by Sam Farrington
Last weekend saw a host of stars from the world of motorcycle racing come together for the Simoncelli Supermoto Day at the new Latina circuit in Italy. More than 5,000 spectators attended the event, which was run in support of the Marco Simoncelli foundation.
Iddon and Winstanley, both multiple-time British Supermoto Champions, were one of 32 two-rider teams that made up the grid. Track stars like Rossi, Max Biaggi and Andrea Dovizioso lined up alongside some of the biggest names in World Supermoto, such as Thierry Van Den Bosch, Mauno Hermunen and Adrien Chareyre. Each team saw one current Supermoto rider paired with a rider from another formula of the sport.
Saturday’s Qualifier saw Iddon set the fastest overall time, closely followed by Winstanley, ensuring the SHR team would start from Pole position.
The 58 lap race format dictated that both riders had to complete two stints. Following a hectic ‘Le Mans-style’ start, Iddon was down in around 7th. He began to make his way back up through the field before a small mistake saw him drop back. By the time Iddon handed over to Winstanley, he had regained 6th.
An excellent ride from the World Supermoto star saw Iddon return to the track in 2nd, right behind the leader Mauno Hermunen. Iddon briefly took the lead as the pair battled it out, but it was Hermunen who led at the rider change.
Hermunen, also riding for SHR, handed over to Dovizioso for the final stint. Having gained a healthy margin during the change over, the Ducati MotoGP rider was just able to hold off the challenge of Winstanley. The final margin was just 0.53s after over an hour of racing. Rossi, partnered by four-time World Supermoto Champion Van Den Bosch, finished third.
“It was such an amazing event to be a part of,” exclaimed Iddon afterwards. “I am extremely grateful to SHR, for lending me the bike, and to the organisers for allowing me to take part. Its not often you get to share a track with so many legends of the sport.”
“This was my first chance at riding a TM, but the bike was great all weekend. It made a change to be working with my old adversary Matt Winstanley and it was great fun.”
“After a bit of a rough start we fought our way back into contention. I came out for the second stint and I knew it was us against Mauno and Dovi for the win. Mauno and me had a bit of a battle but then I thought I would just follow him and Matt would have the beating of Dovi. Unfortunately, they seemed to gain on us in the change over and Matt couldn’t quite catch him.”
“It has been a great weekend, and nice for SHR to finish 1st and 2nd. Obviously it’s a great cause and hopefully all the fans that came over the weekend had fun. Although I doubt they had as much fun as I did when I put a big move on Rossi in warm-up.”
