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F IM World S u p e r m o t o Championship Serie s Round 1 1 : GP of Europe [Above) Seel has been unstoppable In World competition lately. He has won the last three rounds and has six wins on the year. [Left) Although Boris Chambon [ 15 1 won both premllminary metos, Eddy Seel (100) once again scored the big win In the SuperFlnal at the GP of Europe. Seel now trails Chambon by 12 points with two rounds remaining in the World Supermoto series. S T O RY A ND PH OTO S By M A RIO beh ind the standings leader and cut into the po ints gap a little bit. The dif ference between them is 12 after Pergusa, and while C hambon ha s to accompli sh the easier mission of keep ing himself out of trouble and avoidi ng any direct conflict with Seel, the latter has no othe r ch oice than to keep giving his best and winn ing . In the case th at Cha m bo n incurs some ba d l uck, t h e tit le si t uatio n could change drasti call y . It was a di sappointing weekend for the th ird -p laced m an in th e sta ndi ngs, K unze l, wh o i n th e Sup er F in al got i nvolved i n a n u n fo rtun at e crash brough t on by another Belgian, Gerald Delepine . Max Manzo collected another podium finish to return himself to fourth place in th e series standings. Manzo 's situation was hel ped when Ivan Lazzarini came to Sic il y injured after an unlucky crash caused by an amateur rider wh ile practicing some m ot ocross. Th e Husaberg rider suffered a severe genital inj ury (he spent on e day in the hospital ) that kept him well off the pac e in Pergus a. He rod e a lap onl y in each of th e prelim in ar y heats to earn a spot in th e m ai n event and gain some points. M A RI N I PERGUSA, ITAlY, NOV. 8ยท9 just two ro unds to go, the 'V v:.; long battle for the F IM World S u p e r m o t o series has reached a feveri sh pi tch , and the duel at the top of the stan dings between provisional leader Bori s Chambon and his main rival , Eddy Seel, no w leaves no roo m for mistakes by eithe r of them . T h e F ren chm an Cha mbon le ad s th e series, but h is B el gian rival has been unstop pable of late, and in the m ost rece nt ro und, th e GP of Eu rop e h eld in Pergu sa , Si cil y , SeeI o nce aga in brought his fact or y Husqvarn a home in f ir st place. It marked the sixth GP victory he has collected in 2003 an d t he third in a row before ap proaching the last two rounds. " It was ano ther easy w in , " See I said . " When I can start first , it' s not difficult for me to set m y pace and go . In th e preliminary races I couldn't take risks . In the first , m y clutch didn 't react perfect, and I lost the spr int, so Chambon was ahead , and I cou ldn't pass him because th e track hardl y permitted that. In the second it was the sam e, but our speed wasn 't that crazy . In fact. in th e ma in event I show ed we cou ld go a second faster at least. An y wa y , Chambon ro de a re all y smart race , and so did I. Now I do not think about th e title becaus e I still have 12 points gap , and we'll see if I wi ll able to burn tha t in th e next two races." Chambon fini shed sec ond ( b u t dom in at ed both prel iminary h eats ) , and thanks als o to a crash by J urgen Kun zel ( p rev io us ly sec o n d in th e championship ), Seel jumped up righ t ,"lilJ! it h 20 NOVEMBER 26 . 2003' cue op ened the door to a determined Charnbon. who the n took co ntrol until the end with the Belgian and Kunzel close be hi nd hi m - bu t n ot close enough to t r y a m o v e. T h e circui t design mad e pa ssing di ffi c u l t , and that ke pt Seel from tryi ng harder. Vertemati's Delep in e followe d th e three ri de rs in fro nt for 99 perc ent of t he race , b ut on t he last lap Rub io took ove r th e fo urt h spo t. Man zo fin ishe d sixth. M OTOTWO First moto results det erm in ed a new grid setu p , thi s tim e wi th Ch ambon sitting on t he po le, right ahead of Seel , Kunzel an d Rubi o. And again the start was dom inat ed by the fa streacting Cha m bon. The race turned out to be an exact replica of fi rst heat. Chambon, Seel , Kunzel , Rubio and Delep ine ran in a convoy and completed the 12 laps in that order. Seel rode really smart and collected another second. That meant that after the first two motos (where th e winn er takes 10 points, the second 9 and so on ). he was two more points down to Chambon , but there was still th e SuperFinal, wh ich could allow SeeI to recoup th ose points and more. MOTO ONE Th e suc ces sfu l week end for SeeI in Sicil y sta rted, as usu al, with the Pol e he co m fo rt ab ly co ll ec t ed on Saturd ay . Second this time was Kun zel, ahea d of team m ate Chambon and th e Fr enchman William Rubi o. But once on th e grid on Sunday , at th e st a rt o f m ot o o n e , S ee I ju st couldn' t tak e advant ag e of his privi le ged spot on th e sta rting line. Th at I III n e vv s SUPERPOLEISUPERFINAL Cha m bon, Seel, Kunzel and Rubio go t th e chance to fight for th e Sup erPol e, an d aga i n it w as See I wh o left h i s mark. He go t th e pol e, with Kunzel , Chambon and Rubi o fo llowi ng him in that orde r. Winning a Sup erFina l, alo ng with givin g th e GP win , also m ean s 25 championsh ip points, and Seel used all the energy saved i n the early stages of the Pergusa GP program to get all of them. His start th is time was perfect, an d he exited the first corner in front of everyone, with Kunzel secon d an d Ch amb on b eh i n d. In t h is heat th e Belgian want ed to prove th at his speed in the two preliminary finals was n't his best effort, and he ran his laps about a second per la p faster than Ch ambon did when he was the one lea ding. While Seel took off im m ediat ely , Ku nzel got passed by his teammate Ch ambon and Delep ine right awa y on lap one . Th e Germ an nati onal cha m pi on answe red Del ep in e 's ch allenge immediat el y , and so the race at the top proceeded until three -q ua rters or' th e 24 lengths w er e co m p let e d. That's wh en Kun zel w ent d own thanks to a c r as h c a use d b y Delep in e, wh o was att ach ed to h is tail an d app ro ac h ed the o ff-roa d section's entrance wi th too m uch gusto. Ma nzo p assed Fabrice Guyo t and Fred eric Fiorent in o in m id ra ce, and he was able to take advantage of the collision between Kunzel a n d Delep ine before they got going again. Kunzel was the first of the two crash victi m s to .recover, and he managed to finish fourth . behind Manzo. eN &P af Eul1lpe ""rgusa. Italy Results: Navl SUPER FINAL: I . Edd y See I ( Hus ): 2. Bor i s Che m bo n ( KT M) ; 3 . Max Manzo (Ver) ; 4 . Jurgen Ku nzel (KTM ) : 5 . Fr ede ri c Fior en tin o ( KTM ); 6. Febrice Guyot (Hus) ; 7 . Dav ide Gazz in i (Hus) ; 8. Massimo Beltra m i (Hus): 9. Peter Vorli cek (KTM) ; 10. Gerome Giraud o (Ver) . FIM WORLD SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES STA NDINGS ( Aft er 11 of 13 rounds): l. Bori s Chambon (36 8/ 2 wins): 2. Eddy Seel (356/6 win s); 3 . Jurgen Kunzel (3 54 {2 win s) ; 4. (TI E) MlJx Manzo (250/1 win ){ Ger old Delepi ne (2 50 ); 6 . Ivan Lazzarini (2 44 ); 7 . Feb rice Guyot (20 4 ); 8 . Frederic Fioren ti no (2 01 ) ; 9 . Mass im o Bel treml ( 177) ; 10 . Wil lia m Rubio ( 150) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 12 - Spa Francorchamps, Belgium. November 16 Round 13 - Fineslra t-Benidorm, Spain, November 30