Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Lazzarini wins Supermoto GP in Austria


The winning streak for the Aprilia SXV 4.5 continues in the World S1 Supermoto with Ivan Lazzarini, the dominator of the only heat disputed at the Austrian Grand Prix, the 5th round of the international calendar. Lazzarini and Team DRC Supermoto were once again unbeatable, marking the best time on the wet track during Saturday's qualifying round and Sunday morning's Superpole. At the start of Race 1, he was able to stay on his feet after a multi-rider incident at the first turn and went on to handily win the heat. Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5/DRC Supermoto) placed 3rd in Saturday's qualifying round and 2nd in the Superpole but ended up on the ground at the first curve and got back up on the bike in last place. The Frenchman began a comeback that saw him close out in 10th. Race 2 was suspended after a few laps due to a serious accident involving Berthome and Nestor: the latter of which was transported by helicopter to the hospital in serious condition. At the moment the red flag went up, Lazzarini was commanding the race and Van Den Bosch was 4th. Thus, only one heat of the S1 Austrian GP was raced.

Of note in the S2 was Saturday's Pole by Massimo Beltrami (Aprilia SXV 5.5/DRC Supermoto) and his 2nd place in Sunday's Super Pole. In Race 1, he spent the entire fraction in Davide Gozzini's wake (TM). With four laps left until the end and in search of victory, he forced the pace but made contact with the back wheel of a competitor, shutting down his Aprilia. He took off again but ran into a racer during his attempted comeback and irreparably damaged his SXV 5.5. Luca Minutilli (Aprilia SXV 5.5/PMR H20) had a great 3rd place finish in Race 1 after passing Beltrami at the start of the race and maintaining a good pace for the entire fraction. In Race 2, Beltrami recovered to 4th place after a not-so-great start while Minutilli, who took off in the back, finished 10th. Also important was the positive reentry of Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5/PMR H20), who finished 5th and 6th in the heats even though he was understandably a bit out of shape after his arm injury.

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