto Champi· onship. Lazzarini will do the Unlimited class on a 600cc Husaberg and probably the small class as well on a 450cc KTM if manager Kurt Nicoll (who will race the third round in Atlanta at mid-Sep· temberl will give the okay. Boris Chambon will do the 450cc class as will Eddy Seel (who was preViously against the ideal, and Massimo Beltrami will make an appearance in America, maybe at the same round. Aprilia will have a team in the World Supermoto next year, and it appears as though it will consist of Max Manzo and 2002 World Champion Thienry Van Den Bosch. Belgian Frederic F'lOrentino had a negative day in Sosnova. The poor 13th time he collected on Saturday affected his Sunday program. He got 8th In mota one, 21 st in mota two and 8th in the final. enough to slow the pace down, Even &p at Czech Republic Sosnava, Czech Republic so, Seel kept up his speed for a few more scary laps, performing huge Results: July 2&,,27, 2003 [Round 51 slides where the others preferred to MOTO 1 (10 laps): I. Ivan Lazzarini (Hbg); 2. Eddy Seel (Hus); 3. Jurgen Kunzel (KTM); 4. Boris Chambon (KTM); 5. Massimo Beltrami (Hus); 6. Bernd Hiemer (Hus); 7. Fabrice Guyot (Hus); 8. Frederic Fiorentino (KTM); 9. Simone Girolami (Hon); 10. Gerald Delepine (Vor). MOTO 2 (10 laps): I. Ivan Lazzarini (Hbg); 2. Eddy Seel (Hus); 3. Jurgen Kunzel (KTM); 4. Massimo Beltrami (Hus): 5. Bernd Hiemer (Hus): 6. Petr Vorlicek (KTM); 7. Fabrice Guyot (Hus); 8. Boris Chambon (KTM); 9. Gerald Delepine (Ver); 10. Wilfried Reiter (KTM). avoid risks. That was that. Seel won for the second time this year, matching his performance in Greece. He was followed by Lazzarini. The Super Final's real surprise was Chambon. Third for him was like a win, considering the difficulty that he was having in Sosnova's slippery dirt, SUPER FINAL (20 laps): I. Eddy Seel (Hus); 2. Ivan Lazzarini (Hbg); 3. Boris Chllmbon (KTM); 4. Gerald Delepine (Ver): 5. Massimo Beltrami (Hus); 6. Bernd Hiemer (Hus); 7. Fabrice Guyot (Hus); 8. Frederic Fiorentino (KTM); 9. Simone Girolami (Ver); 10. Graziano Rispoli (Hon). The finish allowed him to retain the lead in the series championship. Kunzel is still second, even after he suf- FIM WORLD SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (After 5 of 14 rounds): 1. Boris Chambon (163/2 wins); 2. Jurgen KunzeJ (155/1 win); 3. Ivan Lazzarini (138); 4. Frederic Fiorentino (124): 5. fered clutch problems and collected a mediocre 11th in the Super Final. KTM's Klaus Kinigadner on Saturday urgently left the circuit to go back to Austria where his brother's son suffered a terrible back injury. His brother is popular two-time MX World Champion Heinz, manager at KTM. Eddy See I (123/2 wins); 6. Max Manzo (103): 7. Fourth place went to Delepine, ahead Massimo Beltrami (102); 8. Gerald DeJepine (94); 9. Fabrice Guyot (81): 10. William Rubio (56). of Beltrami. Chandler got 18th, but he didn't complete the last lap. At Sosnova we leamed that MotoGP star Max BialKli is training extensively for Supermoto and wants to participate in the 450cc class at the AMA Red Bull finale in Las Vegas on November 22. Upcoming Rounds: Round 6 - Bucharest, Romania, September 6-7 Round 7 - Melk, Austria, September 13-14 Lazzarini is third in the standings and Seel fifth, behind Fiorentino. cue I e eN n e _ s • AUGUST 13, 2003