The red number plate of the S1 leader is back to Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5). The Aprilia French champion won the Italy Grand Prix, first race of the 2008 world calendar. On the hard road track around the Oval Lingotto, he proved to be already well trained. He was the fastest rider on wet track on Saturday and then proved to be the winner on dry track on Sunday.
He started third in Race 1 and needed several laps to overtake the British Winstanley (Ktm) on a track where overtaking is extremely difficult. Once in second position, Van Den Bosch had already a good advantage gained during the first laps and the German Bernd Hiemer (Ktm) was not able to reach him anymore. In Race 2 Van Den Bosch sprinted to the first position and he kept it until the end.
“I’m happy about the result” – Van Den Bosch says – “during the first manche I had some set-up problems, then solved during Race 2. Yet this is not a good track to show ability, most important was not to make mistakes on a track that changed from wet to dry.”
In S1 good marks to Aprilia thanks to Ivan Lazzarini too (DRC Aprilia Off Road), who concluded twice forth on his SXV 4.5. In Race 1 he got from sixth to forth next behind Winstanley, who gave unfortunately no possibility to get ahead. In Race 2 Winstanley was before him again and Lazzarin passed only when the first three riders were already far away.
In class S2 the best was Luca Minutilli (PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road) who, after the fifth place in Race 1, reached the top in Race 2 and kept it for even 13 laps. A small mistake and some stress made him go down to the third place, which is anyway his best place ever in the World Championship. Good race for Massimo Beltrami on Aprilia SXV 5.5 (team DRC Aprilia Off Road). Back to the higher displacement, Beltrami got forth in Race 1. In the final part he had a bad start a could only recover from the 15th to the 17th position.
Tough test for Christian Iddon (PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road). While proving to be fast on Saturday and Sunday morning (he got the third time), Iddon has fallen more than once during both races and concluded the race only seventh and eighth.
Supermoto World Championship – Gp d’Italia - April 13th 2008, Torino
CLASS S1
Race 1: 1. Bernd Hiemer (Ktm); 2. Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 3. Matthew Winstanley (Ktm); 4. Ivan Lazzarini (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 5. Thomas Chareyre (Husqvarna).
Race 2: 1. Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 2. Bernd Hiemer (Ktm); 3. Thomas Chareyre (Husqvarna); 4. Ivan Lazzarini (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 5. Matthew Winstanley (Ktm).
The World Championship S1 after the 1 race: 1. Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 47 punti; 2. Hiemer (Ktm) 47; 3. T. Chareyre (Husqvarna) 36; 4. Ivan Lazzarini (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 36.
CLASS S2
Race 1: 1. Adrien Chareyre (Husqvarna); 2. Davide Gozzini (Tm); 3. Attilio Pignotti (Ktm); 4. Massimo Beltrami (Aprilia SXV 5.5); 5. Luca Minutilli (Aprilia SXV 5.5); 7. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5).
Race 2: 1. Davide Gozzini (Tm); 2. Adrien Chareyre (Husqvarna); 3. Luca Minutilli (Aprilia SXV 5.5); 4. Attilio Pignotti (Ktm); 5. Lorenzo Mariani (Tm); 7. Massimo Beltrami (Aprilia SXV 5.5); 8. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5) .
The World Championship S2 after the 1 race: 1. Gozzini (Tm) 47 punti; 2. A. Cahreyre (Husqvarna) 47; 3. Pignotti (Ktm) 38; 4. Luca Minutilli (Aprilia SXV 5.5) 36; 5. Massimo Beltrami (Aprilia SXV 5.5) 32; 8. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5) 27.
