SANKT WENDEL, 8 July 2007- The FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Germany was held today under sunny and dry conditions at Sankt Wendel.

Thierry Van Den Bosch –S1- and Gerald Delepine –S2- won this Grand Prix for the first time in their long and successful career in Supermoto, as both riders were there when the series started in 2002.

The European series saw its first event on the German track, which was won by Baptiste Rheims in the S3 class and Petr Vorlicek in the Open class.

 

S1

In his 33^rd birthday, Thierry Van Den Bosch of Aprilia Off Road raced two consistent moto’s to finally top the overall in front of his two main rivals of this weekend, CH Azzalin’s Adrien and Thomas Chareyre who welcomed their new Husqvarna machine by bringing it to the second and third place of the podium. Bernd Hiemer of KTM Italia Miglio was a solid fourth, which was also the German’s best S1 result, and came in front of a huge local crowd of 14.500 people. Kevin Berthome of Rexfelgen Wheels Cross2R rounded off the top five.

  

S1 GRAND PRIX RACE 1

In this eventful opening moto, Thierry Van Den Bosch clinched an unexpected victory after he came close to early leader Thomas Chareyre at a rider-packed corner in the off-road section.

Thomas had a storming start to lead 15 of the 20 laps, but was finally passed by a solid VDB, coming up after a bad start.

Bernd Hiemer then tangled up with Thomas Chareyre when the two were fighting for the second place; both stopped and lost time, finishing respectively seventh and tenth.

Adrien Chareyre was handed back the second place, which he lost before in the off road section, and rode safe to the chequered flag, followed by Kevin Berthome, who crashed in the off-road section but did not lose the position.

Jerome Giraudo and a solid Fabio Balducci rounded off the top five, whereas front row starter Ivan Lazzarini had a poor start and crashed, finishing in eleventh place.

 

S1 GRAND PRIX RACE 2

Thomas Chareyre took his revenge in the second moto, steering his new machine to victory after dominating the whole race.

Bernd Hiemer –riding with a bruised right hip after the crash in the opening moto- stormed from the second row to the second place at the start, riding to a solid second place finish after he felt massive pressure from a very motivated Adrien Chareyre.

The Frenchman spent almost the entire race on Hiemer’s tail, waiting for the German to make a mistake, but that never happened and Adrien secured a useful third place.

Thierry Van Den Bosch begun the race behind Fabio Balducci, who made the defending Champion’s life hard before opening a door and letting him fly to a fourth place finish.

The Italian finished fifth but very close to Van Den Bosch.

 

S2

Gerald Delepine of CH Azzalin clinched his first victory at the German venue in front of Championship leader Attilio Pignotti. Maxime Testu of Husaberg WP Factory IPA was the surprise of this hard fought day, as he finished on his maiden podium after having clinched his maiden heat win in the final moto. Matthew Winstanley of Robinsons Rochdale KTM UK was once again solid and clinched his second consecutive fourth place overall, ahead of Spanish GP winner Davide Gozzini.

  

S2 GRAND PRIX RACE 1

Attilio Pignotti took the holeshot, but Nestor Jorge put him pressure until the Italian made a mistake, handing the lead to Jorge.

Pignotti tried an overtaking manoeuvre at the off-road section, but tangled up with Jorge and both were passed by Gerald Delepine.

Delepine pulled away with the lead, as Nestor tried to close in but finished a solid second. Pignotti had some problems with his machine, but soldiered on in third place until the chequered flag.

Matthew Winstanley took a good start and held the fourth spot for the entire race, keeping a dangerous Lorenzo Mariani behind in fifth until they passed the chequered flag.

Max Testu ended ninth because he almost crashed at the off road, trying an alternative line. Christian Iddon finished nineteenth after a crash.

  

S2 GRAND PRIX RACE 2

Maxime Testu dominated the final heat, but a rock-solid Gerald Delepine put the heat on him, waiting for the rival to make a mistake.

Testu kept cool, as Delepine avoided any dangerous manoeuvres to pass, and finished second. Pignotti brought the bike home with a third place after a disastrous start; the Italian switched to a different bike for the final heat, and found confidence only in the second half of the moto.

Davide Gozzini worked his way up through the pack to arrive to a useful fourth place, while Winstanley rounded off the top five.

Nestor Jorge was once again fighting for the lead in the early stages of the race, but crashed and finished thirteenth.

  

IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS

Thierry VDB bounced back to first in the Championship, but runner up Adrien Chareyre has the same amount of points; the next round will be tough, as also Thomas Chareyre has Title ambitions, being now third in the points standings. Jerome Giraudo is still fourth but fifth placed Kevin Berthome shortened the gap up to three points.

Attilio Pignotti still leads the Championship but second placed Delepine is now just three points away. Davide Gozzini moved up to third, exploiting Iddon’s bad day here in Sankt Wendel. The Brit is currently fourth ahead of Nestor Jorge.

 

UEM-EUROPEAN SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP

Baptiste Rheims clinched two back to back wins to increase his Championship lead; current runner up Tommaso Iacoboni settled down for two second places and went on the podium in front of Belgian Ronny Fryns. Riccardo Peroni was fourth overall, with Olivier Scheen rounding off the top five.

 

Petr Vorlicek was once again unbeatable on the German track, winning both heats to consolidate his Championship lead. Patrick Tellenbach tried to catch the Czech runaway leader but finally brought the bike home with a second place overall, ahead of Uros Nastran, who completed the podium. Lionel Deridder ended with a satisfactory fourth place, consolidating his second place in the Championship, and Vincent Paquet completed the top five.

 

WHAT’S NEXT

The next round of the FIM Supermoto World Championship will be run on the brand new venue of Pleven, Bulgaria, on the 22^nd of July.

 

The FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Germany will be:

 

Broadcast delayed on:

• EUROSPORT WORLD : Monday July 9, S1 Race 2 at 4:00 and at 23:00; Tuesday July 10, S1 Race 2 at 12:00 GMT 

 

 

Information and results on http://www.SuperMotoS1.com, the official website of the FIM SuperMoto World Championships.

 

Fans worldwide can watch this and every race of the 2007 FIM Motocross & SuperMoto World Championships live and on-demand exclusively on The Moto Channel on MediaZone (moto.MediaZone.com). MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specialized in sports, entertainment and international programming.