WK van start

Het WK seizoen is weer van start.
Op 20 juni was het Belgische Spa Francochamps weer het toneel van zinderende supermoto actie, met een slechte start voor terugkerend SM goeroe Van Den Bosch.




The opening round of the Supermoto World Championship, organised this week-end in Spa (Belgium) offered great racing despite unstable weather. With three heats (two races and a super finale) in each class there was a lot of action on the track, and all the riders got three chances to get a good result. But only three of them had the winner's feeling: Eddy Seel and Ivan Lazzarini in the main S1 class, and Davide Gozzini in the new S2 class.

Supported by his fans the 2003 World Champion Eddy Seel was the fastest man this week-end in Spa, and he easily won the two heats on his new factory Husqvarna. But the most important race is the super final (the winner got 25 points instead of 10 in a heat race) and Eddy missed a good opportunity when he crashed in the dirty part of the track during the opening lap! Starting last, he came back seventh after a great show and secured a third final position in his home Grand Prix. Regular Boris Chambon ended runner-up in the three motos on his factory KTM, finishing twice behind Seel and once behind his team-mate Ivan Lazzarini. Third in both heats Ivan got in the Ardennes his first Supermoto win, after a couple of podiums last year, and he is the first leader of the season. He was luckier than Thierry Van Den Bosch who crashed in the first heat, retired in the second one due to a technical problem during the warm-up and finally finished 6 th in the super final. With eight bikes in the top ten, KTM and Husqvarna confirmed in Spa their domination in Supermoto; nobody will be really surprised, as both companies were the first to invest in this sport. But Husaberg gave them a strong opposition, and Massimo Beltrami (6/4/4) proved in the super final that he could be a serious contender for the title; he unfortunately crashed in the super final while he was fighting for the lead with Lazzarini, but split the fastest lap time of the race.

• Rijderslijst
• Interview met Eddy Seel (voor de wedstrijd)
• Uitslagen

Eddy Seel: “I will beat VDB with my new Husqvarna”

Eddy, you are the last Supermoto World Champion, did you prepare this new season in a different way than usually?
Yes of course, as you're much more relax when you have already got a title. My motivation is always really strong, as Husqvarna worked really hard during winter to develop a completely new bike. I want to win with this bike, it's an extra-motivation for me.

This new bike is a new prototype, and you didn't raced with it yet ?
It's a totally new bike, with a new frame. She's 10 kilos lighter than the previous one, and is easier to ride. I just used it for testing, and I will race the first time next week in Spa for the opening round. I'm really confident, as all our tests were really good.

You're Belgian, you're World Champion, and the first event will take place in Belgium. Is it an advantage or not?
I don't care about this. Last year we raced twice in Spa and the second time I took the advantage in the championship. I will not have more pressure, my goal will be to start the championship with good results. Last year I finished 20 th in Marseille, it cant' be worse this year!

Are you more popular in Belgium since you're World Champion?
For sure. Belgium has always been great for Motocross, but Supermoto is coming more and more popular. There was a great attendance at the first race of the Belgian championship last week, and with new 50cc and 125cc classes there's more young riders coming to our sport. With a strong national TV coverage it's coming great!

With ten races in the calendar, everyone must avoid any bad result!
I'm a little bit disappointed with the new calendar, we were six months without any race. Fifteen races would be better than ten, but we can understand that the situation is not easy. The problem is that any DNF can cost us the title….

You have a new teammate, and he's from Belgium. How is the atmosphere in the team Husqvarna?
We have a good relationship so far, we raced three events in Italy and there were no problems. We have the same material, we'll see during the season but for sure I prefer Gerald rather than Van Den Bosch as teammate.

Thierry Van Den Bosch is back to Supermoto, do you think it's good for the sport?
For sure it's good for KTM, but for me nothing has changed. I beat him in 2001, I will beat him again. We can't talk about 2002, I was only racing with a production bike. Today with our new bike I'm really confident, but for sure his come back will bring some excitement to the races.