ALCARRÀS, 23 June 2007- The very sunny Spanish venue of Alcarràs hosting its first World Championship event this weekend just witnessed the opening day of the FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Spain.
On the Circuit de Velocitat d’Alcarràs Aprilia men Thierry Van Den Bosch and Nestor Jorge were on the top of the time sheets, with the latter clocking his first season pole -and his first pole with Aprilia- at his home event.
In the European series, Petr Vorlicek was on pole in the Open class, as Baptiste Rheims topped the S3 class timesheets.
S1
The SXV 4.5 of Aprilia Off Road riders Thierry Van Den Bosch and Jerome Giraudo dominated this opening day of the Spanish Grand Prix, being the fastest in both free practice sessions, and in the qualifying session.
European GP winner Van Den Bosch was actually the fastest in the qualifying, snatching the pole from early leader Giraudo at half session distance. A few minutes after he clocked the provisional pole, VDB improved on his laptime to finally stop the chronometer on a brilliant 1:08.740. With his perfectionist attitude, the defending Champion went back to the track to make further improvements to his time, lapping 58 thousandths faster.
Team mate Jerome Giraudo was a bit more than half a second slower, but was happy with second as his final chance will be in tomorrow’s Superpole.
Adrien Chareyre of CH Azzalin had a difficult start to the session but was able to move up from an early 17th place to a final third place with five minutes to go.
On the other hand Boris Chambon of Kawasaki Gil Motor Sport rode a strong session, staying in the top three for almost all the 40 minutes; after Boris was passed by series leader Adrien Chareyre, he settled down for a fourth place, allowing him to enter tomorrow’s Superpole.
Sylvain Bidart of Rexfelgen Wheels Cross2R rounded off the top five but he crashed twice in the qualifying session.
Italians Fabio Balducci and Massimo Beltrami put in two incredible final laps in the dieing seconds of the session, to move in front of Thomas Chareyre and clinch the sixth and the seventh place respectively, both ahead of the Frenchman.
S2
BQR Aprilia Spain’s Nestor Jorge was incredibly fast on his home track; he was clocking decent laptimes since the first free practice session, but in the afternoon he really squeezed his Aprilia during his sixth attempt at the pole.
Completing one lap in 1:08.221, the Spaniard secured his pole with more than 20 minutes to go. He actually did nine more laps but never improved on that brilliant time.
Aprilia Off Road’s Christian Iddon was the closest to Jorge, but never caught the Spaniard in any of his 23 attempts. Tomorrow runner up Iddo will have the chance to close in on current series leader Gerald Delepine, and increase his advantage over Attilio Pignotti -third in the Championship- as both rivals will start from the second row.
CH Azzalin’s Delepine was fifth fastest, as he never improved on his early fastest lap. On the other hand Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio made some progress throughout the session, but never did better than his sixth position on the time sheets.
Factory TM’s Davide Gozzini was second fastest, then Iddon moved in front of him; Gozzini dropped down to third, defending his place from the attacks of TM fellow rider Lorenzo Mariani of MRC Racing, who finished fourth.
It was a tough day for KTM riders Ales Hlad and Marcel Goetz, who rounded off the top 14.
UEM-EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP
Baptiste Rheims is all set on coming back to the top of the S3 standings, and revealed his ambitions by clocking the pole. Current Championship leader Tommaso Iacoboni was second fastest, as British Chris Hodgson was third, but more than one second slower than the leading duo. A solid Riccardo Peroni was fourth and looked ready to battle, but young gun Olivier Scheen will surely be on his tail, after he rounded off the top five today.
Tomorrow’s race will probably be a fight between Open series leader Petr Vorlicek and home rider Ruben Retuerta. The two were the fastest on the track, with Vorlicek clocking the pole and Retuerta finishing second. Luca De Angelis will try to catch them, as he will start from the front row too, together with Malcolm Schneider. Alberto Dall’Era completed the top five, ahead of current runner up Lionel Deridder.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Sunday, June 24th : EC Open Warm Up at 8:15 am; EC S3 Warm Up at 8:40 am; S2 Warm Up at 9:05 am with Superpole immediately after; S1 Warm Up at 9:45 am with Superpole immediately after; EC Open Race 1 at 10:40 am; EC S3 Race 1 at 11:25 am; S2 Race 1 at 12:25 am; S1 Race 1 at 1:25 pm; EC Open Race 2 at 2:25 pm; S2 Race 2 at 3:25 pm; S1 Race 2 at 4:25 pm; EC S3 Race 2 at 5:25 pm.
The FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Spain will be:
Broadcast live on Sunday:
* AB Moteurs : S2 Race 2 at 15:00; S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
* Sport Italia : S2 Race 2 at 15:00; S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
* ART TV: S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
* EUROSPORT WORLD: S1 Race 2 at 14:00 GMT
* MEDIA ZONE: S2 Race 2 at 15:00; S1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Broadcast delayed on:
* EUROSPORT 2: Sunday June 24, S1 Race 2 at 19:30 CET
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