There was no real suspense in the S1 class, and in the first final Thierry Van Den Bosch secured easily his title with another win. “My goal was to take the title in the first final, and I reached it quite easily. Boris has a better start than I, but in the off-road section I made a pass and then stay focused on my race. I improved my lap time several times and managed a good gap with Boris,” said VDB just after this race. Winner of the second final and the super final, VDB had a perfect day and confirmed his domination during this final round. “It’s always difficult to compare two titles, and my first one two years ago will always stay in my memory as it was a new championship. But this one is also really nice for me, especially after a difficult season in Supersport. I learned a lot there, and even if some people thought that it would be difficult for me to get another Supermoto title I’m glad to get it. I’d like to thank all my team, our sponsors such as Michelin or Red Bull and my personal sponsors. They trusted me, and I’m happy to give them something back; I want to dedicate this title to Mr Seurat, who died this year. He was the first manager who offered me a ride in Supermoto,” analysed later the KTM leader. Second in the standings, Boris Chambon was never able to really challenge his leader; fourth and third in the finals “Lupo” was fifth in the superfinal when he had to retire with a rear tyre puncture. Gerald Delepine won his battle against Eddy Seel and Ivan Lazzarini for the final third position; Gerald had one of his best weekends with a third and second position in the finals, and another second place in the superfinal. “I’m really happy to end the season with a great result, especially after two difficult rounds in Greece and Italy. In fact we found the right settings of the bike early yesterday and we saw immediately the difference; it was my first season with the team and our new bike, next year can only be better for us and I hope I will be able to fight for the title” said Gerald who finished just in front of Eddy Seel. Eddy didn’t took any advantage of his pole position; only sixth after the first corner, he came back strongly second in the first final but crashed at the second start with Federico Brondi and Walter Bartolini. Sixth at the beginning of the Superfinal, he crashes in the off-road and couldn’t got the expected win. Ivan Lazzarini struggled during the entire weekend and finished the season with a broken engine in the Superfinal; Max Manzo had a good day and finished sixth in the championship, while Marcel Götz ended the season in ninth as “best privateer”. He only beats surprising Matt Winstanley by three points; the young Brit, who just started Supermoto in January had a great feeling with the Spanish track and finished the season with a fantastic third position in the Superfinal.
With a comfortable lead (26 points) before this last race, Max Verderosa was in a safe position and seemed to be able to control Jerome Giraudo, his last rival for the title. Unfortunately the Italian rider missed the start of the first final, and crashed in the first corner! Last after one lap, he finished the race only 21st and was on the last row of the grid for the second final; only seventeen of this race, Max lost twelve points to Giraudo (respectively 6th and 4th) and the gap was reduced to fourteen points before the last race of the season. Starting from the second row, Jerome was second behind Adrien Chareyre in the first corner and took the lead in the 7th lap. Two laps later Davide Gozzini came second, and immediately pushed to come back right behind Giraudo. At mid-race Giraudo was virtual champion as Verderosa was only 16th, but when Max came 14th in the fifteenth lap there was only one solution for Giraudo: he had to win to be crowned. With Gozzini pushing and pushing right behind him the suspense was total, and just ended when the Aprilia crossed the finish line first: he won the race and the title. “It’s unbelievable,” said Jerome immediately after the race “even if I knew that I had a little chance when I came here. I think that Max put too much pressure on himself, and he made a mistake at the first start. But we also had our problems this season, and I want to dedicate this title to the team. I don’t know how many hours the mechanics spent on the bike this year, but we worked so hard to reach this title. It’s a great moment I was just focused on my race in the Superfinal and wanted the win without thinking about the title. Davide put a lot of pressure, but he is a fair rider and I knew that he would not try to do any stupid or dangerous move on me. I think that the night will be long now,” added the French rider. Second in the Superfinal (and 3rd and 5th in the finals) Gozzini finished third in the championship; Fabrice Lecoanet lost his chances after a crash in the second final and had a front tyre puncture in the Superfinal. Two other riders did a great performance in Finestrat: Spaniard Jorge Nestor winner of the two finals aboard a Husaberg, and French Adrien Chareyre who got in first podium of the season in the Superfinal. Twice second behind Nestor in the finals, the young (18 years old) rider finished the championship in fifth just followed by Fred Bolley who couldn’t race the second final due to a technical problem on the grid.
SuperFinal S1: 1.Van Den Bosch (FRA, KTM) / 2.Delepine (BEL, Husqvarna) / 3.Winstanley (GBR, KTM) / 4.Manzo (ITA, Aprilia) / 5.Kvasnicka (CZE, Husqvarna) / 6.Guyot (FRA, TM) / 7.Seel (BEL, Husqvarna) / 8.Bartolini (ITA, Husaberg) / 9.Rispoli (ITA, KTM) / 10.Dejong (BEL, KTM) / etc…
Championship: 1.Van Den Bosch, 348 / 2.Chambon (FRA, KTM), 282 / 3.Delepine, 268 / 4.Seel, 261 / 5.Lazzarini (ITA, KTM), 243 / etc…
SuperFinal S2: 1.Giraudo (FRA, Aprilia) / 2.Gozzini (ITA, Husqvarna) / 3.A.Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna) / 4.Bartolini (ITA, Yamaha) / 5.Thiebault (FRA, Honda) / 6.Nestor (SPA, Husaberg) / 7.Girolami (ITA, Honda) / 8.Bolley (FRA, Aprilia) / 9.Balducci (ITA, TM) / 10.Pignotti (ITA, Honda) / etc…
Championship: 1.Giraudo, 244 / 2.Verderosa (ITA, Honda), 240 / 3.Gozzini, 230 / 4.Lecoanet (FRA, KTM), 193 / 5.Chareyre, 179 / etc…
More info and full results on the official website of the championship: www.supermotoS1.com
Photo (C) J.Barthe