MOTOCROSS 1

BISHOPSCOURT (BELFAST)-The first Supermoto of Nations in the history of the sport has now a winner: it is Team Italy.

The morning was dry and the riders presentation at 11 am was much more sunny than the afternoon races.

In typical Irish changeable weather conditions the Italians won 2 of the 3 Supermoto of Nations Heats with Ivan Lazzarini and Massimo Beltrami. The third was won by Frenchman Adrien Chareyre.

Italians Beltrami and Cavazzana had a good start on a track in mixed conditions and lead the pack into the first corner. On the other hand Bidart made a mistake then crashed at the off-road section. The Frenchman restarted the race but crashed again: he finally finished tenth. In the race lead Beltrami and Chareyre were fighting for first with nice overtaking manoeuvres by both the Frenchman and the Italian. Chareyre moved past Beltrami, who crashed afterwards and finished the race with third; Lazzarini replaced his Team mate in the chase for the win. He made to get it after Chareyre's bike turned off because of a mistake by the Frenchman. Chareyre brought the bike home in second while Italian Junior Cavazzana was fourth. Irishman Kinsella completed the top five.

The second Moto was dry. British Iddon lead the rivals into the first turn but Bidart, Balducci, Cavazzana and Rolland were right behind the Brit. The danger was coming from behind: Massimo Beltrami found a good pace straight away and came up from fourteenth place. Balducci moved past Iddon who successfully replied one lap later. Beltrami joined the two leaders at the eighth lap after an enthralling overtake on Cavazzana; he passed both Balducci and Iddon, winning the second Moto. With four laps to go Bidart passed Balducci and was third behind Iddon; in the final lap he passed also the Brit, finishing second. Iddon crashed at the off-road and handed third place to Balducci; at the end the Brit brought the bike home in fourth and Cavazzana was fifth.

The wet final Moto was dominated by Frenchman Chareyre who had a storming start from fifteenth place and was already third at the first corner. Winstanley got the holeshot but at the end of the first lap Chareyre was first and defended the position from Lazzarini's attacks; the Italian knew he had to make no mistakes to secure the Team's win and so he did, finishing second. Winning the battle with Frenchman Rolland, Iddon secured third place for Team Great Britain; Balducci did the same move on Rolland and managed fourth place until the end of the Moto. Frenchman Rolland made to move past Balducci but once the Italian replied he kept fifth until the chequered flag.

On the podium the Italians had a great celebration for the Supermoto of Nations Trophy. The French squad was on the second step with Team Great Britain completing the podium.

The S1 riders' classification was topped by Adrien Chareyre; Beltrami was first in the S2 and the best rider in the Open class was Christian Iddon.

Now it is time to head back to Italy for the coming Dunlop Grand Prix "Les Alpes de la Mer" in Busca (Cuneo), which will be on next weekend.

The Supermoto of Nations is finished but the Supermoto World Championship is not; with the 2 Titles challenges still open, the final 3 rounds will make the show continue until the beginning of November.

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.

BACK TO HOME PAGE