Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

- -~ ---------------------------------------- F !M W o r ld S u p e r m o t o Championship S erie s R ound 1 0 : G P of Lydd -Ashford ST OR Y AND PH OTO By M A RI O M A RI N I lY DD·ASHFORD, ENGlAND, OCT. 25-26 T h e ser ie s of misfortunes and errors Ed dy See! went through in this lon g c h am pionsh ip co uld have t urned o ff anyone 's motivation . but th e B elg ian faced his c ha lle nge the tough wa y and rep li ed by beco mi ng m ore and more confi de nt instead . A nd no w h e ca n claim to be basically a t the top again, after a h ard climb up the standings, which bring s h im b a c k into th e wo r ld t itl e cont en d e r s ' elite cl u b . In fac t , a f t e r an ot her wi n in En g la nd , h is fi fth t h is year an d second in a row , hi s g ap to cham p ions h ip lead er B oris Ch ambon now st ands at onl y 13 points . W ith 45 w orld po ints a va il abl e at all of th e ne xt three GPs , t hat ga p is hardly as cr ucial as i t wa s b e f o r e , a n d his cha n ces to win the title bec ome m ore real , es pe ciall y no w t h at he seems to be a b le t o put m a ss ive pressure o n h is d ire ct rivals . MOTO ONE ~ c ir c u it w asn 't g ood ye t , and in a cou p i e o f lap s Jur g en Kunz e l p a sse d him. But wh en four laps w ere left, th e G erman went d own in the dirt, and Lazzar in i fin ish ed t hird , in front of Max Manzo and Ku nze!. Cham bon had to work hard just to fin ish 11th. M OTOTWO The second grid showed Delepine stt t i ng o n t he pole with Seel , Lazzarin i and Ma nzo in the first row. Delepine h a d a nother great start, and h e d o gg ed h is fellow Belgian for th e first eight laps . S e el proved to be a lot fas te r, and that convinced D elep in e not to get i nvolved in a d ange ro us d e f e n s i v e b a tt l e . Visi b ly, the Ve rte mati rider left t he fast line clea re d for Seel , who eas ily w ent on to wi n the heat. Lazzarin i fi nished t hird aga in, after Manzo , who w as th ird fo r most of th e heat, had to he ad to the pits w ith a brok en e n gi ne , just li k e h i s othe r teammat e Gerome Gir au d o d id in th e ve ry same la p . G erm an n ew tal en t B ernd Hi emer fi n ishe d fourt h t h i s time, ahead of M assimo B eltrami and Cham bon , wh o w a s sta r ti n g f ro m th ird ro w . Kun zel h ad anot her so - so race ; he o nly collected a ninth p la ce. In spite o f the wea t her forecast, the ra in nev er touched the Lydd asphalt, an d S ee I ea sil y cut th e p o l e lap on S aturday , eve n if this ti me he never f o u n d th e track c o m p le te ly empty wh il e atte m pt ing th e fa st lap . Second i n th e ti me d pr act ic e wa s se ries le ad er B oris Ch ambon, ah ead of Ger ald Delepin e and Iv an Lazzari ni. A t the start o f moto one, Delep in e g o t a c lear h ol e sho t. See l started r ight b eh ind hi m an d spen t most of t he ra ce findin g the go o d rh ythm and confidence. SeeI nev er attem p te d an attack on Del ep in e, the circuit m ak - Seel, Del ep in e, Lazzarin i and Hiem er w ere t he fou r ri d ers elig ibl e f o r t h e Su perpole (the la tter in h is first time t his yea r), and t he B e l g i a n on h is Hu sk y h a s n o m ajo r o bstacles i n grab bing t he pole. A n d o nce the Su pe rFinal's green l i ght w a s o n , he t o ok r a c e co ntro l from t he f irst corner, wh ic h he exited in g p assi ng diffcult. L azzar ini w a s beh ind See l's num ber 10 0 Hus qva rna , but h is fe el of th e in an a g g ressi v e m anner in front of Beltrami , Del ep in e and Lazzarin i. See I com fo rtably com plete d th e 24 42 N O V EM B ER 12 , 2003' cue SUPERPOLEISUPERFINAL I e n e vv s laps of the fi na l ahead t he rest o f t he group to win his fifth GP th is season. Some oil o n the tra ck could have put his easy win in danger at mid r ac e , but lu ck il y he c ont rolled his b i k e when he hit it and sec ured the result. Be hind him Lazza ri n i was secon d befo re th e fi r st lap was over, a n d t h ere he stayed un til the end. T he Italian also ha d a scary huge slide in the o il, bu t lu ck il y nothi ng neg at iv e h ap p en ed . Co ming from two no t -exci ting 10t h and eighth places in the prelimin ar y heats, Fren chman Fabrice Guyot fin is hed thi rd th e main ev ent to m at ch hi s season -best th ird in th e previ ou s rou nd. He sta rte d eig hth an d lap by lap reach ed the good third on podium. In th e ra c e' s early stages th er e w as a reall y i nt erest i ng b attl e between t h e t w o It a li a n s , B elt r ami and D av i d e Gozz in i. The fi rs t then re ti re d with a fi at t ire, an d the secon d w ent d o wn after h itting th e oil but g ot b ack and fin ish ed fifth, his best result ev er. C ha m bo n c ras h e d righ t a ft er G o zzin i a n d Kunz el a s w ell . Th e F renchman got b ack up qu icker and passed Gozz ini ri ght away. The German also pa ssed Gozzini, but Gozzini rep lied with a convin cing pass. Delepine lost t he front w heel in th e dirt on the f irst lap an d then had to come b ac k from eighth place. It was a missio n m ore di ffi cul t t han expected b ec au se h e got a li ttl e im p atient a nd we n t dow n agai n . H e fi ni s hed six t h ahead o f Kun ze!. Ma x Manzo d id just a lap or a little more before h is b ik e failed again. eN &P 01 Lydd-Ashfonl Lydd-Ashlonl, England Results: DclDber 25-2&, 2003 [Round 10 at 131 S U PERF IN AL : I. Ed dy See l ( Hu s) : 2 . lva n Lazzarini ( Hbg) ; 3 . Febr ice Guyot (Hus); 4 . Boris Chambon (KTM): 5 . Devlde Gozzini (Hue}; 6 . Gerald Delepine (Ve r) : 7. Jurgen Kunzel ( KTM ) ; 8 . Eric Lambert (Yam ); 9. Jean-Marc Gaillard ( Hon); 10. Lorenzo Mariani (TM) . FIM S UP ERMOTO WORLD CHA MP IO N SHIP SER IES POINTS STANDINGS (After 10 of 13 Rounds) : I. Boris Chambon (326/ 2 .....ins); 2. Jurgen Kunzel (320/2 wins): 3. Eddy Seel (3 13/5 wins): 4. lv en Lazzarini (23 9 ); 5. Gerald Delepine (23 2) ; 6. Max Manzo (22 2/ 1 win); 7. Frederic Fiorentino (181 ); 8. Febrice Guyot ( 180): 9. Massimo Beltrami ( 164) ; 10. William Rubio (129 ). Upcoming Rounds: Round 11 • Pergusa, Sicily, November 9 Round 12 • Spa Francorchamps , Belgium, November 15 BRIEFLY••• Gerald D elepine will c hange te a ms in 2004 and will be the squadmate of Eddy Seel unde r the Husqvama tent. The two will compose the S 1 lineup for the Italian manufacturer in World Supermoto in S2. the new class starting next year. Davide Gozzini will be the first choice along with another young rider. Rumors report that former World Champion Thierry V a n D en Bosch will be negotiating with some supermoto teams. Apnlia is reportedly trying hard to hire the French specialist who could in the future also be involved in its other paved activity, Superlbike. The latest word says that he already tested the new 450cc Aprilia. Also. Max Manzo is talking with Aprilia. and it's not lmpos sible: He leaves Vertemati at the end of the season. after giving it the first GP win. The last round of the championship to be held in Duba l has been ca nceled and will be substituted by another race in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium . on November 15-16. The race in Duhai will take place next year. as will other exotic rounds according to the just-released 2004 calendar. World Supenmoto in fact will touch the soil of Libya and Malaysia as well. ..

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