Under sunny skies and with temperatures in the mid-twenties the third GP of the FIM Supermoto World Championship and round three of the S2 European Championship “GP of Europe – Le Alpi del mare” once again saw some nail-biting action.
In S1GP Mauno Hermunen stormed to victory in both races to regain control of the World Championship lead whilst Marc Reiner Schmidt was once again untouchable with another emphatic display of riding in S2 to remain unbeaten in 2015.
S1GP
After taking his first pole position of the season X-MAX TM Mauno HERMUNEN wasted no time in getting to the front as the determined Finn moved into the lead within moments of the start, passing his closest rival TM Racing Chareyre. And as you’d expect he was immediately pursued by the world championship leader. HUSQVARNA Lukas HOELLBACHER, 833 HUSQVARNA Pavel KEJMAR,HONDA L30 Ivan LAZZARINI and HONDA FRECCIA Teo MONTICELLI rounded out the top six. HONDA GAZZA Asseri KINGELIN fell on Lap 1 but rejoined the race.
The top six positions remained unchanged for the next three laps until Monticelli fell on Lap 4. The Italian remounted in 9th but would have liked to have kept pace with the leading group ahead of him.
The next lap saw Hoellbacher fall from 3rd after picking up a STOP-GO penalty for a jump start allowing Kejmar, Lazzarini and KTM MTR Devon VERMEULEN to all gain a position leaving Hoellbacher in 6th.
While all this was happening the battle for the lead was as intense as ever as CHAREYRE continued to harass HERMUNEN, the duo separated by less than half-a-second, but by Lap 8 the Finn had extended his lead to 0.6s before doubling his advantage on the very next lap, and from there Hermunen was never troubled eventually going on to win by more than five seconds after fifteen laps of racing taking over the championship lead in the process.
Thomas Chareyre came home second with Ivan LAZZARINI third, the Italian passing Pavel Kejmar with four laps to go as the Czech rider had to settle for fourth. Fifth belonged to Hoellbacher with the Dutchman Devon Vermeulen sixth. ASSOMOTOR HONDA Christian RAVAGLIA who dislocated his shoulder one week ago eventually pulled out of the race in pain and would be doubtful for race two.
S1GP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. HERMUNEN Mauno (FIN-TM) 20:04.633; 2. CHAREYRE Thomas (FRA-TM) 20:09.730; 3. LAZZARINI Ivan (ITA-Honda) 20:26.177; 4. KEJMAR Pavel (CZE-Husqvarna) 20:27.846; 5. HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT-Husqvarna) 20:33.301; 6. VERMEULEN Devon (NED-KTM) 20:33.638; 7. MONTICELLI Teo (ITA-Honda) 20:39.308; 8. VERDEROSA Massimiliano (ITA-Honda) 20:51.022; 9. PIEDRAHITA OCAMPO Valerio (COL-Suzuki) 20:59.896; 10. KINGELIN Asseri (FIN-Honda) 21:07.096.
S1GP Race 2
Despite taking an early lead at the start of race two Mauno HERMUNEN was unable to keep Thomas CHAREYRE at bay and before the end of the first lap the Frenchman had made his way into the lead with Hermunen right behind him. On the same lap, Ivan LAZZARINI had moved into third after easing past Pavel KEJMAR as HONDA L30 Max VERDEROSA gained two positions to move into fifth after passing Lukas HOELLBACHER and Teo MONTICELLI.
As the riders settled into a rhythm the positions remained unchanged until Lap 3 when Monticelli went from sixth to fourth, leaving Kejmar in fifth as Verderosa dropped to sixth. Up front though, the gap was down to 0.095s as Hermunen went after the race leader Chareyre.
On Lap 5 Hermunen made his move and led over the line for the first time in the race, but couldn’t afford to relax as Chareyre and Ivan LAZZARINI were right in his wheel tracks ready to pounce should the need arise. The gap back to fourth placed Teo Monticelli and Pavel Kejmar was around four seconds at this point but the Czech Republic rider Kejmar was in the ascendancy and by Lap 6 inherited fourth after a mistake from Monticelli demoted him back to seventh. Lukas HOELLBACHER and Max Verderosa also capitalised on Monticelli’s mistake to go fifth and sixth respectively.
At around half distance Lazzarini started to lose ground on the leaders who were still separated by 0.3s giving the fans what they came for, while further back Monticelli had brushed aside Verderosa to take control of sixth.
With five laps to go the leaders were still locked together by the same narrow margin, but a mistake from Chareyre on the very next lap saw the gap increase to 0.8s, which the Frenchman was able to rectify immediately, bringing the gap back to 0.3s.
With two laps to go it looked as if Chareyre had a little extra in reserve but Hermunen responded and when he crossed the finish line was a ‘comfortable’ 0.941 seconds clear to make it a double moto victory at the S1GP of Europe. Lazzarini crossed the line in third almost two seconds clear of Pavel Kejmar, while the battle for fifth went all the way to the flag in favour of Lukas Hoellbacher who narrowly edged out Monticelli who placed sixth.
Hermunen’s double victory sees the Finn regain the lead in the World Championship and he now leads Chareyre by four points.And the overall podium was Hermunen, Chareyre and Lazzarini.
Hermunen’s victory was all the more impressive as his decision to race the second moto was taken at the last minute due to the Finn suffering from a bout of food poisoning and racing in hot conditions in those circumstances would not have been easy. But in the end it was worth it as he once again leads the world championship.
S1GP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. HERMUNEN Mauno (FIN-TM) 20:06.342; 2. CHAREYRE Thomas (FRA-TM) 20:07.283; 3. LAZZARINI Ivan (ITA-Honda) 20:24.920; 4. KEJMAR Pavel (CZE-Husqvarna) 20:26.551; 5. HOELLBACHER Lukas (AUT-Husqvarna) 20:29.494; 6. MONTICELLI Teo (ITA-Honda) 20:29.592; 7. VERDEROSA Massimiliano (ITA-Honda) 20:43.218; 8. KINGELIN Asseri (FIN-Honda) 20:46.853; 9. RAVAGLIA Christian (ITA-Honda) 21:19.627; 10. VERMEULEN Devon (NED-KTM) 21:21.773.
S1GP Overall Top Ten: 1. HERMUNEN Mauno (FIN-TM) 50 points; 2. CHAREYRE Thomas (FRA-TM) 44 p.; 3. LAZZARINI Ivan (ITA-Honda) 40 p.; 4. KEJMAR Pavel (CZE-Husqvarna) 36 p.; 5. HOELLBACHER Lukas (AUT-Husqvarna) 32 p.; 6. MONTICELLI Teo (ITA-Honda) 29 p.; 7. VERDEROSA Massimiliano (ITA-Honda) 27 p.; 8. VERMEULEN Devon (NED-KTM) 26 p.; 9. KINGELIN Asseri (FIN-Honda) 24 p.; 10. RAVAGLIA Christian (ITA-Honda) 22 p.
S1GP Championship Top Ten: 1. HERMUNEN Mauno (FIN-TM) 138 points; 2. CHAREYRE Thomas (FRA-TM) 134 p.; 3. LAZZARINI Ivan (ITA-Honda) 118 p.; 4. HOELLBACHER Lukas (AUT-Husqvarna) 107 p.; 5. KEJMAR Pavel (CZE-Husqvarna) 105 p.; 6. VERMEULEN Devon (NED-Ktm) 80 p.; 7. MONTICELLI Teo (ITA-Honda) 77 p.; 8. RAVAGLIA Christian (ITA-Honda) 75 p.; 9. KINGELIN Asseri (FIN-Honda) 73 p.; 10. VERDEROSA Massimiliano (ITA-Honda) 63 p.
S1GP Manufacturers: TM 150 points; 2. Honda 118 p.; 3. Husqvarna 116 p.; 4. KTM 80 p.; 5. Suzuki 49 p.; 6. Yamaha 0 p.
S2
It was another perfect start for the S2 Championship leader TM DEGASOLINE Marc Reiner SCHMIDT and another faultless performance as he cruised to yet another race victory by more than seven seconds to record his fifth race win of the season.
Behind him things were a little more frantic as TM Racing Toni KLEM found his way into second early on, he was briefly challenged by HONDA L30 Yuri GUARDALA’ but was able to pull clear to the tune of around eight seconds by the time the checkered flag fell.
Second fastest qualifier TM SBD Giovanni BUSSEI was unable to capitalise on Saturday’s speed and fell in the off-road section on Lap 1 and did well to get back to ninth by the end of the race.
Guardala’ was not so comfortable though and had to be on top of his game to remain clear of the battle for fourth that was taking place behind him involving HONDA FRECCIA Diego MONTICELLI and HONDA ASSOMOTOR Fabrizio BARTOLINI.
A few seconds further back was Klem’s new team mate Mattia MARTELLA who ran out a comfortable sixth.
S2 Race 1 top ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) 20:24.460; 2. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 20:31.839; 3. GUARDALA’ Yuri (ITA-Honda) 20:39.770; 4. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 20:41.175; 5. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 20:46.395; 6. MARTELLA Mattia (ITA-TM) 20:47.723; 7. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 21:03.846; 8. AMODEO Mickael (FRA-Yamaha) 21:03.861; 9. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 21:04.066; 10. CIAGLIA Luca (ITA-Honda) 21:06.502.
S2 Race 2
After five moto’s in 2015 it seems that there are no challengers to the top step of the podium in S2 as once again Marc Reiner Schmidt cruised to another start-to-finish victory to make it six-from-six from the opening three rounds. Behind him though it was the usual carnage that befits the S2 European championship class.
As Schmidt pulled clear Toni KLEM found himself in second position with Yuri GUARDALA’, Fabrizio BARTOLINI Mattia MARTELLA and Giovanni BUSSEI hot on his wheels while championship contender Diego MONTICELLI found himself buried deep in the pack in 18th.
On Lap 4 though, things started to heat up as Klem fell from second position, Guardala’ fell to fourth and Martella fell to 23rd, thus promoting Fabrizio Bartolini up to second and Giovanni Bussei to third. The Spaniard David GIMENEZ suddenly found himself in fourth behind Bussei.
But Gimenez soon found himself under attack from Guardala’ and by Lap 5 the Italian was back up to fourth trying to bridge the gap to Bartolini in second and Bussei in third. By this time Schmidt was almost six seconds clear of the pursuing dog-fight.
A poor starting Petr VORLICEK found himself making progress and by Lap 6 had bumped himself up to seventh after passing Lorenzo PROMUTICO, whilst not too far behind, MONTICELLI was up to 11th with KLEM 14th in their attempt to minimise the damage of their earlier mistake.
On Lap 7 Bussei had moved ahead of Bartolini and into second as Guardala’ continued to push in his attempt to close in on a top three position but he would have to wait a while longer despite closing to within half-a-second of his fellow countryman.
But the wait was almost worthwhile and as the two lap board went out Guardala’ squeezed past Bartolini into third but it wasn’t to last as he suffered a technical problem on the final lap and would not finish the race.
So, another easy win for championship leader Schmidt saw him finish seven seconds clear of Bussei and Bartolini as David GIMENEZ claimed fourth ahead of Kevin FAGRE of Sweden. Another casualty on the final lap was Petr VORLICEK who fell from seventh to 11th, which helped promote Diego Monticelli to eighth and Toni Klem to tenth.
With two race wins the overall belonged to Marc Reiner Schmidt who extends his championship lead, Fabrizio Bartolini was second overall with Giovanni Bussei third.
S2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) 20:27.336; 2. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 20:34.739; 3. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 20:45.627; 4. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 21:02.019; 5. FAGRE Kevin (SWE-Husqvarna) 21:02.488; 6. LAPINI Lorenzo (ITA-Honda) 21:03.230; 7. AMODEO Mickael (FRA-Yamaha) 21:04.907; 8. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 21:05.090; 9. ERIKSSON Fredrik (SWE-Honda) 21:07.653; 10. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 21:07.766.
S2 Overall Top Ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) points 50; 2. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 36 p.; 3. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 34 p.; 4. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 33 p.; 5. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 32 p.; 6. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 31 p.; 7. AMODEO Mickael (FRA-Yamaha) 27 p.; 8. LAPINI Lorenzo (ITA-Honda) 25 p.; 9. FAGRE Kevin (SWE-Husqvarna) 24 p.; 10. ERIKSSON Fredrik (SWE-Honda) 21 p.
S2 Championship Top Ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) points 150; 2. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 110 p.; 3. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 98 p.; 4. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 96 p.; 5. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 94 p.; 6. MARTELLA Mattia (ITA-TM) 86 p.; 7. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 80 p.; 8. GUARDALA’ Yuri (ITA-Honda) 79 p.; 9. CIAGLIA Luca (ITA-Honda) 54 p.; 10. FAGRE Kevin (SWE-Husqvarna) 52 p.
S2 Manufacturers: 1. TM 150 points; 2. Honda 116 p.; 3. Suzuki 89 p.; 4. Husqvarna 62 p.; 5. KTM 57 p.; 6. Aprilia 51 p.; 7. Yamaha 33 p.
Complete results available HERE
SMGP EUROPE- QUICK FACTS Circuit length: 1585 mt (1395 mt Asphalt, 190 mt Off-Road)
NEXT S1GP:
The FIM Supermoto World Championship and the Supermoto European Championship will be back for the first time ever in Poznam, Poland, during the 7th June week-end.
Temperature: 23°
Weather conditions: Sunny
Crowd attendance: 1.500