WORLD SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIP: IDDON IN THIRD, VDB AND GIRAUDO GAIN POINTS IN FRANCE
30 May 2006 - Aprilia

After a month-long pause, the International Supermoto Championship returned at the French Grand Prix.

The race took place on Saturday and Sunday, May 27th and 28th, at the Villars sous Ecot circuit that was the Motocross temple during the 90’s. The local motoclub then decided to construct a permanent track that would be adapted to the supermoto. It was designed by Gilles Salvador, one of the discipline’s pioneers, and is 1.520 meters long; 1.175 meters of which are asphalt and the other 345 are dirt.
For Team Aprilia Supermoto, it was a bit like racing at home since all three of the top S2 riders were French. The Noale production house box was literally besieged from early Saturday onwards by hundreds of fans seeking Frederic Bolley, Jerome Giraudo, and Thierry Van den Bosch’s autographs. The ever-growing throng of motorcycle fans wanted to see the revolutionary SXV 4.5 twin that was elected “2006 Motorcycle of the Year” in the Supermotard category.
Saturday’s qualifying rounds were dominated by Frederic Bolley who marked the best time in the S2 and the day’s best time, a 1’27”133. In fourth was Thierry Van den Bosch with a 1’27”716 and Jerome Giraudo closed out in 13th place with a 1”28”721.
On Sunday morning, the S2 Superpole barely went to the Belgian Seek who came in ahead of Thierry Van den Bosch by only .074. It was fourth place for Frederic Bolley who was.174 behind.
However, the high hopes for the trans-alpine race began didn’t cross over to Sunday’s trials when the rain changed the equilibrium on the field, penalizing the powerful twins from Noale.
In Race 1 of the S2, the best Aprilia rider was Van den Bosch who closed out in 5th after giving up 4th place to Chambon in the final. Eighth place went to Bolley as Giraudo crossed the checkered flag in 12th. In Race 2, Van den Bosch seized 3rd on a podium monopolized by the Chareyre brothers, Adrien and Thomas, the day’s heroes and members of the event’s organizing society that “weighed” the heavy conscience on the track. Tenth place went to Giraudo whose goal was to bring home precious points for the championship. It was instead bad news for Bolley who was forced to pull out of the race due to electrical difficulties. “Unfortunately, Fred’s motorcycle turned off multiple times during the first few laps. We think it was caused by an electrical problem caused by a connector that we thought was airtight but wasn’t. It’s a shame because we didn’t know how well our motorcycle would do on this track (especially in the rain), yet we were racing well,” affirmed Ennio Marchesin, the directors of Team Aprilia Supermoto.
The best of the Aprilia knights in the French GP was Christian Iddon, placing 3rd overall in the absolute classification on the first day of the S1. The Englishman finished in 5th and started in 3rd during final fraction atop his SXV 5.5. The training, supervised by Bolley, saw the first fruits of is labor as Iddon nibbled away and earned precious points in the championship. In fact, he reinforced his third place in the overall classification with 72 points as opposed to Lazzarini’s 75 and Heimer’s 86 (the provisionary leader). The third engagement of the World Supermoto Championship is scheduled for June 24th and 25th at Melk where the Austrian Grand Prix will be disputed.

The French Grand Prix - 2nd test of the International Supermoto

S1 CLASS
Race 1: 1. Gerald Delepine (Husqvarna); 2. Bernd Himer (Ktm); 3. Marcel Goetz (Ktm); 5. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5).
Race 2: 1. Gerald Delepine (Husqvarna); 2. Marcel Goetz (Ktm); 3. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5).

Absolute France Gp classification: 1. Gerald Delepine (Husqvarna) 50 points; 2. Marcel Goetz (Ktm) 42; 3. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5) 36.

Provisionary world classification: 1. Berd Hiemer (Ktm) 86 points; 2. Ivan Lazzarini (Husqvarna) 75; 3. Christian Iddon (Aprilia SXV 5.5) 72.

S2 CLASS
Race 1: 1. Adrien Chareye (Husqvarna); 2. Eddy Seel (Suzuki); 3. Aurelien Rolland (Yamaha); 5. Thierry Van den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 8. Frederic Bolley (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 12. Jerome Giraudo (Aprilia SXV 4.5).
Race 2: 1. Adrien Chareye (Husqvarna); 2. Thomas Chareye (Husqvarna); 3. Thierry Van den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5); 10. Jerome Giraudo (Aprilia SXV 4.5); Withdrawn: Frederic Bolley (Aprilia SXV 4.5).

Absolute French Gp classification: 1. Adrien Chareye (Husqvarna) 50 points; 2. Eddy Seel (Suzuki) 40; 3. Thomas Chareye (Husqvarna) 37; 4. Thierry Van den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 36; 10. Jerome Giraudo (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 20; 15. Frederic Bolley (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 13.

Provisionary world classification: 1. Adrien Chareye (Husqvarna) 78 points; 2. Thierry Van den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 71; 3. Eddy Seel (Suzuki) 70; 4. Jerome Giraudo (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 67; 6. Frederic Bolley (Aprilia SXV 4.5) 53.

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