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