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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128348
motos , leading Delepine and then VDB
across the stripe in mot o one, with the
second- and third-placed riders swapping
positions in moto two .
The main eve nt saw Seel up front again
, charging hard to put some distance
between himself and the rest of the pack,
with Delepine secon d and KTM teammates VDBand Lazzariniclose behind him.
Delepine's hold on the runner-up spot
didn't last long, as he could not re pel the
attack from the KTM riders on lap two. It
was the same for Seel, who saw the gap
reduced due to the aggressing riding of
VDB. When the sixth lap was completed,
the lead moved from Seel's hands into
VDB's. The French man then ke pt it till the
end and won his third round this year, this
time ahead of Delepine - and he did it con fident that his physical problems we re
finally history. He no longe r has to worry
about the lack of energy that he experienced again only a month ago in Germany.
"I felt much better here compared to
Sachsenring, and my blood tests confirmed
that I'm in a better shape, so I hope to be
on the right way," VDB said. "Despite my
physicalproblems, I had some good res ults
so far in the season , and feeling normal
now I really hope to be able to put some
real pressure and go for the World title".
VDBsaid that he didn't push so much to
pass Seel in the motos.
"My plan was to win the Super Final,"
he said. ':A.nd there I had a better start as I
got out second off the grid, but I did a mistake in the first corner and Delepine
passed me. Then I passed him back on the
asphalt, and then I waited a coup le of laps
before passing Seel. At that point I knew
[Boris] Chambon was out , and I tried to
stay focused on my race so I got bot h the
GP win and the leadership in the standings.
The battle is not over. There are four more
races ahead, and next weekend everything
can happen. Here at Ottobiano , I really
liked the off-road sector, even if several
riders crashed through it. Whe n the dirt is
not technical, some riders co mplain. When
it's techn ical, others complain too, so it's
always difficult to make everyone happy. I
raced the X Games and crashed in the
whoops , but I never complained . We're
professional riders: '
Seel rode well in the fi rst two motos,
but in the main event he didn't look as co nsistent, and he finished third. That res ult,
along with the 20 points he got for his two
wins in the early motos, leaves him fi fth in
the standings, with a gap of 30 points from
the to p. For him the batt le for the title is all
but over, and this cou ld be his last attempt
in the SI class, as it apparently loo ks like he
will do the S2 division next year, along with
Boris Cham bon. Speaking of Chambon,
the Frenchman had a really tough weekend in Italy. A fifth in moto one and a ninth
in moto two, togethe r with the crash and
a zero collected in the Super Final meant a
poor overall for him. Now he is seco nd in
the standings, with Lazzarini just four
points away.
Lazzarini was com ing back from a win in
the Italian National Championship and
from the recovery of that broken foot he
suffered in Germany after the unfortu nate
crash generated by teammate van den
Bosch. At Ottobiano, Lazzarini was stuck
in fourth place: He had fourth-best time in
practice, finished fourth in both motos, and
he finished fourth in the Super Final.
"My fracture is not a major pro blem
anymore ," he said. "Here, fourth was the
maximum I could get . I wasn't capable to
do any bette r, and the ones on the podium
deserve their results. I struggled a little bit
in the dirt, and I didn't expect that because
it's usually easy for me to go fast there. But
now I'll do my best to get close to Thierry
and to reach again the fi rst place in the
standingsand giveali i have to win the title."
Afte r winning the Ge rman round ,
Delepine proved to be a solid contender at
Ottobiano as well by riding consistently
near the top of the or der. He collected a
lot of points in Italy and sits fourth in the
provisional standings, 25 behind leader
VDB. Dele pine could just be the sur prise
man in the series home stre tch.
52
The S2 class proved again to be really
exciting des pite the fact that the final
results may not show it. In fact, in Italy it
was a great day for Aprilia teammates
Jerome Giraudo and Frederic Bolley with
,
the fi rst winning bot h motos and the second putting in anot her solid win in the
Super Final. That, for the Aprilias, was a
really crucial success because it came on a
track that didn't see m to re present an
advantage for the Italian twin bike.
But behind them the re were a lot of
happe nings involving other riders. First of
all, the pole position wen t to a fast Davide
Gozzini. The opening round's winner on
his Husqvama put a really fast time on
Saturday, and neither Giraudo nor Bolley
could beat it. But Gozzini also banged up
his knee and damaged ligaments, and now
he'll be forced to continue the season like
that before going under the knife. Second
went to standings leader Max Verderosa ,
and third we nt to factory TM's Fabio
Balducci. Then came Bolley and Giraudo.
Also in the battle this time was wildcard
Trampas Parker, who qualifiedby collecting
the 10th-fastest time.
The race didn't reflect the timed practice results as both early motos we nt to a
superstrong Giraudo. In the first, Gozzini
was up on front in the initial laps, but
Giraudo put a lot of pressure on him and
the Husky rider went down ove r the double jump. Balducci and Verderosa fi nished
second and third, respectively. Moto two
was even better for Giraudo, who got the
lead and pulled away. He was followed
again by Balducci and Verderosa. Gozzini,
meanwhile, came fro m last place on the
starti ng grid to fifth.
In the Supe r Final, Giraudo got a great
start but was followed closely by teammate Bolley. The two pulled away togeth er until Giraudo crashed really hard - due
to oil dro pped by Michele Lavetti's Terra
Modena - and lost consciousness for a
short while. Bolley was in control for the
rest of the way, and he scored his seco ndround win in a row.
"When I saw the crash of Giraudo, I
didn't feel comforta ble as I knew it was a
big crash," Bolley said. "Eve ry lap I tried to
see if he was okay or not . It was terrible
not knowing if he was okay or not . It was a
strange and danger ous place to go down .
To me, more than the win, it was important that Giraudo didn't get injured ."
www.cyclenews.com
Behind Bolley came former Wo rld
Motoc ross Cha mpio n Parke r, the
American finishing second in his first World
Supermoto GP.
"I'm entering the last few Supermoto
GPs before com peting in the ent ire se ries
next year," Parker said. "This was my last
year in motocross; I was third in the MX3
class before breaking a wrist. Then I came
back and broke a rib, so I decided to quit
with motocross and do some supermoto
for Daverio Formula Team. It's going pre tty well, and after some races in the Italian
nationals, I got this awesome second place
in my first GP. I didn't expect to start that
good . We expected to get in the top 10,
but right after moto one I told the team we
could finish top five, no prob lem. I got the
second , and that was reallygood .
Gozzini was third in the Super Final,
right ahead of standings leader Verderosa.
S OUTH M ILANO KARTl NG TRAC K
On08lANO, ITAlY
R ESUL
TS: O CTOBER 9·10, 2004 (ROUND
S)
SI S UP ER FIN AL(20 !aP')' I. Th;",ry van den Bosch
(KTM): 2. Gerald DeJepine (Hus): 3. Eddy See! (H",): i . !von
l.az::z.arini (KTM); S. Max Manzo (Apr) : 6. Frederico Brand i
(Hus); 7. Fabric e Guyot (TM); 8 . Valter Bartofini (V0l"); 9.
Matthew W",","1ey (KTM): 10. Gr.Wano Rispoli (V"'): I I.
jochen J"""'" (Hbg): 12. Mau", r-to-en c (Han): 13. MMCel
Goetz (KTM), Ii. Jan Kvasocka (Hus); IS. Mochael Paul
(Hus); 16. Maxim Tetsu (Hus); 17. Andrea Pow (Hon ): 18.
Bons Chambon (KTM).
Time: 24 mm., 10.8 17 sec .
Margi n ofvktory: 5. 118 sec.
S2 S UPER FINAl (20 I"",), I . Frede ric Ba iley (Ap'):
2. 'lrampas Parker (Hon); 3. Davkle Ganim (Hus); 4.
Massimo Ve rderosa (Hon ); 5. Adrien Chareyre (Hus); 6.
Robert Baraccam