Under sunny skies and with temperatures in the mid-twenties round three of the S2 European Championship “GP of Europe – Le Alpi del mare” once again saw some nail-biting action.
Marc Reiner Schmidt was once again untouchable with another emphatic display of riding in S2 to remain unbeaten in 2015.
S2 Race 1
In Race 1 another perfect start for the S2 Championship leader Marc Reiner Schimdt and another faultless performance as he cruised to yet another race victory by more than seven seconds to record his fifth race win of the season.
Behind him things were a little more frantic as Toni Klem found his way into second early on, he was briefly challenged by Yuri Guardalà but was able to pull clear to the tune of around eight seconds by the time the checkered flag arrived.
Second fastest qualifier Giovanni Bussei was unable to capitalise on Saturday’s speed and fell in the off-road section on Lap 1 and did well to get back to ninth by the end of the race.
Guardalà was not so comfortable though and had to be on top of his game to remain clear of the battle for fourth that was taking place behind him involving Diego Monticelli and Fabrizio Bartolini.
A few seconds further back was Klem’s new team mate Mattia Martella who ran out a comfortable sixth.
S2 Race 1 top ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) 20:24.460; 2. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 20:31.839; 3. GUARDALA’ Yuri (ITA-Honda) 20:39.770; 4. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 20:41.175; 5. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 20:46.395; 6. MARTELLA Mattia (ITA-TM) 20:47.723; 7. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 21:03.846; 8. AMODEO Mickael (FRA-Yamaha) 21:03.861; 9. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 21:04.066; 10. CIAGLIA Luca (ITA-Honda) 21:06.502.
S2 Race 2
After five motos in 2015 it seems that there are no challengers to the top step of the podium in S2 as once again Marc Reiner Schmidt cruised to another start-to-finish victory to make it six-from-six from the opening three rounds. Behind him though it was the usual carnage that befits the S2 European championship class.
As Schmidt pulled clear Toni Klem found himself in second position with Yuri Guardalà, Fabrizio Bartolini, Mattia Martella and Giovanni Bussei hot on his wheels while championship contender Diego Monticelli found himself buried deep in the pack in 18th.
On lap 4 though, things started to heat up as Klem fell from second position, Guardalà fell to fourth and Martella fell to 23rd, thus promoting Fabrizio Bartolini up to second and Giovanni Bussei to third. The Spaniard David Gimenez suddenly found himself in fourth behind Bussei.
But Gimenez soon found himself under attack from Guardalà and by lap 5 the Italian was back up to fourth trying to bridge the gap to Bartolini in second and Bussei in third. By this time Schmidt was almost six seconds clear of the pursuing dog-fight.
A poor starting Petr Vorlicek found himself making progress and by lap 6 had bumped himself up to seventh after passing Lorenzo Promtico, whilst not too far behind, Monticelli was up to 11th with Klem 14th in their attempt to minimise the damage of their earlier mistake.
On lap 7 Bussei had moved ahead of Bartolini and into second as Guardalà continued to push in his attempt to close in on a top three position but he would have to wait a while longer despite closing to within half-a-second of his fellow countryman. Guardalà squeezed past Bartolini into third but he suffered a technical problem on the final lap and did not finish the race.
So, another easy win for championship leader Schmidt saw him finish seven seconds clear of Bussei and Bartolini as David Gimenez claimed fourth ahead of Kevin Fagre from Sweden. Another casualty on the final lap was Petr Vorlicek who fell from seventh to 11th, which helped promote Diego Monticelli to eighth and Toni Klem to tenth.
With two race wins the overall belonged to Marc Reiner Schmidt who extends his championship lead, Fabrizio Bartolini was second overall with Giovanni Bussei third.
S2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) 20:27.336; 2. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 20:34.739; 3. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 20:45.627; 4. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 21:02.019; 5. FAGRE Kevin (SWE-Husqvarna) 21:02.488; 6. LAPINI Lorenzo (ITA-Honda) 21:03.230; 7. AMODEO Mickael (FRA-Yamaha) 21:04.907; 8. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 21:05.090; 9. ERIKSSON Fredrik (SWE-Honda) 21:07.653; 10. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 21:07.766.
S2 Overall Top Ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) points 50; 2. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 36 p.; 3. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 34 p.; 4. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 33 p.; 5. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 32 p.; 6. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 31 p.; 7. AMODEO Mickael (FRA-Yamaha) 27 p.; 8. LAPINI Lorenzo (ITA-Honda) 25 p.; 9. FAGRE Kevin (SWE-Husqvarna) 24 p.; 10. ERIKSSON Fredrik (SWE-Honda) 21 p.
S2 Championship Top Ten: 1. SCHMIDT Marc Reiner (GER-TM) points 150; 2. KLEM Toni (FIN-TM) 110 p.; 3. BUSSEI Giovanni (ITA-TM) 98 p.; 4. BARTOLINI Fabrizio (ITA-Honda) 96 p.; 5. MONTICELLI Diego (ITA-Honda) 94 p.; 6. MARTELLA Mattia (ITA-TM) 86 p.; 7. GIMENEZ David (ESP-Suzuki) 80 p.; 8. GUARDALA’ Yuri (ITA-Honda) 79 p.; 9. CIAGLIA Luca (ITA-Honda) 54 p.; 10. FAGRE Kevin (SWE-Husqvarna) 52 p.
S2 Manufacturers: 1. TM 150 points; 2. Honda 116 p.; 3. Suzuki 89 p.; 4. Husqvarna 62 p.; 5. KTM 57 p.; 6. Aprilia 51 p.; 7. Yamaha 33 p.
