Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128245
F IM World S u p e r m o t o Champio n s h ip Ser ies F in a l R o u n d : G P o f Spain ee '5 Husqvarr\a's marl r\ets the World Supermoto title t o show th rough, as h e once ag ai n got th e p o l e. Bu t Ch am bo n d i dn 't look slow at all , and his second pla ce p ro ved it. S T O RY A N D P HO T O S B Y M A RIO MARINI F1NESTRAT·BENIDORM, SPAIN, NOV. 29·30 t really w asn' t at thi s last round o f the World FIM Supermoto ser i es th at Eddy Seel won his fir st ti tle . His co ron at ion as th e new ki ng of supe rmoto w as all but ensured at th e race b efo r e, wh ere he put a solid m ar k on th e c ham p ionsh ip by winni ng all th ere was t o w in in a single event and by ta k ing a lead that was so s t ro n g t hat h i s p r i mar y rival , KTM's Boris Ch ambon, was left with the v i rtually im p o ss ib l e mission of overcoming a 21 -point deficit. Basically , Seel ha d no major concerns coming int o the final round of the series, the G P of Spain at the Finestrat Karting facility in Finestret Ben idorm , especially after Chambon seem ed to be in surrender mode after coming from an unfortunate crash at the AMA Red Bull Supermoto finale in Las Vegas with an injured leg. Plus, Ch am bon couldn't count on much support from his teammate , Jurgen Kunzel, who could still take away the runner-up position in the standings from Cham bon. Some more interesti ng fi nal jock eyin g w as ex pected throughout th e field, as fourth p lace in the series was u p for g rab s bet w een It alia n s Ma x Manzo an d Iva n Lazzarin i. Belgi um' s Ge r a l d D el ep i n e , was p art o f t he g am e too, wh il e his fello w countrym an Fr ed er i c Fi or entino an d t he Fr e n c h m an F ab r i c e G u y ot w er e involved in a lower-leve l battle in the standings. T he Saturday tim ed pract ice was just ano the r occasion for Seel's speed I 40 JANUARY 7 .2004' cue • M O T O O NE Sitting in t he ad va nced spo t of t he grid hasn 't alw ay s he lp ed SeeI gra b the lead, but in Spain he leap ed to a h ug e gap over everyone else in th e long right -hand corner aft er the sta rt . F rom th ere he rod e j ust abo ut perfectly, w ith no m istak es t o p ut t he ti tle in jeo pardy. A ft er 12 smooth la ps, SeeI had the win. Chambon ran second just one lap before being overtaken by Massimo Beltrami and Davide Gozzini , who fough t hard until the end, although their positions never changed ; they finished second and third, respectively. Chambon was fourth, in front of Kunzel, Guyot and Delepine. Lazzarini came up from 13th to 10th but was completely out 'of energy once he got off the bike. Manzo didn 't do much and complained about an erratic engine. Rubio also ha d a di sastrous heat as he came from the second row in the grid to finish a lowly 14th. MOTOTWO Th e second m ot o sta rt saw SeeI and Bel t rami alm o st c rossi ng lines, b ut nothing un fortun ate happened, and SeeI wrung out his factory Husky to disappea r quickly in t he lead . If he could win , th en no matter how Cha m bon wou ld have fi nished, SeeI wo uld cl in c h Wo r l d Cham p ion ship before th e com pletio n of th e entire GP progra m . A nd so Seel did , la p by lap , kee p ing his good li nes to win th e sece n e vv s o n d m ot o and also ea rn h i s fi rs t World titl e after an incred ibl y ard uo us seaso n in wh i c h he wa s abs o lute ly brilliant in th e second hal f. " I k ne w I w as th e faste st ," Se eI sa id . " I just n eed ed t o put all t h e th ing s t ogether. In th e beg in ni ng of th e season the te am was new, and we k ind of had to find the goo d chem ist ry and th en work on th e bik e. I had terri b le res ults fo r d iffe re nt reasons , and I had als o ph y sical problem s, but if yo u consider I fi nis hed 22 nd in th e fi rst ro un d, and I got th e standi ngs lead at the penultimate, you see it was a hard championship , and I worked hard to get it. In my m ind I was sure that at this race only bad luck could take the title away from m e, and I'm in such a good shape now that I find it terrible the season is over. I would like to continue racing m ore and more, but we have to wait six months before the World Champi· onship starts again. I think this sec ond edition of the S 1 GP was really good, and it 's amazing how the spe cialty is getting important. We had a couple of really bad tracks, but I heard that they are out for 2004, so thanks to YouthStream for the great work.' T he early seco nd moto stages saw Cha m bo n taki ng adva ntage of a go od spri nt out o f th e gate, an d he p ut him self in seco nd place fo r more tha n h alf th e ra ce befo re a fast- movi ng Gozzini reele d him in. Kun zel fini shed one m or e ti m e behind Cha m bo n but ahe ad of Delep ine. Manzo did a littl e be tt er th an in m o t o one, as he got se ve nt h pl ac e. La zzari n i co m p leted j ust a co uple of lap s before cras hing i n th e off - road sec t i o n due t o the Although his SuperFlnal w in streak came to a halt at the final Wortd Supennoto round, In Spain, Ed dy Seel clinched the title by winning b oth preliminary motos. The Belgian finished second In the SuperFinal. weakness coming from his fever and h is inj ured right foot. He wo uld op t to pu ll out of the event afte r the cr ash. S UPERPOLEISUPERFINAL See l's unoffic ia l t itle c el eb rati o ns were immedi at ely inte rr up te d as the SuperPo le rid ers w ere summon ed t o th e grid. Seel, Gozzini , Chambon and Kunzel were ob viou sly in vit ed to participate . It was here th at Seel made his fi rst Superpol e m i st ak e . Perhaps less focused this time, th e B elgi an had tw o exce ssive slides on his fl ying lap , and it co st him th e pole. Instead , the y o u n g and quick -l earn ing Gozzini , with no hesitation and a lot of excitemen t , put i n th e fas t est l ap and ga in ed the fi rst pol e of his life. Seel was sec ond , ahea d of Chambon and Ku nze!. For th e first tim e in a while, SeeI didn't take the lead in the Sup erFinal but rather performed a m ed iocre start and left the door open fo r an interest ing group of hungry racers headed by the agg res siv e - ri d i n g G o zzin i. T h e Ita lian , who ha s shown co nsi derable im p rov eme nt at every race since get ting his factory Husqvarna ride, kept Cha m bon at bay for four laps. But the Fren c hm an d id pass G o zzini , and fro m there Cham bon gave all he had until the end , earni n g his t hi rd win this y ear and perform ing one of his popula r one-leg wheeli es. S e e I w a s a not he r sto ry, as he c a m e fr om 10t h p la c e an d o nce again showed how fast he is by passing his way th rou gh the field to finish seco nd. T he Belgi an had to deal with Verte ma ti's Gerome Giraud o fo r eight laps an d t h en put D el epin e behind him in the matter of a single lap. It was harder with Kunzel and Gozzin i, as both kept Seel bottled for the next 11 laps and before he fought his way past them . Kunzel finished fourth. Delepine , Beltrami and Manzo followed from fifth through seventh. The final stand ings , then. didn 't change for the first fourth places . Seel was champ ion , followed by Chambon , Kunzel and Manzo. Fifth on the year went to '02 runner-up Delepine, while Lazzarini wa s sixth, ahead of Gu y o t , the two gaining a place from their 2002 fin i shes. Fiorentino, Beltram i and Rubio com pleted the to p 10 . CN &P of Spain Flnestrat-Benidonn, Spain Results: November 29·30,2003 IRound 13 of 131 SUPER FINAL: 1. Bert e Chambon ( KTM ): 2 . Eddy See ! (Hus ); 3. Devlde Gozzlru (Hue): 4 . Jurgen Kunzel (KTM) ; 5. Gerald Delepine (v er): 6. Massimo Beltrami (Hus) ; 7. Max Manz o (Ver) ; 8 . Febnce Guyot Hus) ; 9 . Jerome Giraudo (Ver) ; 10. Wllllam Rubio Hus). FIM WO RL D SUPERM OTO CHAMP IONSH I P SERIES PO INTS STA ND INGS ( Aft er 13 of 13 r ound s) : 1. Eddy Seel ( 443 /7 wi ns ) ; 2. Bori s Chembcn (420/3 wins ) ; 3. Jurgen K unzel (403/2 wins ); 4 . Max Manzo (301/1 win ); 5 . Gerold Delepine l (294 ) ; 6 . Ivan Lezze rtnl (281); 7 . Fe brlce Guyot (230 ) ; 8 . Fre der ic Florentino (225) ; 9 . Mass imo Bettremi (222 ): 10. William Rubio (166 ).