MOTOCROSS 1

BISHOPSCOURT (NORTHERN IRELAND)-The Irish wind blew all clouds away and the sky was all clear this morning.

All was ready for the first Supermoto of Nations to take off from the Northern Irish circuit of Bishopscourt.

The S1 riders were the first to enter the track, followed by the S2 group and finally by the Open class riders.

Races were all scheduled for the afternoon when the weather started to change.

The S1 Heat was won by Italian Ivan Lazzarini with Husqvarna. Ivan got a storming start but Adrien Chareyre was right behind him and moved up to first before the end of the opening lap. The Frenchman, who was on the 530cc Husqvarna for the first time today, was Lazzarini’s toughest opponent today. Unfortunately he first had a problem with his goggles; he slowed down and Lazzarini got first place back; then the bike had a problem and Adrien decided to bring it back home in second place.

Matt Winstanley arrived to the chequered flag with third place and tried to keep up the leading duo’s rhythm for the first few laps. Marco Dondi from Italy Junior Team was fourth and Irishman Greg Kinsella was fifth, making up for a crash at the eighth lap.

The second Heat of the day was for the S2 class and all eyes got stuck on the first two riders. Italy versus France, Massimo Beltrami versus Sylvain Bidart, an old fox of Supermoto versus one of the fittest youngsters of the sport. It seemed Beltrami had the potential to do a race on his own but Bidart came up from second and was closing the gap lap by lap. Once he arrived behind the Italian the fight was thrilling; Bidart passed in the sixth lap but Beltrami never let him go away.

They passed each other several times, fighting on the edge of their Dunlop tyres until Beltrami made a mistake at the off-road section, handing first to the French youngster. When it started to rain Beltrami decided to secure second and let Bidart go to the chequered flag for first. Also the fight for third was tough with Italian Junior rider Riccardo Cavazzana and Danish Mikkel Caprani battling until Caprani sealed third place. Cavazzana was fourth and Irish David McKee completed the top five.

The final Heat of the day was won by Christian Iddon. The track was wet; Rolland, Balducci and Iddon packed into the first corner but Balducci could not even finish the first lap and crashed. French Aurelien Rolland got the lead with British Christian Iddon following from second. The Brit wanted to give the win a shot and so he did, passing Rolland and opening up a gap that Aurelien could not close. Iddon put all the 16 laps together and finished first but it was Balducci who finished second; Rolland crashed at the tenth lap and on the other hand Balducci came up from the bottom of the group and ended second.

Staele Bjordal from Norway grasped fourth place and Danish Andreas Mikkelsen was fifth. Slovenian Marko Skarja and Great Britain Junior Chris Hodgson were fighting for third but they both crashed at the off-road section.

When the day was over and the Qualifying classification was put together, Italy was first with France second and Great Britain third. The Italian Junior Team was fourth and the Danish squad was fifth.

The regulations are similar to the one of the Motocross of Nations so for tomorrow’s grid each Team will chose its 2 places.

With 13 Teams in total (Belgium, Germany and Switzerland did not come to Bishopscourt) the first Team will have one rider in first place and another one in fourteenth; second Team will have one rider in the second place and the other one in fifteenth; third Team will place one rider on third place and the other one on sixteenth. And so on.

Tomorrow the real action starts at 1pm with the first Heat of the Supermoto of Nations, combining the S1 class with the S2. The second Heat will be for S2 and Open class bikes and will start at 2.15pm; the last one will be at 4.20pm with S1 and Open classes together.

Information and results on www.supermotoS1.com, the official website of the Supermoto World Championships.

Fans worldwide can watch this and every race in the 2006 FIM Motocross & Supermoto World Championships live and on-demand exclusively on The Moto Channel on MediaZone (moto.MediaZone.com). MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specializing in sports, entertainment and international programming.

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