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/128407
SUPERMOTO Round 8 November 13, 2005 ~ Gerald Delepine gets the ceremonial victory bumps after winning the 51 World Supermoto Championship. It was Delepine's first World title, Husqvarna's second. I's well that ends well, which in the case of the 2005 FIM World Supermoto Championship means that Belgian erald Delepine and French Boris Chambon respectively won the S I and the S2 2005 titles at the last of the eight-round series in Latina. Both men came into Latina with series points leads, and both left with the crowns. While it was probably a deserved result for the two new and first-time World Supermoto Champions, as it renects a solid conduct throughout the majority of the season, for both of them it is similarly true that before the Latina round things were still open, especially for the S2 class where Chambon's title was far from certain. In fact, in the smaller division standings, Chambon came into Latina just one point ahead of 2003 S I World Champion Eddy Seel and only a few more ahead of France's Adrien Chareyre. It was a different the story for Delepine, who held a more comfortable margin and needed only to focus on keeping himself out of trouble. He was the most consistent rider over the year, starting from the first round where he proved himself a title contender by winning the race. He also took advantage of his extraordinary riding abilities in the worst A 30 ... conditions, especially in the rain. What surprised many observers was a lack of team strategy by the Red Bull KTM team, which could have kept the hopes of its young German talent, Bernd Hiemer, alive if the team could have convinced reigning 5 I World Champion Thierry van den Bosch to support Hiemer. On several occasions "VDB," who had little chance of winning the title himself, could have been crucial in helping Hiemer and mak- DECEMBER 7, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS thierry van den lelCh (1) __ out Ilk ng champ he Is, winning year. Delepi_ (3), meanwhile, kept out of tnIubIe as best he could and finished sixth to claim .... title. bath moeo. for hi. third -.11 win of ing it harder for Delepine, but VDB made it clear from the beginning that he would not help anyone, and the team apparently didn't try to force the issue. Therefore, Hiemer paid the high cost for some of his mistakes during the season, and he wasn't able to win the title. Looking back at the way Chambon started the season, it is hard to believe that he won the S2 title. In the first two rounds he collected miserable results, but once he sorted out his problems he built some tremendous confidence and worked his way through the field to reach the top of the standings. It wasn't an easy proposition, as the ultracompetitive class lineup included the likes of former World Champions Eddy Seel and Gerome Giraudo, as well as perennial contenders Adrien and Thomas Chareyre, Max Verderosa, Fred Bolley, Davide Gouini and Massimo Beltrami.