Sunday morning warm-up took place in the same conditions as Saturday’s practice - under a scorching sun. The session itself was fairly incident free, with few yellow flags, although the right hander onto the dirt section was still causing a few problems. With some changes to the planned circuit layout, shortening the length of the track has meant that S1 races 1& 2 will now be 16 laps (12 normally) with the SuperFinal running for 32 laps. Fastest rider in this morning’s session was the KTM factory rider Klaus Kinigadner (AUT) with Husqvarna riders Eddy Seel (BEL) and Fabrice Guyot (FRA) a fraction behind. S1 race 1pole-man Frederic Fiorentino (BEL) posted the sixth fastest time. With the Italian manufacturers and riders looking to do well at their home GP, this afternoons competition promises some fast and committed action.

Frederic Fiorentino (BEL-KTM Team Bizar) continued his recent run of good form and took full advantage of his pole position on the grid, to register the victory in the FIM S1 Supermoto World Championship race one here at Monza this afternoon. After a race long battle with Max Manzo and Jurgen Kunzel, Fiorentino inherited the race win after Manzo and Kunzel clashed on the fourteenth lap. This dropped them back down the field and gave Fiorentino an unassailable lead with only a couple of laps to go. Fiorentino had led for most of the race up to that point, leading the front three riders as they pulled away from the rest of the field. Behind Fiorentino, Gerald Delepine (BEL-Vertemati) finished in second place for the Vertemati factory, just ahead of series leader Boris Chambon (FRA-KTM). Fourth place went to Klaus Kinigadner (AUT-KTM) while Jurgen Kunzel (GER-KTM) recovered from his earlier mishap to finish fifth.

S1 Race two saw Jurgen Kunzel (GER-KTM) ride an inspired race to take the win. Despite starting from fifth position on the grid and being fourth into the first corner, Kunzel used the next few laps to make his way to the front of the field. First passing Manzo and Delepine then, on the sixth lap, he forced his way under the race leader, Fiorentino to grab the lead. Running at a fast pace, he was soon able to establish an comfortable advantage as he made his way through the slower backmarkers. Behind him, Fiorentino took an excellent second place to complement his earlier race win, well ahead of Boris Chambon in third.

SuperPole featured the top four riders decided by the combined points from S1 races 1 and 2. Gerald Dlepine was first up and registered a 42.201 circuit. The next rider, Boris Chambon, managed to better this by nearly four-tenths, with a 41.822, however, his team-mate Jurgen Kunzel posted an even faster time of 41.414 to secure pole. Despite his best attentions, Race 1 winner Frederic Fiorentino, could only manage a 41.893, good enough for third spot on the grid. With the SuperFinal due to run for 32 laps, exhaustion in the heat is sure to influence the final outcome of the main race of the day.

With the temperature in the high thirties the competitors turned up the heat for the main race of the day, the SuperFinal. Gerald Delepine managed to grab the hole-shot and lead the field around the first few laps before a mistake on the dirt meant that Jurgen Kunzel, Boris Chambon and Frederic Fiorentino were able to get by. Opening a huge gap back to his pursuers Kunzel looked to have made a race winning break however, Boris Chambon was determine to hold onto his championship lead and set about chasing his team-mate down. With twelve laps to go Chambon dived under Kunzel through the right hander onto the dirt to grab the lead. With a clear track ahead of him the Frenchman began to pull away from Kunzel and as the race wound down Chambon appeared to have done enough for the win. Crossing the line, standing on the saddle of the bike Chambon, took an excellent victory. Jurgen Kunzel finished second with fans favourite Max Manzo third. Chambon retains his series lead ahead of Kunzel, Fiorentino, Manzo and Lazzarini.

Quotes from the podium

Boris Chambon: ‘ This is a very good moment, It was a very hard victory because of the heat. In the middle of the race Jurgen tired so I push hard to pass him. Thank you to the team for all their hard work;’

Jurgen Kunzel: ‘It was very hot – in Germany it’s not so hot. I had good speed at the beginning of the race but I was not able to keep all race. I’m very happy for me and my team.’

Max Manzo: ‘It was a good race for me. Races one and two were very hard. Vertemati have made a great effort to make the machine competitive and we were able to compete with the top teams here today. I am happy to remain in the top five of the Championship.

Quotes from the organisers

Giuseppe Luongo: ‘I want to talk today because of the recent criticism that the World Championship has received. It is very good for us to be in Monza. There is more press and more interest. Monza understands the interest in this sport and when we come back next year it will be even better. We have a strong World Championship and we work hard to make it so. Today we increased the laps in the races so that we can be fair with everybody and no-one has an advantage. Today the podium was the top riders in the world.

Wolfgang Srb: ‘The FIM is very pleased for Youthstream and Monza. Monza is the most famous track in the world and to be here after only two years shows what the series means. It also shows how important Monza is for the sport and we will be here again next year.’

World Championship Classification:
1. Boris Chambon (FRA – 15) KTM Factory : 133 points
2. Jurgen Kunzel (GER – 9) KTM Factory : 129 points
3. Frederic Fiorentino ( BEL – 12) KTM Team Bazar : 108 points
4. Max Manzo (ITA – 4) Vertemati Factory : 103 points
5. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA – 7) Rigo Husaberg : 96 points


The next round takes place in Sosnova, Czech Republic on the 27th July.