This third edition of the FIM SuperMoto of Nations in Pleven started off with Italy dominating all three qualifying motos.
Ivan Lazzarini (S1), Davide Gozzini (S2) and Attilio Pignotti (Open) put Italy on top of the qualifying standings by winning one moto each today.
Bulgaria took a stunning second showing a very solid shape for tomorrow. S1 rider Alexander Georgiev was fourth with Ales Hlad ending second in S2 and Rosen Tonchev rounding off a positive day with third in the Open class.
Defending Champion Team France rounded off the top three with Sylvain Bidart a solid second in S1 and Adrien Goguet third in the S2. Stephane Blot was sixth in the Open class.
Czech Republic (Petr Vorlicek, David Brabec, Jiri Bocek) and Great Britain (Matthew Winstanley, Chris Hodgson, Ady Smith) qualified in fourth and fifth respectively as the British team suffered with Ady Smith breaking the rear tyre in his qualifying heat.
QUALIFYING HEAT - S1
Lazzarini rode a flawless moto to open up Italy's winning account for the day. With the Lazza pulling away from the rest of the field, Bidart, Winstanley and Georgiev fought tooth and nail for the runner up spot. As the race went on Georgiev decided to settle for a safe fourth leaving Bidart and Winstanley alone in the fight. Bidart defended the second place from Winstanley as he was constantly pulling away from the Brit by taking the outside line on the bob in the fantastic sky section. Deitenbach took a solid fifth for Germany right ahead of Vorlicek.
Top five:
1. Ivan Lazzarini (ITA, Aprilia), 18:35.567
2. Sylvain Bidart (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:06.172
3. Matthew Winstanley (GBR, KTM), +0:06.656
4. Alexander Georgiev (BUL, KTM), +0:17.370
5. Jan Deitenbach (GER, Suzuki), +0:23.380
QUALIFYING HEAT - S2
Hlad started off with the holeshot as the local crowd went mad for their team leader. Gozzini came out strong after a decent start and chased the Bulgarian for the lead passing at lap three. From then on the Italian pulled away to take the eventual victory. Hlad and France's young gun Goguet battled it out for second almost banging bars at the sky section. Hlad was an eventual second followed by Goguet. Spain's Grau dropped down to fourth after he lost the contact with the leaders. British Hodgson ended fifth despite two crashes. A crash and a right knee injury saw Germany's Nico Joannidis pull out of the heat at lap one - though he will take part in tomorrow's heats.
Top five:
1. Davide Gozzini (ITA, TM), 18:52.712
2. Ales Hlad (BUL, KTM), +0:01.754
3. Adrien Goguet (FRA, Husaberg), +0:01.950
4. Angel Grau Rodriguez (ESP, Husaberg), +0:29.278
5. Chris Hodgson (GBR, KTM), +0:31.363
QUALIFYING HEAT - OPEN
A dominant victory by Pignotti put an end to a perfect qualifying day for Italy as the 2007 S2 World Championship runner up could build a safe gap in between himself and Czech Bocek. The latter went on to take second ahead of Tonchev representing a solid Bulgarian SuperMoto team. German veteran Spaniol took fourth with Mihelcic finishing fifth ahead of Blot. Breaking his rear tyre at the warm up lap Smith lost vital time in the pit lane. Once the tyre change was made it was too late for the Brit to secure a solid position as he ended 14th with a three lap gap.
Top five:
1. Attilio Pignotti (ITA, KTM), 18:53.146
2. Jiri Bocek (CZE, Honda), +0:09.991
3. Rosen Tonchev (BUL, KTM), +0:14.987
4. Dirk Spaniol (GER, Suzuki), +0:23.823
5. Rok Mihelcic (SLO, Honda), +0:24.724
