Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship 2008 - Double SERT at Bol d'Or
After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes another double at Nevers Magny-Cours.
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 After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team takes another double at Nevers Magny-Cours. The Suzuki 1 of Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa took victory with a gap of six laps over Suzuki 2 of William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Olivier Four. On the same occasion, SERT 1 takes the 2008 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship title, for the fourth time in a row and the ninth in total. Nine laps behind the winner, Yamaha Austria Racing Team took the third place and is the championship runner-up. Igor Jerman, Gwen Giabbani and Steve Martin rode remarkably well after being involved in a collective crash at the beginning of the race. Kawasaki France tried to make a come-back on the podium but YART offered great resistance. On the Kawasaki France, Ivan Silva, Erwan Nigon and Julian Mazuecos did the show at the beginning of the race, when they were following closely the Suzuki 1. In his first shift, Julian Mazuecos signed the lap record for the race, in 1’42’’336 at his eleventh lap. But the ZX-10R lost contact later on with several crashes. The trickiest part of this 72nd Bol d’Or was to keep the rhythm and stay on two wheels. Phase One Endurance scored big points at this game. The British Yamaha takes fifth place between two official bikes, Kawasaki France and Yamaha GMT 94. That gives to Phase One a move from ninth to sixth place at the Formula EWC championship. The GMT 94 of Sébastien Gimbert, David Checa and Steve Plater were also playing for victory at the beginning of the race, but a broken radiator and a very unusual crash (Gimbert would have been hit by a bike without its rider’s control) sent back the Yamaha in the middle of the pack. Folch Endurance (Dani Ribalta, Pedro Vallcaneras and Jose-Manuel Luis) held tight against the Suzuki Junior Team, who came back after a crash. The first bike in the Superstock class, the Junior Team was in the Top-5 at the beginning of the race. Bolliger Switzerland, who always been in the Top-10, ends up in ninth place. After a breath-taking finish, Honda RMT 21 Racing and Suzuki RT Racing Moto Virus finish respectively in tenth and eleventh place. In twelfth, Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT is the second machine in the Superstock class. The Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT is then the winner of the 2008 FIM Superstock World Cup, since their main contender, LTG 57, had to retire after several crashes. This 72nd Bol d’Or was particularly difficult. At the beginning of the evening, the rain caused many crashes and forced many teams to retire. This was the case for Kawasaki Raffin Motos and the bioethanol powered Honda Thorn Bikes, as well as the Suzuki ABG Performance, the Kawasaki Runner Bike and the Bihr Metiss, who was leading the Open Class. After three crashes at the beginning of the night, the Yamaha of LTG 57 was also too damaged to carry on racing. Diablo 666 Bolliger also threw the towel in the beginning of the night with some electric problems. They could not make one of the two compulsory headlights to work. Honda National Moto also lost ground with a ongoing electric problem, and had to retire at 9 am when their crankshaft broke down. However, some other teams managed to get through a difficult race, like La Fortezza Amadeus X-One, delayed by many mechanicals problems, or Endurance Moto 45, fifth in the Superstock class despite five crashes. The next round of the 2008 Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship will take place in November, 8th for the 8 Hours of Doha.
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