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.