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suspense when VDB went down (apparently due to a front-brake failure) in the
fastest segment of the asphalt section.
The 2004 World Champion was not
injured in the crash, and he came back after getting rid of some annoying traffic to set the fastest lap, followed by Hiemer,
Delepine and Lazzarini. The next morning, in the Superpole, VDB was fast again,
clocking in ahead of Hiemer, Ivan
Lazzarini and Delepine.
In the first moto, the action was pretty
hot right from the start. When the group,
headed by VDB and Hiemer, entered the
first off-road section, VDB paid no attention to where his orange teammate was.
Contact was made, and Hiemer's bike
stalled as a result. Aprilia's Max Manzo
then hit Hiemer, but Hiemer was lucky
and his bike regained fire right away.
Hiemer didn't lose much ground, but
VDB was able to get away. Behind VDB,
Lazzarini was second for the entire race.
Lazzarini had made the choice to run a
soft rear tire, and it was a bad idea. With
half of the race still left to be run, the tire
went away, and Lazzarini was forced to
slow his pace. Lazzarini held on for second, while third went to an aggressive
Hiemer and fourth to Delepine.
In moto two, Hiemer took the lead
immediately, followed closely by VDB. A
few laps later, VDB passed Hiemer in the
off-road section, but the German didn't
give up, and he pressed the Frenchman
for the rest of the race. VDB held off
Hiemer, whose bike began to leak oil just
a few yards past the finish line.
Third place went to Delepine, thanks to
a crash by Lazzarini. The Italian made a
small mistake and went down in the first
off-road segment on lap four. Delepine
then unintentionally struck Lazzarini's helmet. Lazzarini lost consciousness. He was
immediately hospitalized, and fortunately
the medical check recorded no major damage except some contracted cervical muscles. Newly crowned AMA Supermoto
Champion Jurgen Kunzel (who returned to
the GP scene after two years in support of
his orange teammates) finished fourth,
ahead of Manzo.
With one round remaining, Delepine
now leads the standings by 20 points over
Hiemer and 3 lover VDB. Lazzarini is
fourth.
S2
While anyone of several riders showed
good enough speed to win the race, Red
Bull KTM's Boris Chambon came away
with the winner's share of the points. His
main rivals turned out to be Eddy Seel
(who was extremely happy with his bike in
Megara) and Gerome Giraudo. And if Lady
Luck hadn't looked unfavorably upon Fred
Bolley, he might have achieved a far better
result than he actually did.
Seel was the fastest in timed practice,
with Chambon and the Chareyre brothers (Thomas in third and Adrien in fourth)
close behind him. The Superpole fell to
Seel as well, although Chambon was still
second, while the Chareyres switched
their positions.
Despite his timed lap speed, Seel didn't
take advantage of the first grid spot in moto
one, and Chambon (counting on a really
fast KTM) got the lead, followed by Adrien
Chareyre, Max Verderosa and Giraudo;
Seel was only eighth at the time. Giraudo
then made his way through the guys in
front of him and tried really hard to put a
pass on Chambon, but he didn't make it.
Adrien Chareyre finished third, right in
front of Verderosa and See!. Bolley pulled
over immediately due to an unbelievable
problem: His factory Aprilia's mechanic
hadn't property tightened his handlebar,
making it impossible for the Frenchman to
complete more than just a couple of laps!
In the second moto, Seel had a much
better reflex on the starting gate, and he
trailed early leader Chambon before passing him by the eighth lap. Chambon wasn't
riding as smoothly in this heat (due to
excessive sliding and a probable wrong tire
choice), and Giraudo soon picked him off as
well. Chambon was able to defend himself
from the aggressive attempts of a convincing Bolley, though, and Chambon claimed
the overall win via 1-3 finishes. The victory
gained him the series points lead.
"When I think that after the second
round I was only 16th in the standings and
now I'm first, I can't believe it, but I'm also
really pleased with the work done by the
team and by myself," Chambon said.
"Hopefully, after the last round, the
dream to win my first World title will
come true. It's going to be hard, but I'm
ready, and I hope the weather will be nice
and nobody will play it dirty."
Australian Troy Herfoss entered the
Greek GP aboard a factory Husqvarna
and showed good speed, but due to a
never-ending series of hard crashes, he
CN
raced only in the first moto.
52 OYERAU" I. Boris Chambon (KTM); 2. Jerome
Gir.wdo (Ape); 3. Eddy See! (Hus); 1. Adrieo Cha"'1"'
(Hus); 5. Ma>simo Venlemsa (Han); 6. Simone Gil'Olami
(KTM); 7. M..-c fr.1l1Un (KTH); 8. _ _ Bartollm (Yam); 9.
T""'I'"' Pari<... (Han); 10. Ivan 8oano (Sus); I I. fn!deri<
80IIey (Ape); 12. W;~ried Reher (KTH); 13. Graziano Rispoli
(Hon); 14. Attitio Pignotti (Hon); IS. Massimo Bekr.uni
(Han); 16. Fabio Balducci (Han); 17. Joo'ge Nest"' (Hbg); 18.
fn!deri< f;o,entino (Sus); 19. Chrismn Ravag!;a (Sus); 20.
Peu Vori;cek (Sus); 21. Stephone 810< (Yam); 22. )ean-Marc
G.H1acd (Han); 23. Thien-y Godf,,,", (Kaw); 21. Thomas
ChMeyce (Hus); 25. Spiros Keffollorntis (Sus); 26. fori,
T>alikis (Han); 27. Marco Dondl (fM); 28. Fabrice Guyot
(Sus); 29. Mil1alis Mimikos (KTM); 30. _
~u;
3 I. Paolo GaspanJone (Han); 32. Teay Herlos> (Hus).
flM WORLD SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP
SERIES POINn STANDINGS
7 of 8 rounds),
S I, I. Ger.1ld Oelepine (28313 win,); 2. Bernd Hiem..(263/1 win); 3. Thierry van den Bosch (252/1 wins); 4. Ivan
Uzzarlni (22111 win); 5. Chrinophe Ilem>nd (192); 6.
Christian leldon {I 72); 7. Max Manzo (167); 8. \'alter
Bartolini (139); 9. Samuel O.v;d Warren (116); 10. M...cel
Goetz (103); II. MMtin Und (100); 12. L~o Mariani
(93); 13. Crimno Cullino (78); 11. Fabrice Lecoanet (75);
15. Emanuelle GiovanelH (70); 16. Maxim Testu (66); 17. Jan
Kvasnicka (15); 18. (fIE) Sylvain 8idan (10)IHanne,
MaxwaId (10); 20. Massimo MiglionW (38).
52, I. Boris Chambon (212/3 wins); 2. Eddy See!
(21111 win); 3. Adrien C""'eyre (237); 1. Frederic Solley
(199/1 win); 5. Massimo Verderosa (188); 6. Massimo
Beltrami (17811 win); 7. Jerome Giriludo (148); B. Attilto
Pignotti (129); 9. Marc Fraikin (109); 10. Andrea Bartolini
(97); II. Christian Ravaglia (92); 12. (TIE) Thomas
Chareyre (B9)1Fabio Balducci (89); 14. Matth@wWinstanley
(87); IS. Stephane 810t (86); 16. Thierry Godf,oid (85/1
win); 17. Davide Go_i (85); 18. Ivan Boano (&I); 19.
T"""pas Pari<., (80); 20. G....1ano Rl>poli (72).