With the second biggest attendance after Spa, good races and nice weather, the 5th round of the FIM Supermoto World Championship has been successful. Frédéric Bolley won the S2 Grand Prix, while Thierry Van Den Bosch dominates the S1 event and is now leading the World Championship.

Three riders were stronger than anybody in the S1 Rexfelgen Grand Prix of Europe: Thierry Van Den Bosch, Eddy Seel and Gerald Delepine. Faster at the start than his rivals, Eddy Seel won the two heats and was later the first leader of the SuperFinal; he led the race during six laps, but Van Den Bosch passed him in the off road section. Eddy didn’t give up and they were close to collide, but finally Eddy went on the grass before coming back on the asphalt! Really fast this week-end Thierry got his third GP win of the season. “In the heat races I didn’t pushed so much to pass Eddy, my plan was to win the SuperFinal. I had a better start in this last race and came second, but I did a mistake in the first corner and Gerald passed me. I passed him back on the asphalt and then waited a couple of laps before I passed Eddy. Then I tried to stay focus on my race, I knew that Boris Chambon was out. I’m happy to lead the championship, but next week-end could be different and we’ve four more GP’s to go” said Thierry who recovered from his previous blood troubles. Finally third behind his teammate Delepine who passed him in the 17th lap, Eddy Seel was happy to be back on the podium. “We’ve worked a lot on the bike and now I felt comfortable on the 2004 model, we just need to find better traction in the off-road section” said Eddy who got his first GP podium this season. He will race at home next week-end, as well as his team-mate. “I’m like a diesel and need time to be warm, so I’m happy to have many races scheduled in the following weeks. Usually I’m always stronger in the last part of the championship, I think we’ll have some nice battles in the last four GP’s” said Gerald. Boris Chambon crashed on the asphalt part in the opening lap of the SuperFinal and lost the leadership of the Championship; he is now 2nd, but Ivan Lazzarini (4th of the GP), Delepine and Seel are closer as there’s only fourteen points between Chambon and Seel. German Bernd Hiemer was unable to race after his crash during the S1 qualifying session; he came back from the hospital with his left arm in a cast (broken bone) and needs now to recover, expecting a return in Greece or Italy.

Only 11th in the first heat after he missed his start and later crashed on the asphalt, Frédéric Bolley had a difficult day as he started the second race only on the 3rd row of the grid. Despite this problem he was able to finish 5th and gain one row on the starting libe for the SuperFinal. Taking a good start Bolley came second behind his teammate Jerome Giraudo (winner of the two previous heats) and during the first laps the two Aprilia riders started to make the gap with their rivals. Unfortunately in the 4th lap Giraudo crashed pretty hard when he slides on the oil of Lavetti. “When I saw the crash I didn’t felt comfortable as I knew it was a big crash. Every lap I tried to see if Jerôme was OK or not, and it was not an easy race for me. I didn’t know what happened to him as it’s not normal to crash in this section, and I was listening to my bike…” said Bolley at the end of the race. “For sure it has been a tough day for me, I totally missed my start in the first race and crashed later. I had to come back strongly and find back my confidence for the following races, but the most important for me is that Jerôme is not seriously injured,» added the French rider. Trampas Parker did a really good race, coming back from 11th to 2nd for his first GP after many seasons in Motocross. But all the crowd today was supporting Davide Gozzini who had a great SuperFinal coming back from 15th to 3rd. “I did a stupid mistake in the off-road section in the first race and retired, so I was far on the grid in the following races. I’m so happy to be back on the podium, I want to thanks my team who did a great job” said David who passed most of his rivals just before the off-road section. He is now third in the championship, as Fabrice Lecoanet crashed in the off-road section and didn’t finished the GP on his factory KTM. Fabio Balducci, twice second during the heat races on the TM was unlucky too in the SuperFinal, loosing the second position at mid-race when he lost his brakes in the corner before the off-road part. Later today a check-up confirmed that Giraudo has no injuries, he mainly suffered from headache due to his crash on the head.

SuperFinal S1: 1.Van Den Bosch (FRA, KTM) / 2.Delepine (BEL,Husqvarna) / 3.Seel (BEL,Husqvarna) / 4.Lazzarini (ITA, KTM) / 5.Manzo (ITA, Aprilia) / 6. (BEL,Husqvarna) / 6.Bartolini (ITA,VOR) / 7.Chambon (FRA,KTM) / 8.Gaspardone (ITA,Husaberg) / 9.Fiorentino (BEL,KTM) / 10.Winstanley (GBR,KTM) / etc….

SuperFinal S2: 1.Bolley (FRA,Aprilia) / 2.Parker (USA, Honda) / 3.Gozzini (ITA,Husqvarna) / 4.Verderosa (ITA,Honda) / 5.A.Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna) / 6.Baraccani (ITA, Yamaha) / 7.Boano (ITA, Husaberg) / 8.Gaspardone (ITA, Honda) / 9.Gaillard (BEL, Honda) / 10.Iddon (GBR, Husqvarna) / etc….

Next event: Grand Prix of Wallonie (Bielstain, October 16th-17th)

More info and full results on the official website of the championship: www.supermotoS1.com