Supermoto European Championship:
S2 and S4 season started in Ortona
The first round of the Supermoto European Championship took place in Italy at the Circuito Internazionale d’Abruzzo in Ortona in the region of Abruzzo. The racetrack of Ortona is one of the best equipped in Italy and with its fast corners, long straights and challenging off-road section, action is guaranteed.
S2 Race 1
At 11:30 hours the first race for the Supermoto European Championship took place in very warm and sunny weather conditions. All S2 riders were determined to set best results and they were ready for it. At the start it was Gazza Racing rider Youry Catherine who took the hole-shot in the first right corner of the racetrack on Ortona, right in front of Austrian Husqvarna rider Andreas Buschberger and KTM MTR rider Romain Kaivers. Right behind the top three the teammates at L30 TM Racing, Steven Bonnal and Luca Bozza were in fourth and fifth. In front Catherine tried to get away from his competitors and in the beginning it looked like the young French rider was succeeding but Buschberger had different plans. The Austrian rider closed in on Catherine and the two were fighting for every corner on the hot track. Kaivers was still in third but the Belgium rider made an mistake and he dropped back behind Bonnal and Bozza. The problems for Kaivers were not over as a flat tyre forced him to drop down the speed and Kaivers finished in last position. With Kaivers gone the two riders at the front had a big lead and for Buschberger it was time to attack. In lap nine he passed Catherine for first position but the Gazza Racing rider passed him straight back in the off-road section. Buschberger tried to get back into the lead but the Austrian made an mistake and crashed in one of the high speed corners of the track. He quickly grapped his Husqvarna but het couldn’t avoid that Steve Bonnal passed him. After some laps Buschberger found his rhythm again and with four laps to go he was in second position in front of Bonnal. Through the crash of the number two in the race, Catherine could control the race and finished in first position. Second place was for Andreas Buschberger and third for Steven Bonnal.
S4 Race 1
Under clear blue skies, the first race of the S4 class started at 10:40 hours in the morning. At the start it was Spanish rider Alex Ruiz Jiminez who took the holeshot into the first corner followed by FRT 2 Racing rider Marco Malone and L30 TM Racing rider Alessandro Sanchioni. In fourth it was Gazza Racing rider Jacopo Arduine. Straight from the start the race pace was very high. In the second round Malone overtook Ruiz Jiminez for first place but the Spanish rider stayed close behind. Sanchioni in his turn passed Adruine and also the teammate of Sanchioni at L30 TM Racing Kevin Vandi was closing in. In front Malone quickly got a gap towards his opponents and controlled the race until the finishline to finish first. The battle for second was hard behind four rider until technical problems happened for Ruiz-Jiminez. The Spanish rider could finish the race but dropped back to eight place. Arduine mainwhile managed to overtake second place in front of Vandi and Sanchioni and it looked like he could finish in second, but Vandi did a last attempt in the very last corner and overtook second again. Arduine had to lift the gas a little bit ,which gave Sanchioni the chance to him as well, making Vandi second, Sanchioni third and Adruine fourth in the first race.
S4 Race 2
The last race of this weekend for the S4 class started at 13:30 hours. At the start it was Spanish rider Alex Ruiz Jimenez who was first into the righthand corner in front of L30 TM Racing rider Alessandro Sanchioni and winner of the first race FRT 2 Racing rider Marco Malone. In fourth it was Gazza Racing rider Jacopo Arduini followed by the teammate of Sanchioni, Kevin Vandi. In fifth place it was Federico D’Annunzio who wanted to recover from race one. In front Ruiz-Jimenez was still leading but the gaps were really close and the complete top six was still in a few meters. In lap seven Arduine moved to third place and the Gazza Racing rider wanted more but a hard crash in one the fast corners threw him back to last position. Arduine had to visit the pitlane but could continue. The winner of race one Marco Malone made also an mistake and fell back to sixth place. D’Annunzio in his turn had moved up from sixth to third in a few laps time and the Italian rider was up for more. With a few laps to go Sanchioni passed Ruiz-Jimenez for first place but D’Annunzio did a double pass and went from third into first position in one lap. The others however didn’t give up and tried all they could but they couldn’t prefend that Federico D’Annunzio took the victory in race two. Second position was Alessandro Sanchioni and the top three was completed by Alex Ruiz-Jimenez. With his second place Alessandro Sanchioni took the overall victory in Ortona.
