Determined team France takes Trophy at Supermoto of Nations
The Spanish fast circuit of Alcañiz hosted a breathtaking worldwide event with 23 nations coming from all over the World. After the qualifying and B Final only 16 of them got to the track with their best SuperMoto athletes seeking the victory of the 2011 FIM SuperMoto of Nations.
At the Opening Ceremony of the SuperMoto Olympic Games Bruno Jean Jacques, Team Manager of the French squad, gave back the Trophy they grasped last year in Cahors. Team France definitely did not spend too much time far from such a precious award in fact as the 3 races were over, Thomas Chareyre, Sylvain Bidart and Boris Chambon were standing on the top of the podium holding once again the Francesco Zerbi Trophy, a cup France saw many times.
With France showing the World the strength of their racers, Team Great Britain was a valid country that impressed the spectators who enjoyed today’s action packed races and pleasantly achieved the runner up spot after being 6th in 2010. The podium of this season’s SuperMoto of Nations was rounded off by Team Finland, a country that slightly missed it last year, so it was even more proud of the efforts done by its members.
Team Italy was one of the favorites to be on the podium but did not make it with the 4th place despite its racers did their best to honor their homeland.
Team Spain was playing on home soil so Spanish racer knew pretty well the Alcañiz circuit allowing them to end the day with a solid 5th spot.
– RACE 1 (Riders 1 + Riders 2)
Team France began the first challenge of Sunday with Thomas Chareyre’s solid start of the race, but this time the French rider was not the “racer to chase” as he slipped twice during the opening session; a good recovery anyway fixed the initial disappointment of the racer, who managed to finish in 3rd.
As Thomas Chareyre was no more leading the pack, Finnish Asseri Kingelin became the new leader and kept the most wanted position for the first part of Race 1. The name of the race leader changed again when Czech Pavel Kejmar grasped the first spot but just after few laps it was clear that Team Finland would have succeeded and that is what happened thanks to victorious Mauno Hermunen. The Finnish challenger moved from the 6th place in order to take possession of the top spot and awarded Finland with an amazing result. The Czech rider collected a good position too for his country being the author of the 2nd place.
The top three protagonists of Race 1 came in front of Team Great Britain Matthew Winstanley, author of a solid 4th spot and French Sylvain Bidart 5th. Some others were very consistent, like Italian Massimo Beltrami, 6th and Angel Karanyotov, 8th. Tough race for home rider Francesc Cucharrera who was initially in the top four but ended in 9th.
Many challengers got tricked by the off-road section and slipped losing ground, eventually continuing the race, among them winner Mauno Hermunen, Austrian Lukas Hollbacher, Bulgarian Angel Karanyotov, Argentine Gaston Vivas and Russian Maxim Averkin.
Race 1 top ten:
1. Mauno Hermunen (FIN, Husqvarna), 20:03.027;
2. Pavel Kejmar (CZE, Suzuki), +0:11.822;
3. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, TM), +0:17.959;
4. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, Honda), +0:25.765;
5. Sylvain Bidart (FRA, Honda), +0:27.939;
6. Massimo Beltrami (ITA, Honda), +0:28.096;
7. Asseri Kingelin (FIN, Honda), +0:33.857;
8. Angel Karanyotov (BUL, KTM), +0:40.651;
9. Francesc Cucharrera (ESP, KTM), +0:43.205;
10. Henrik Karlsson (SWE, Yamaha), +0:46.385
Nations top ten: Finland, France, Great Britain, Spain, Czech Republic, Argentina, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy.
– RACE 2 (Riders 2 + Riders 3)
The breathtaking first race was just the starter of a thrilling afternoon, and was followed by another session that took the breath away with fast Sylvain Bidart being the captain of all the other challengers.
For sure the French front runner was hunted by many but only Czech Petr Vorlicek could manage to stay behind him and decided to adopt a very wise strategy in order to secure the runner up spot to Team Czech Republic. As the duo was keep pushing, Italian Teo Monticelli well represented his nation: he imposed his pace over Great Britain Chris Hodgson and constantly kept the 3rd place without allowing the Brit, Slovenian Uros Nastran and home hero Israel Escalera to ruin his great performance.
Spanish Israel Escalera and British Chris Hodgson completed the top five in front of Russian Alexander Ivanutin. The latter was happy to provide Russia with their best result registered in today’s races.
Race 2 top ten:
1. Sylvain Bidart (FRA, Honda), 20:22.667;
2. Petr Vorlicek (CZE, Suzuki), +0:10.760;
3. Teo Monticelli (ITA, Honda), +0:21.697;
4. Israel Escalera (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:27.402;
5. Chris Hodgson (GBR, KTM), +0:30.646;
6. Alexander Ivanutin (RUS, Honda), +0:31.313;
7. Boris Chambon (FRA, Suzuki), +0:32.109;
8. David Gimenez (ESP, Suzuki), +0:37.720;
9. Gaston Vivas (ARG, Honda), +0:38.215;
10. Fred Guerin (FRAj, Honda), +0:39.758.
Nations top ten: France, Great Britain, Spain, Finland, Argentina, Austria, Czech Republic, Russia, Italy, France Junior.
– RACE 3 (Riders 1 + Riders 2)
“It’s not over until it’s over” this is the philosophy racers use while they are facing the racing weekend because you can never slow down until when the last lap is gone.
At the begin of Race 3 the favourite nation to take the title was France which saw Thomas Chareyre and Boris Chambon lined up in the final heat of the 2011 FIM SMoN. France did not disappoint the expectations and thanks to Thomas’ first place they got back the Francesco Zerbi Trophy.
Slovenian Uros Nastran wanted to repair the off-colour placement of the intermediate race so that kept going very focused and conquered the runner up spot finishing in front of Finnish Mauno Hermunen. The latter strengthened his homeland’s position and he exulted with his team mates for being the 3rd best nation in the World.
Finland’s 3rd spot was a very hard fought result as the battle for it was on among them, Team Spain and Team Italy but courtesy of few precious points the last step of the podium went to the Finnish squad.
The 4th place of Team Great Britain Matthew Winstanley was more than enough for them to demonstrate their potential and stand on the second step of the podium.
Race 3 top ten:
1. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, TM), 20:00.413;
2. Uros Nastran (SLO, Honda), +0:02.502;
3. Mauno Hermunen (FIN, Husqvarna), +0:04.078;
4. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, Honda), +0:12.564;
5. Christian Ravaglia (ITA, Suzuki), +0:20.806;
6. Andre Plogmann (GER, Suzuki), +0:24.463;
7. Teo Monticelli (ITA, Honda), +0:25.495;
8. Fred Guerin (FRAj, Honda), +0:26.176;
9. Alexis Marie Luce (FRAj, KTM), +0:43.118;
10. Francesc Cucharrera (ESP, KTM), +0:44.591.
Nations top ten: France, Great Britain, Finland, Italy, Spain, France Junior, Czech Republic, Argentina, Austria, Russia.
