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Press Release two
Supermoto of Nations-Preview
With the 60th anniversary of the Motocross of Nations celebrated in Matterley Basin last Sunday, it is now time for the birth of the “Olympics of Supermoto”.
The 1st day of October 2006 will see the first Supermoto of Nations in the history of the sport which reached the World level in 2002 with the Grand Prix of Namur.
Four years after Youthstream set the first Supermoto World Championship race in Belgium, inside the famous Citadelle, the forthcoming Supermoto of Nations will be held on the edge of the European continent: the venue of the “Olympics of Supermoto” will be Bishopscourt circuit, in Northern Ireland, where the World Championship of sliding made its first appearance in 2005 thanks to the cooperation of Northern Ireland Events Company.
One year after the World Supermoto series touched the Northern Irish soil, Northern Ireland Events will collaborate again with Youthstream to host all the international Teams that will be challenging each other to enter the record books as the Team winning the first edition of the Supermoto of Nations.
Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, South Africa, Ireland, Great Britain, Italy Junior, Ireland Junior and England Junior will be the squads racing in Bishopscourt track the 1st of October.
Many riders competing in the Supermoto World Championship will be flying to Northern Ireland for the sensational event in the history of Supermoto.
Italians Ivan Lazzarini (S1), Massimo Beltrami (S2) and Fabio Balducci (OPEN) will be in Team Italy that won the European edition of the Supermoto of Nations last year in Varano De Melegari, Italy.
Currently third in the S1 Supermoto World Championship, Lazzarini won the Italian S1 Title two weeks ago. The 6 round Italian Championship finished in Castelletto with Beltrami winning the S2 class; Balducci was one of his main rivals and ended the Championship with third. Both of them race the World Championship in the S2 class where Balducci is only 1 point ahead of Beltrami.
Such rivalry will stop for a weekend to let the Team face the attacks of Team France, second last year. 2005 runner up in the S2 class, Adrien Chareyre will race the S1; the 20-year-old Frenchman is now back from America where he raced the 8th round of the AMA Supermoto grasping 2 fourth places.
For Adrien it is now time to concentrate on the final 3 rounds of the Supermoto World Championship: he is fourth at 34 points from countryman VDB, but before the GPs the Supermoto of Nations Trophy is the closest goal. Aurelien Rolland and Sylvain Bidart complete the French Team: Rolland will be in the Open class and youngster Bidart will race the S2.
Germany handed the Supermoto of Nations task to Bernd Hiemer, Jurgen Kunzel and Michael Herrmann.
Current leader of the S1 class in the Supermoto World Championship, Hiemer is showing a superb shape this season and will enjoy the new challenge in the S1 class with riders coming from other countries and Championships.
Kunzel, who is now racing in the AMA series, will be in the S2 class and Herrmann will enter the Open class.
Slovenians will be represented by Ales Hlad in the S1, Uros Nastran in the S2 and Marko Skarja in the Open class while Switzerland, that was third last year in Italy, chose Marcel Goetz (S1), Daniel Muller (S2) and Rudi Herger (Open).
The Belgian Federation selected a handful of Supermoto World Championship riders with Gerald Delepine (S1), Eddy Seel (S2) and Frederic Fiorentino (Open).
S1 defending Champion Delepine is ready to confirm his shape at the Supermoto of Nations before facing the final 3 round run of the Supermoto World Championship where he is fourth at the moment.
Also Seel, the “Rooster”, is completing a successful season in the World Championship and arrives to Bishopscourt with the memory of the overall win at Sankt Wendel.
Experienced Fiorentino completes the Team which is one of the “oldest” in terms of average age.
On the other hand Team Great Britain counts on successful 21-year-old Christian Iddon; “Iddo” will race the Open class and all the world saw his potential by watching the S1 races this year: Iddon has not won one yet but is so far the toughest among Hiemer’s opponents.
The British rider in the S1 class will be Matt Winstanley and Sam Warren will be in the S2.
Team South African comes from further down than England but distance did not prevent Riaan Neveling (S1), Craig Venske (S2) and Michael Kok (Open) from coming to first Supermoto of Nations.
Other countries at the Supermoto of Nations will be Switzerland (Goetz-S1; Mueller-S2; Herger-Open), Sweden (Lind-S1; Huvell-S2; Ejdehage-Open), Norway (Finckenhagen-S1; Brokerud-S2; Bjordal-Open), Denmark (Sorensen-S1; Caprani-S2; Mikkelsen-Open), Portugal (Oliviera-S1; Fernandes-S2; Martins-Open) and Ireland (Kinsella-S1; McKee-S2; Farmer-Open).
Italy, Ireland and England will have also Junior teams. Italian Juniors will be Dondi (S1), Cavazzano (S2) and Serafini (Open) while the Irish will be Marks (S1), Dunleavy (S2) and Hoey (Open). English youngsters will be Hartley (S1), Clements (S2) and Hodgson (Open).
Bishopscourt circuit is located by the town of Downpatrick, in County Down, and it is about 40 kilometres away from Belfast. The 1664 metre long circuit has an average width of 11 metres and has been hosting Supermoto, Go Kart and Road Racing competitions in the past.
In Downpatrick on Friday there will be also a riders’ parade at 6.30 pm as a starter to the thrilling weekend of the Supermoto of Nations.
Information and results on
www.supermotoS1.com, the official website of the Supermoto World Championships.
Fans worldwide can watch this and every race in the 2006 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 specializing in sports, entertainment and international programming.
Jag tror:
1. Italien
2. Frankrike
3. Tyskland
4. England
5. Belgien
6. Schweiz
Sverige slår sig in på 8:e plats!
