One armed Supermoto rider

Here's a video of Hungarian rider Baloo riding his KTM 560 smr with Rekluse Pro. What's so special about this you might ask? Well Baloo only has one arm and his other arm is prosthetic. Major respect for a man who keeps doing what he loves when the odds are against him.

Check out his website here

World Supermoto Championship comes to Britain in 2009

Youthstream released the provisional calender for 2009 and it's a good thing to see the FIM Supermoto Championship will also race in Britain! On 30 May (Saturday) the best supermoto riders of the world will race at Mallory Park

Here's the provisional calendar:

DATE	GRAND PRIX	VENUE
19 April	ITALY	Viterbo
24 May	SPAIN	tba
30 May (Saturday)	GREAT BRITAIN	Mallory Park
14 June	ANDORRA	Pas de la Casa
12 July	AUSTRIA	Greinbach
06 September	ALPI DEL MARE	Busca
27 September	TBA	Tba
03 October (Saturday)	EUROPE	Franciacorta
11 October	GREECE	Tba
18 October - FIM SuperMoto of Nations - BULGARIA - Pleven

Mettet Superbiker 2008 movie

Another great production by Skully from Belgium. High quality version here

Mettet Superbiker pics

Start of one of the qualifying races

Starbiker winner Cassidy Anderson

Darryl Atkins on his Aprilia SXV

Joshua Coppins finished 7th in the Starbiker race

Joel Smets(DNF) on the BMW X450 vs Stefan Everts (7th in the Superbiker)on the KTM 450SMR

The first pics of the Mettet Superbiker are popping up around the web, first the MXworld.be gallery really really nice pics in this gallery. With captions so you know who you are looking at. The pics from above are some of the best from the MXworld.be gallery.

Also a big 37 page gallery by Marc Hilger of Automobilsport.com here

MXphotos.be also has a very nice gallery

And last the pics of Belgian Supermoto photographer Wim Moons (aka theMonkey). He has a huge gallery of 4163 pics of the 3 Mettet Superbiker days.

Grand Prix of Greece Highlights

Cassidy Anderson wins Metter Superbiker

Cassidy Anderson is the winner of the 2008 Mettet Superbiker. Following 5 seconds behind was German S2 Champion Mauno Hermunen from Finland.

Former MX legend Mickael Pichon finished 3rd 1 sec behind Hermunen. Pichon also won the Starbiker race of the day.

Starbiker (Star class)

1. Mickeal Pichon (France)
2. Frederic Bolley (France)
3. Stefan Everts (Belgium)
4. Darryl Atkins (New Zealand)
5. Micky Dymond (USA)

Full results

Superbiker (Bikers,Prestige and Star classes)

1. Cassidy Anderson (USA)
2. Mauno Hermunen (Finland)
3. Mickael Pichon (France)
4. Juergen Kuenzel (Germany)
5. Eric Delannoy (Belgium)

Full results

Stay tuned for more reports, pics and videos!

Hiemer & Chareyre 2008 World champions

Hiemer won the Greek GP and the S1 title all in one day

THESSALONIKI (GREECE), 19 October 2008 – Bernd Hiemer and Adrien Chareyre took the S1 and S2 titles respectively with dominant performances as the two won today’s Grand Prix.

With each of the four moto containing lots of drama and action Hiemer and Chareyre eventually came out on top of the overall to consolidate their authority in the Championship.

Hiemer clinched another crown since his maiden title in 2006 as Chareyre collected his second consecutive title after last year’s success in the S1 class.

Thierry Van Den Bosch and Ivan Lazzarini rounded off today’s S1 podium and finished second and third in the Championship respectively.

Gozzini and Chareyre were second and first at the end of heat one

In the S2 class the Greek round marked a podium comeback for Attilio Pignotti and Lorenzo Mariani as Davide Gozzini and Gerald Delepine completed the top three in the Championship.

Despite missing out the overall victory Oliver Pope became European Champion in the S3 class as Luca D’Addato took the Open class Title after winning both heats.

Full report

First 2009 CRF450R Supermoto

Spotted the first 2009 CRF450R Supermoto over at the Thumpertalk forums. The bike is build by Eddy Sisneros of OTD Cyclesports Denver

XTRM AMA Supermoto Championship Series Finale Location & Date Announced

XTRM Supermoto National Championship Series finale, presented by Parts Unlimited, will be held the weekend of November 14 and 15 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. This double-header finale will be a pure slugfest, sure to provide a spectacular finish to the series.

This closely fought yearlong battle for three AMA Supermoto Championships will come to a stunning, street fight like conclusion. The eventual champions will be awarded among the top Pro contestants in a total of SIX point paying finals over the weekend. With the Premier 450 class, the big bore ‘Open’ class and 250cc ‘Lites’ titles all up for grabs.

This is one of the best opportunities for race fans to witness the best bar banging action ever seen in a take it all season ending battle of the titans.

Supermoto of Nations Gallery: Amazing pics

I came across the Polish Supermoto website Supermoto.pl and they have a gallery filled with amazing pics(like the one above) of last week's Supermoto of Nations(won by Italy). Go check out the pics from world's coolest Supermoto track here

Source: Supermoto.pl

Qualification results Grand Prix of Greece

THESSALONIKI (GREECE), 18 October 2008 – The battle has started at a cloudy Thessaloniki today as the World and European SuperMoto series are going to assign the titles tomorrow.

Thierry Van Den Bosch secured the pole from Thomas Chareyre and Championship leader Bernd Hiemer. In the S2 class Adrien Chareyre took pole to start his title chase while runner up Davide Gozzini finished a close second behind the Frenchman.

In the European Championship scene Olivier Scheen took the S3 pole from series leader Oliver Pope as Luca D’Addato topped the Open time sheets being on route to the Title.

S1

DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory’s Thierry Van Den Bosch is fully exploiting his only Title chance as he took today’s pole in dominant style going out for a storming lap and leaving the opposition more than half a second behind. Later on Thomas Chareyre of Husqvarna CH Racing closed in on the three time World Champion and moved past Hiemer to secure the second best time.

KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer ended a solid third as a mistake in the sky section hampered his last fast lap try. Other DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory Superider Ivan Lazzarini ended the time practice in fourth place to secure a spot on tomorrow’s front row.

The Italian looks forward to tomorrow when he will battle it out with VDB and the winner of the last two GP’s Chareyre to grasp the runner up spot in the Championship. Matthew Winstanley rounded off the top five ahead of Championship rival Sylvain Bidart as the duo is due to fight tooth and nail for the fifth place.

Top five: 1. Thierry van den Bosch (FRA, Aprilia), 1:06.151; 2. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:00.356; 3. Bernd Hiemer (GER, KTM), +0:00.501; 4. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), +0:00.755; 5. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, KTM), +0:00.877

S2

Husqvarna CH Racing’s Adrien Chareyre started off strong and topped the time sheets right from his first outing on the Drive Park course.Later on in the session KTM Italia Miglio’s Attilio Pignotti closed in on the Championship leader and clocked the second best lap time ahead of TM Factory’s Davide Gozzini.

The “Gozzo” is chasing Chareyre for the Championship from second and desperately wanted to close in on the 22 year old during today’s session. Gozzini unleashed his TM in the last minutes of the time practice moving up to second but an unfortunate final lap try left him with no chance to move past Chareyre. Right back from his first season’s podium in Busca DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory’s Christian Iddon took third ahead of Pignotti.

Last year’s Champion Gerald Delepine was fifth ahead of young gun Andrea Occhini.

Top five: 1. Adrien Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), 1:06.890; 2. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), +0:00.270; 3. Christian Iddon (GBR, Aprilia), +0:00.374; 4. Attilio Pignotti (ITA, KTM), +0:00.488; 5. Gérald Delepine (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:00.685

Mettet Superbiker Weekend

If you are a real supermoto fan you must have heard about the famous Superbiker Mettet weekend. For 3 days in a row the Belgian town of Mettet is being transformed to a Supermoto race fest featuring the biggest Supermoto(and other Motorsports) stars on the planet. Names like Fred Fiorentino, Stephane Chambon, Jeff Ward, Nicky Dymond, Stefan Everts, Troy Corser and many more. Here are the results from the first day of training on Friday.

Starbikers(results 2nd Free Practice Friday)

1. Cassidy Anderson
2. Fred Fiorentino
3. Juergen Kuenzel
4. Stephane Chambon
5. Gilles DeJong

Bikers(results Qualification Friday)

1. Mauno Hermunen
2. Aurelien Grelier
3. Damien Denil
4. Lee Jones
5. Jean-Marc Gaillard

Stay tuned for more results from the Mettet Superbiker.

This weekend: Grand Prix of Greece who will win the titles?

THESSALONIKI (GREECE), 17 October 2008 – One round is left before both the S1 and the S2 World Titles will be taken and the place to be this weekend is Thessaloniki’s Drive Park in Greece.

Bernd Hiemer leads the S1 Championship with a 29 point advantage over runner up Thierry Van Den Bosch, with the latter also being involved in a dice for second with Thomas Chareyre and Ivan Lazzarini.

In the S2 Championship leader Adrien Chareyre will try to seal his second consecutive World Title but an extremely motivated runner up Davide Gozzini will give chase right from free practice one.

Both UEM titles will be assigned this weekend; Oliver Pope leads the S3 class ahead of archrival Olivier Scheen as Luca D’ Addato will face runner up Heino Meusburger in the battle deciding the Open title.

S1

Bernd Hiemer is extremely close to seal his second World Title this weekend

KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer is focused on sealing the S1 World Title as he leads the points standings with a 29 point advantage over runner up Thierry Van Den Bosch.

Losing vital points at Busca the DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory Superider will give it all this weekend in his last effort for the title but the Frenchman has to watch his back as well; other Superiders Thomas Chareyre, the winner of the latest two GP’s, and Ivan Lazzarini are chasing three time World Champion VDB for second in the Championship.

Matthew Winstanley currently sits in fifth but sixth placed Sylvain Bidart is super pumped after his first season’s moto win at Pleven during last weekend’s SMoN and he has a solid chance to move past the Brit this weekend.

Jerome Giraudo will miss the season’s finale after his crash at Busca; though the Superider is healing well and should be completely recovered in a couple of weeks.

S2

The last effort for Adrien Chareyre will be defending from Davide Gozzini in Thessaloniki

Deciding the Championship in the very last round is no news for Husqvarna CH Racing’s Adrien Chareyre as the current S2 red plate holder grasped last year’s title in an equal scenario.

Though this year there is a much closer runner up in the likes of TM Factory’s Davide Gozzini, who follows Chareyre from an 11 point distance. A double victory is what the Italian looks for as he does want to take this final chance for his maiden World Title.

The battle for third sees 2007 S2 World Champion Gerald Delepine on route to a clash with last year’s runner up Attilio Pignotti in what will be a similar finale to last year’s Championship where the duo battled for the Title until the final round.

Aprilia fellow Superiders Luca Minutilli and Christian Iddon round off the top six as other Aprilia man Massimo Beltrami will make his comeback to the GP scene after an injury.

Supermoto of Nations highlight video

The Supermoto of Nations 2008 highlights! Go to youtube for the hiqh quality version.

Italy wins Supermoto of Nations

PLEVEN (BULGARIA), 12 October 2008 – Edition three of the FIM SuperMoto of Nations was a close one on the fabulous track of Pleven in Bulgaria where 15,000 spectators showed up and even celebrated an unexpected home podium. Italy won with France taking second.

Team Bulgaria with Alexander Georgiev, Ales Hlad and Rosen Tonchev actually finished a solid third on their first ever podium that was decided in a breathtaking final moto.

Italy took the eventual victory despite the technical problems affecting Davide Gozzini in the opening heat. Ivan Lazzarini added a little bit of drama to the final heat crashing out at the beginning of lap two as Attilio Pignotti rode two solid heats to help the squad secure their second Francesco Zerbi Trophy.

Second on the rostrum was team France. Final moto winner Sylvain Bidart alongside SMoN debutants Adrien Goguet and Stephane Blot could not defend last year’s victory but went home with a promising second.

Great Britain was a virtual third in the final heat but took fourth eventually with the Czech Republic rounding off the top five.

HEAT 1 - S1+S2

Georgiev led the pack into turn one but pole sitter Lazzarini stormed up to first at the following turn. The Italian ran away with the lead and took the eventual victory as the fight for the runner up spot saw Georgiev getting busy in a battle with Winstanley. The Brit crashed and had to recover from fifth back to third as Georgiev was second. Bidart started from the back of the pack but moved up to a solid fourth leading team mate Goguet in the final laps. Hlad completed the top six for Bulgaria ahead of Gozzini suffering with a technical problem.

Top five: 1. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), 18:30.452; ; 2. Alexander Georgiev (BUL, KTM), +0:06.533; 3. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, KTM), +0:08.779; 4. Sylvain Bidart (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:09.277; 5. Adrien Goguet (FRA, Husaberg), +0:14.820

Nations classification top five: Italy, Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Spain

HEAT 2 – S2+OPEN

Gozzini took his revenge in the second moto starting off from the back of the group then recovering to first. Bocek took the holeshot, tried to escape but Gozzini took no prisoners and the Czech could not defend himself from the Italian. Both Bocek and early second place holder Tonchev dropped down to an eventual fifth and sixth respectively. Great Britain surprised with young gun Hodgson who rode to second despite this being his maiden experience on a 505cc KTM machine. France was third with Goguet who completed a stunning move on both Pignotti and Bocek in the sky section with only two laps to go. As the duo went on the inside finding a lapped rider Goguet was full gas on the outside and passed both at the same corner. Pignotti finished right behind in fourth.

Top five: 1. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), 18:43.043; ; 2. Chris Hodgson (GBR, KTM), +0:03.529; 3. Adrien Goguet (FRA, Husaberg), +0:07.808; 4. Attilio Pignotti (ITA, KTM), +0:08.206; 5. Jiri Bocek (CZE, Honda), +0:11.021

Nations classification top five: Italy, France, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Czech Republic

HEAT 3 – S1+OPEN

Lazzarini put himself on route to another victory after grabbing the holeshot but he lost the front end at the beginning of lap two handing the lead to Bidart. The Frenchman paid tribute to his number one plate and went on to win the final moto defending from a hungry Winstanley. The duo pulled away from third placed Lazzarini –the Italian recovered well after the crash- and with a bunch of laps remaining Winstanley cut the gap to only 0.3 seconds. With a strong final lap Bidart secured the victory ahead of Winstanley. Pignotti took fourth behind the Lazza with Bocek finishing once again fifth. Barragan was sixth for Spain as Bulgaria took a seventh and an eighth with Georgiev and Tonchev.

Top five: 1. Sylvain Bidart (FRA, Husqvarna), 18:20.671; ; 2. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, KTM), +0:00.891; 3. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), +0:21.381; 4. Attilio Pignotti (ITA, KTM), +0:25.752; 5. Jiri Bocek (CZE, Honda), +0:27.893

Nations classification top five FINAL: Italy, France, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Czech Republic

WHAT’S NEXT

The Supermoto of Nations is a unique event and comes once a year though after today’s great show in Pleven the SuperMoto action continues. Next weekend in Thessaloniki the Greek Grand Prix will take place and put an end to the GP campaign. Both the S1 and S2 World Titles will be taken there.

KTM 690SMC R ???

Spotted at the GP of Austria a while ago was Hannes Maier riding a special KTM 690SMC prototype in the S2 class. Like the KTM 990 Supermoto R released a month ago, this version has an orange frame, white plastics and a different gas tank. Looks a lot like its 690 Enduro R brother actually.

Will KTM release a KTM 690SMC R at the EICMA in Milan? Time will tell...

New Husaberg FE450 in Supermoto trim

Spotted these new Husaberg FE450's in Supermoto trim. The new Husaberg has a revolutionary new engine design with a 70-degree single overhead cam fuel injected 450 or 570 cc engine. The engineers at Husaberg wanted the crankshaft as near as possible to the center of gravity. So they designed a new engine that has the crankshaft above the transmission and a radical 70 degree cilinder setup(see pic above).

Hopefully Husaberg will also produce an official supermoto model, but no word about that yet.

Italy dominates Supermoto of Nations Qualifying

Lazzarini was first in the S1 qualifying heat

PLEVEN (BULGARIA), 11 October 2008 – This third edition of the FIM SuperMoto of Nations in Pleven started off with Italy dominating all three qualifying motos. Ivan Lazzarini (S1), Davide Gozzini (S2) and Attilio Pignotti (Open) put Italy on top of the qualifying standings by winning one moto each today.

Bulgaria took a stunning second showing a very solid shape for tomorrow. S1 rider Alexander Georgiev was fourth with Ales Hlad ending second in S2 and Rosen Tonchev rounding off a positive day with third in the Open class.

The S2 moto was Gozzini’s business

Defending Champion Team France rounded off the top three with Sylvain Bidart a solid second in S1 and Adrien Goguet third in the S2. Stephane Blot was sixth in the Open class.

Czech Republic (Petr Vorlicek, David Brabec, Jiri Bocek) and Great Britain (Matthew Winstanley, Chris Hodgson, Ady Smith) qualified in fourth and fifth respectively as the British team suffered with Ady Smith breaking the rear tyre in his qualifying heat.

Read more

Lazzarini back in the day

Found this video of Lazzarini stunting on his Yamaha a couple of years ago...cool video.

Premier 2009 Offroad helmets

Ares PX6

Predator FX6

The Italian helmet manufacturer Premier has released their new line of 2009 helmets. They have 2 types of offroad helmets lines called Predator and Ares. Go check out the helmets here

New polisport Exura line

I spotted some new products on the Polisport website, the new Exura line looks pretty good. The front fender is not really a supermoto fender but still good to see something new. The headlight looks a lot like the one on the 2009 Husqvarna Sm450R 2 posts below. More info here

AMA/XTRM Supermoto Championship final cancelled

The 5th & 6th rounds of the AMA / XTRM Sports Network Supermoto Championship scheduled to take place on Oct. 11th & 12th have been cancelled, details will follow shortly.

Real bad news for the sport in the US.

Husqvarna SM450R

- New chassis(1kg lighter and more rigid)
- New engine parts(oil system changed, valves and drivetrain)
- Black excel wheels

New Aprilia SX125

Aprilia released their SX125 in new colors at the Intermot Show in Cologne. The technical side of the bike is the same as the 2008 model but the 2009 has black rims and blacks fairings with new decals. Also the frame received a new lick of red paint. To bad this model won't be available in the US since its faster than the Kawasaki KLX250SF & Honda CRF230M.

Some technical details:

- 30hp 125cc two stroke engine
- 10 liter tank (2.6gallon)
- 115kg dry weight(252lbs)

More info here

Grand prix of Alpi del Mare race video

Check out the high resolution version here

Don't forget to subcribe to the Supermoto Central Youtube Channel ! 130 Supermoto videos and counting..

World's first electric Supermoto

Swiss electric bike manufacturer Quantya has been one of the first on the planet to release a electric mx bike: the Quantya Evo1. Next to the Track version they also have a street legal Strada version which is legal to ride on the road in Germany. Since they have really strict rules in germany for road bikes, it should not be hard to get it street legal in any other country.

Some specs of the bike:

Weight: 85kg
Torque: 31.5 Nm (about the same as a Honda CRF250R)
Suspension: Marzocchi Shiver 40mm fork and Sachs rear shock
Price: €7800 (+taxes)

Now the good news, starting January 2009 the Evo1 Strada will also be available in supermoto version! The set will costs €490 (+taxes). The kit includes:

- Supermoto wheels with street tyres
- 52 teeth rear sprocket
- Front & Rear wave discs

Check out more info about the bike here

A thrilling GP at Busca Italy

Thomas Chareyre won his second consecutive GP and also second of the 2008 season

BUSCA (ITALY), 5 October 2008 – A thrilling penultimate round of the 2008 campaign prepared what will be a fantastic finale in Greece in a couple of weeks.

With Thomas Chareyre winning an eventful S1 Grand Prix and Thierry Van Den Bosch being disqualified in heat one Bernd Hiemer capitalized on his Championship lead. The latter was third on the podium as local favourite Ivan Lazzarini was second.

Adrien Chareyre won the S2 class making it another Chareyre one-two after the very first time two brothers won a GP in the same day at Andorra. Chareyre capitalized on his lead as runner up Davide Gozzini crashed in heat two. The “Gozzo” was second on the podium ahead of Christian Iddon rounding off his first season’s rostrum.

In the UEM SuperMoto series Fabrizio Bartolini wrapped up the overall in the Open class with Luca D’Addato securing the Championship lead courtesy of a second overall. In the S3 class Olivier Scheen won the round from Championship leader Oliver Pope and Matteo Traversa.

S1

Thierry Van Den Bosch won heat two from Ivan Lazzarini

It was an eventful S1 Grand Prix with Husqvarna CH Racing’s Thomas Chareyre taking his second consecutive win as KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer built on his Championship lead courtesy of a third overall. DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory’s Thierry Van Den Bosch was disqualified in heat one because of being too hot in his attack to Hiemer for first as both crashed. In the second heat VDB won but lost valuable points to Hiemer in the Championship. VDB’s team mate Ivan Lazzarini salvaged the weekend with a solid second overall as he made a mistake and crashed in heat one. Eddy Seel and Fabio Balducci rounded off the top five with VDB being an eventual eighth.

After a positive first heat in third place Jerome Giraudo crashed hard in the following heat and was immediately brought to the Santa Croce e Carle Hospital in Cuneo. The rider is currently undergoing the necessary tests in order to evaluate his condition.

Top five overall: 1. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), 45 points; 2. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), 40 p.; 3. Bernd Hiemer (GER, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Eddy Seel (BEL, Suzuki), 32 p.; 5. Fabio Balducci (ITA, Suzuki), 30 p.

S2

Adrien Chareyre’s chase to Davide Gozzini in heat one ended in the final lap when the Italian lost the front

Husqvarna CH Racing’s Adrien Chareyre took a solid victory on rival Gozzini’s ground as the latter fell after dominating most of heat one. TM Factory Racing’s Davide Gozzini was out for revenge in heat two and won to secure the second overall position. A mistake by Chareyre in heat two saw his overall advantage on Gozzini slim to five points only while PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road’s Christian Iddon mounted on the podium for the first time this season. Other Husqvarna CH Racing rider Gerald Delepine was fourth with BRT’s Paolo Gaspardone fifth. After a positive third in heat one Attilio Pignotti dropped to sixth overall due to a troubled final moto.

Davide Gozzini won heat two

Top five overall: 1. Adrien Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), 45 points; 2. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), 40 p.; 3. Christian Iddon (GBR, Aprilia), 40 p.; 4. Gérald Delepine (BEL, Husqvarna), 38 p.; 5. Paolo Gaspardone (ITA, Husaberg), 31 p.

Full race report

Van den Bosch takes Pole in Busca GP

BUSCA (ITALY), 4 October 2008 – A sunny Busca welcomed the Superiders at this penultimate round of the 2008 season.

Thierry Van Den Bosch took a storming pole in the S1 class leading Championship leader Bernd Hiemer. It was Adrien Chareyre taking the honours in the S2 class topping the time sheets ahead of Christian Iddon.

In the S3 class Olivier Scheen took pole as Fabrizio Bartolini was the quickest in the Open class.

S1

Courtesy of an incredible lap DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory’s Thierry Van Den Bosch took today’s pole as he was the sole rider breaking the 1 minute 19 second barrier. The Frenchman sits second in the standings as KTM Italia Miglio’s Bernd Hiemer leads the Championship.

Thierry VDB on a power slide

The latter took a solid second quickest time behind VDB as he led the first half of the timed session before Van Den Bosch’s charge.

The duo will be back to action tomorrow morning fighting for the Superpole together with other challengers HM Honda Racing Monticelli’s Jerome Giraudo and the winner of the latest GP in Andorra Thomas Chareyre onboard the Husqvarna CH Racing machine.

Bernd Hiemer having fun at the end of the free practice

Third placed in the Championship Ivan Lazzarini took fifth missing the front row by 0.2 seconds as Eddy Seel was sixth.

Using a special clutch lever combining also the rear brake lever Matthew Winstanley struggled throughout qualifying and decided to use the standard brake and clutch system in tomorrow’s GP.

Top five: 1. Thierry van den Bosch (FRA, Aprilia), 1:18.697; 2. Bernd Hiemer (GER, KTM), +0:00.387; 3. Jerome Giraudo (FRA, Honda), +0:00.414; 4. Thomas Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:00.502; 5. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), +0:00.712

S2

Championship leader Adrien Chareyre took a solid pole aboard the works Husqvarna with PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road’s Christian Iddon and KTM Italia Miglio’s Attilio Pignotti also on the same pace of 1.19 minutes.

Adrien Chareyre checking out the pit board

The trio will head the Superpole challenge as TM Factory’s Davide Gozzini is set to round off the front row after a shot to the top spot tomorrow.

Gozzini is still six points off Chareyre in a dogfight for the S2 World Title; Gerald Delepine is a distant third and he was fifth in today’s time sheets.

The defending Champion will head row two next to young guns and home riders Andrea Occhini and Paolo Gaspardone.

Luca Minutilli was ninth as he can still build on his fifth place in the Championship exploiting Massimo Beltrami’s absence due to injury.

Christian Iddon took a solid second today

Top five: 1. Adrien Chareyre (FRA, Husqvarna), 1:19.407; 2. Christian Iddon (GBR, Aprilia), +0:00.477; 3. Attilio Pignotti (ITA, KTM), +0:00.553; 4. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), +0:00.658; 5. Gérald Delepine (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:00.919

Source: Youthstream

Ghostrider on a KTM Supermoto

Honda CRF230M Supermoto

The all-new CRF230M is street-ready for hours of urban and backroad adventure, with sporty 17-inch wheels and low-profile tires, plus a torquey, electric-start engine that boasts exceptional fuel economy(70mpg). This agile street specialist features a dependable 223cc single-cylinder air-cooled four-stroke engine that pumps out 15hp(yes only 15...). Finally, the CRF230M packs CRFR-inspired bodywork and graphics to provide lots of style while you're on the go.

MSRP $4,749

Lazzarini and Gozzini still holding a title chance

FUNCHAL (PORTUGAL), 1 October 2008 – As the 2008 season draws to a close none of the two World Titles has been won in the S1 and S2 classes; the fact keeps up the excitement as the circus enters Busca for the penultimate round of the GP campaign.

Bernd Hiemer retained the S1 lead after a tough Andorran GP where Thomas Chareyre won his first overall of the year. Italian Lazzarini and Aprilia fellow rider Van Den Bosch are still in the chase for the title.

Chareyre’s brother Adrien completed a legendary one-two by winning the S2 GP from rival Davide Gozzini and Gerald Delepine. The fight for the S2 crown now seems a private affair in between Chareyre and Gozzini.

In the UEM S3 series Oliver Pope leads the way as Heino Meusburger is on top of the Open class Championship.

S1

After a superb performance in Andorra Husqvarna CH Racing’s Thomas Chareyre has increased his World Title chances dramatically as he sits fourth with a 38 point gap from leader Bernd Hiemer. Last year in Busca a mechanical failure prevented Chareyre to take another double heat win as the young Frenchman dnf’d in heat one then dominated the final heat.

With 100 points to be taken in the final two rounds KTM Italia Miglio’s Hiemer has four other moto’s to secure the Title. Hiemer sits first in the standings but has not been winning since Valladolid even though his impressive consistency saw him miss the podium just once in Andorra.

Busca is actually a bittersweet venue for the German. In a troubled debut season in the S1 class Hiemer took his first podium last year at Busca as the year before he crashed twice on his way to his maiden World Title.

DRC SuperMoto Aprilia Factory team mates Thierry Van Den Bosch and Ivan Lazzarini are currently the closest rivals to Hiemer as they sit in second and third in the Championship with Chareyre rounding off a close top four.

The Lazza and VDB were second and third on the Andorran podium collecting the same amount of points each as Hiemer lost four points on both. Busca will be another home GP for Italian Lazzarini who took victory at the Kart Planet in 2006.A solid Matthew Winstanley rounds off the top five ahead of Sylvain Bidart.

S2

After a dogfight with archrival Gozzini Adrien Chareyre of Husqvarna CH Racing eventually won the Andorran Grand Prix but could not pull away from the Italian in the Championship.

TM Factory Racing’s Davide Gozzini took a hard fought second ending level in points with Chareyre to limit the damages to the points standings.

Six points divide the duo who is set to continue battling until the final round in Greece as third placed and defending Champion Gerald Delepine of Husqvarna CH Racing is losing contact with the leaders.

Delepine built on his position by taking his second consecutive podium after Austria; on the other hand last year’s runner up Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio has been on the podium just twice as he sits in fourth behind Delepine.

PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road’s Luca Minutilli is currently the highest placed Aprilia rider in fifth and he pulled away from Aprilia fellow rider Massimo Beltrami in Andorra as the latter missed the event due to a wrist injury.

A distant Christian Iddon is eighth behind Lorenzo Mariani; a mid season injury forced the Brit to sit out of two Grand Prix’s as the misfortune reflected on the points standings. Though Iddon will seek revenge in Busca where last year he won the second GP of his career.

Source: Youthstream

Gary's YZF

Gary from the UK has sent me a pic of his Yamaha YZF-450 for the Yamaha Gallery. I thought it's such a beautiful bike that it deserved a spot on the front page.

Got a good looking special supermoto? Don't hesitate to mail some pics of it to me so I can add the pics to the gallery.