MOTOCROSS 1

With the first Supermoto of Nations in history at Bishopscourt last week, the masters of sliding have started a busy 3 weeks stage that will project them to the end of the 2006 Championship.

The first of 3 is now completed but the Championship standings have not been touched by the Italian wave that overwhelmed the opposition in Bishopscourt; the Trophy of Nations had no effects on the Championship classification but brought a lot of glory to Team Italy, winner with Ivan Lazzarini, Massimo Beltrami and Fabio Balducci; Team France, second with Adrien Chareyre, Sylvain Bidart and Aurelien Rolland; Team Great Britain, third with Matthew Winstanley, Samuel Warren and Christian Iddon; and the many others like Team South Africa, Team Slovenia, Team Sweden, Team Denmark, Team Norway, Team Ireland, Team Portugal and the Junior Italian, British and Irish Teams.

The magic atmosphere of the Nations is now finished and riders become a little more selfish for the forthcoming Dunlop Grand Prix Le Alpi del Mare. It is time to fight for the Championship again after the last round in St. Wendel where Hiemer and Seel won.

This weekend's destination is Busca, a pretty town very close to Cuneo (Italy). It is also close to France: Busca is about 100km from the boarder and also French fans are expected to attend the event.

Surely there will be a lot of French riders. France assaulted the S2 Championship from the first round in Castelletto di Branduzzo; it was Jerome Giraudo leading the standings at that time but now there is a new leader heading the S2 pack to Italy again: Thierry van den Bosch.

Giraudo is in second place, followed by Seel, winner of the Dunlop Grand Prix of Germany. Adrien Chareyre is fourth and shares Seel's same score, 156 points, but Frederic Bolley is just 4 points behind them in fifth place.

The fight in the top five is hard but there is a young gun coming up from sixth place: Sylvain Bidart. In the Championship standings the Frenchman is keeping an Italian couple of veterans behind: Balducci and Beltrami are seventh and eighth with just 1 point between them.

Defending Champion Boris Chambon is ninth and Jorge Nestor completes the top ten where all riders have passed the 100 points goal.

With 6 French riders in the top ten, 5 of whom populate the top six, the S2 class seems to be monolingual. On the other hand S1 is more mixed and it is a German leading the Championship.

KTM Bernd Hiemer has topped the standings since the first round in Castelletto di Branduzzo where he won with 2 back to back Moto wins. Bernd missed the overall win only once this season, in Villars sous Ecot, when defending Champion Gerald Delepine brought his Husqvarna home with first place. Even if he has not won a Grand Prix so far, there is another rider as consistent as Hiemer: it is British Christian Iddon.

Iddo is currently second in the Championship; he was on the podium 4 times in a row this season and interrupted the tradition in Germany because of a right knee injury. Christian's knee is now in better conditions as the Brit demonstrated at the Supermoto of Nations by topping the Open class standings at the end of the event. He has some hard work ahead: making up 49 points on Championship leader Hiemer.

With Christian injured in Sankt Wendel, Husqvarna factory Team mates Ivan Lazzarini and Gerald Delepine made the most of the German round and dramatically closed in on the Aprilia rider. Ivan is third in the Championship and Gerald is fourth. Only 2 points keep the Husqvarna boys distant from each other but it is Lazzarini who will play in his home ground this weekend and the next one, in Latina.

Moreover the Italian comes form the successful Team victory at the Supermoto of Nations and such a mix can give him the boost to the winning step.The top five finishes with Swiss Marcel Goetz who is followed by some hungry riders like Fred Fiorentino, Robert Baraccani and Maxim Testu.

Also the S1 class is still on the ball and on the Italian dance floor we may see some surprises this weekend. First surprise will be the circuit of Busca, which is new to the Championship. A 1.180 metre long asphalt track joins a 300 metre long off road section: the Kart Planet circuit has also a 15.000 square metre paddock which is ready to host the many hospitalities and workshops of the FIM Supermoto World Championship.

Busca has 10.000 inhabitants and is a small town surrounded by ancient walls; in the inside there are three fascinating churches (Santissima Trinità, Maria Ausiliatrice and San Vitale) and the amazing Castle of Roccolo.

The weekend of the Grand Prix there will be plenty of activities in Busca, with shops open until 10 pm and special buses linking the circuit with Busca and Cuneo town centres.

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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