European Junior Supermoto
The first round of the European Supermoto Championship SM Junior, S3 and Open started this weekend in the circuit of “Dolna Mitropolia”, in Pleven, Bulgaria, in front of around 2.000 spectators in the two days.
As always, the facility in Pleven offered perfect circuit and racing conditions for the riders. The weekend had two completely different weather conditions: Saturday it was a hot and sunny Spring day, whereas Sunday was accompanied by heavy rains and low temperatures, reaching up to 11 degrees C.
These conditions offered to the riders many challenges during the races on Sunday, and proved to be especially difficult for the SM Junior riders. The 2015 European champion Deniz Oncu (KTM 85cc, Turkey) suffered a crash on Saturday FP2, he had to start from the last position and could not defend his leadership in this first event. But his twin brother Can Oncu managed to have a good start and won both heats, putting the red number plate on his KTM. The fight for the second position was all Bulgarian and performed by the novice Nikolay Malinov (KTM, 85cc) and Dimitar Petrov, also with KTM 85, third in the European Championship last year. Malinov had enough luck during R2 and finished ahead of Petrov, who had to stand up for the 3rd place in the overall standings.
In the 65cc, the Romanian rider Zoltan Ordog (KTM) had a difficult fight with fellow capacity riders, but finally crossed the finish line first.
European S3 Supermoto
In the S3 category, the reigning champion Hakan Halmi (KTM, 250cc 4T) proved to be the most experienced rider in all conditions and kept the red plate for the next event with a double win in Pleven. Next to him on the podium two new riders from Bulgaria found their place – Alex Dimitrov (KTM) and Slavomir Ivanov (KTM).
European Open Supermoto
In the Open category, Alexander Georgiev (KTM, 450cc 4T) had the first season win and dominated both heats in front of Yanko Tashev (TM, 450cc 4T) who made a few mistakes when trying to attack Georgiev and challenge him for the win. Podium was completed by Ivelin Manev (KTM, 350cc4T) who moved this season from S3 to the Open class.
The next event of the series will be held again in Pleven, 11-12 June.
All results in FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/169
