Mauno is just Finn-tastic
By Dick Law on 14th Oct 11
Mauno Hermunen, riding a factory Husqvarna 450, completely dominated the 25th running of the star-studded Superbiker at Mettet, deep in the heart of the Belgian countryside.
The Finnish star seemed to find grip where others struggled to stay on two wheels in the wet and very muddy conditions.
A year ago Hermunen won the Superbiker final in very different conditions, under a clear blue sunny sky.
This year, it rained virtually non-stop from Friday afternoon till just after the last race on Sunday.
The track had a lot of new off road work, but with the rain lots of riders where complaining that the deep ruts and puddles were making getting a good result a bit of a lottery.
Race format is simple in Mettet – practice and qualification only on Friday, heats and repechage races to go through to the semi-finals on Saturday.
Super Last Chance races are on Sunday morning, with the first two going to the semis, then the first twelve from the semis going through to the Supermoto final, along with the seeded ‘Prestige' established
supermoto riders.
The top 20 from the Supermoto final meet the ‘Starbikers' (famous riders who don't race Supermoto) in the big Superbiker final.
Hermunen got the holeshot at the start of the Superbiker final and slid his Husqvarna into the first turn, with an impressive looking Sebastien Tortelli (450 KTM) struggling to keep up with the Finn.
At the end of the opening lap, with daylight fading fast in the murky late afternoon, Hermunen was doing just enough to keep in front of Tortelli, with Sylvain Bidart, Thomas Chareyre and Gerald Delepine in a line behind.
Young Romain Fabvre, on his 450 Honda, was back in seventh but on the move.
By lap three Fabvre was up to third after passing both Chareyre and Delepine in one lap, but a crash a lap later undid all his hard work and dropped him back to sixth.
He again fought his way back up the field though to finish on the third step of the podium, with a very excited Hermunen on the top step and Tortelli second.
With conditions being a bit of a lottery no GB riders made it into the big final and the USA's riders – who have always done well at Mettet – all seemed to struggle with the conditions, with none of them finishing in the top 20.
Jeff Ward was 22nd on his KTM, with the popular Micky Dymond going out on the second lap.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX OCTOBER 14
Results
Superbiker final: 1 Mauno Hermunen (450 Husqvarna - FIN), 2 Sebastien Tortelli (450 KTM - F), 3 Romain Fabvre (450 Yamaha - F), 4 Sylvain Bidart (450 Honda - F), 5 Thomas Chareyre (450 TM - F), 6 Marc Fraikin (450 KTM - B), 7 Marcel Van Drunen (450 Yamaha - NL), 8 Ivan Lazzarini (450 Honda - I), 9 Eddy Petard (450 Kawasaki - F), 10 Gerald Delepine, (450 Husqvarna - B), 11 Eddy Seel (510 Husqvarna - B), 12 Cyrill Scheiwiller (450 Honda - CH), 13 Sebastien Soyeurt (450 KTM - B), 14 Maik Voorwinden (450 KTM - NL), 15 Xavier Boog (450 Kawasaki - F), 16 Ken De Dijcker (450 Honda - B), 17 Joel Smets (450 Husqvarna - B), 18 Bernd Hiemer (450 KTM - D), 19 Dani Mueller (450 Yamaha - CH), 20 Christian Ravaglia (450 Suzuki - I).
Supermoto final: 1 Mauno Hermunen (450 Husqvarna - FIN), 2 Sylvain Bidart (450 Honda - F), 3 Thomas Chareyre (450 TM - F), 4 Cyrill Scheiwiller (450 Honda - CH), 5 Maik Voorwinden (450 KTM - NL), 6 Christian Ravaglia (450 Suzuki - I), 7 Lionel Deridder (450 KTM - B), 8 Dani Mueller (450 Yamaha - CH), 9 Sebastian Soyeurt (450 KTM - B), 10 Marc Fraikin (450 KTM - B), 11 Marcel Van Drunen (450 Yamaha - NL), 12 Eddy Petard (450 Kawasaki - F), 13 Gerald Delepine (450 Husqvarna - B), 14 Xavier Boog (450 Kawasaki - F), 15 Toni Klem (450 Husqvarna - FIN), 16 Adrien Chareyre (450 Aprilia - F), 17 Patrick Debroux (450 KTM - B), 18 Sami Salstola (450 SHR Honda - FIN), 19 Jean Marc Gaillard (450 Honda - B), 20 Mark Burkhart (450 KTM - USA)...... 29 Brad O'LEARY (450 SHR Honda - GB), 32 Malachi MITCHELL-THOMAS (450 SHR Honda - GB), 33 Richard SHARP (450 MW KTM - GB).
Starbiker final: 1 Romain Fabvre (450 Yamaha - F), 2 Cedric Melotte (450 Honda - B), 3 Sven Breugelmans (450 Yamaha - B), 4 Xavier Boog (450 Kawasaki - F), 5 Joel Smets (450 Husqvarna - B), 6 Ken De Dycker (450 Honda - B), 7 Yves Demaria, 450 Kawasaki - F), 8 Jeff Ward (450 KTM - USA), 9 Ben Bostrom (450 KTM - USA), 10 Andrea Bartolini (500 Husqvarna - I), 11 Jean-Francois Goblet (450 Yamaha - B), 12 Micky Dymond (450 KTM - USA), 13 Tommy Aquino (450 KTM - USA), 14 Eric Bostrom (450 KTM - USA), 15 Ron Lechien (450 KTM - USA), 16 Stephane Chambon (450 Honda - F).
Superquader: 1 Christophe Cuche (450 RST Autre - CH), 2 Maxim Cluydts (450 Suzuki - B), 3 Stephane Morin (450 Suzuki - F), 4 Michael Taylor (420 RST - GB), 5 Maxime Lombet (450 Suzuki - B), 6 Mathieu Blanc (450 Autre - F), 7 Sebastien Bielawski (450 Suzuki - B), 8 Sebastien Guyette (450 KTM - B), 9 Colin FORSYTHE (450 KTM - GB), 10 Olivier Van Bogaert (450 w-tec - B), 11 Mark Donnelly (637 KTM - IRL), 12 Craig KILNER (450 Yamaha - GB), 13 Gareth THOMAS (613 KTM - GB), 14 Jeremy Mikels (450 Suzuki - B), 15 Cathal McCartan (613 KTM - IRL), 16 Alistair WILSON (420 Yamaha - GB), 17 Alfred Wolber (450 Aprilia - D), 18 Urs Dietiker (450 Aprilia - CH), 19 David Franssens (450 Yamaha - B), 20 David MAXWELL (450 Yamaha - GB).
