Italian riders swept in Isola 2000, France, for the second round of the FIM Europe Trial Championship.
Matteo Grattarola (Sembenini Montesa, photo1), Sergio Piardi (Beta, photo2) and Alessandro Brocco (Scorpa, photo3) triumphed respectively in the European Championship and in the, Junior and Over40 class.
In a sunny day the wonderful alpine scenario of this small village situated at 2000 mt of altitude stood out more than the usual. Despite forecasting rain in the afternoon, the weather remained almost the same, so many riders hurried up to finish before the rain, but is was worthless. On the contrary due to a heavy rain dropped the day before, some sections were still slippery in the first part of the competition and improved their grip in the second one.
Grattarola did not choose any strategy. He was happy to find sections quite difficult because his skill is at the moment higher than any other rider. He rode calmly and confidently. In the first loop Spanish Francesc Moret, his teammate, was able to stay behind him by 2 points (15 against 17) but then he dropped 9 marks in the second lap and Moret 25. The total score of Grattarola (24) was almost half of what Moret did (42). In third Spanish Marc Riba (TRS) who scored 51.
The fight in the Junior class was close. Piardi recovered 2 points gap from French Kieran Touly (Sherco) who occupied provisionally the first place at the turning point. Kieran scored 12, but in the second lap he was not able to repeat his good performance and made 19 errors. On the contrary Piardi ended the loop with just 15 and overtook him by 2 points.
Quite behind the first two the battle for third place was also very uncertain. Two French riders were separated by 1 single point: Remi Rovery (Sherco) beat Hugo Dufrese (Gas Gas) 60 to 61.
In the Over 40 German Marcus Kipp (TRS) threw away the victory at the last section of the second loop. He was leading after the first one having dropped one mark, and another penalty was made by him in all the sections before the last one. After a big mistake he was overtaken by a very regular Brocco, who let 3 and 2 points in the two loops and climbed the highest step of the podium at his first competition in this class. Third Piero Sembenini (Montesa) with 10 points.
French Jean-Philippe Lerda (Vertigo) topped the International 1 class, while in the International 2 the victory went to French Marius Pelissier (TRS).
Tomorrow the third round will be held on almost the same sections.
Photos ©Phototrial.it
