Castelletto di Branduzzo (Italy) 15 October 2023 – Team France achieved a double victory ruling in the Junior category where the Team had no rivals and the Senior team reached their ninth victory in a row thanks to the excellent performance of Steve Bonnal (TC4R1 Racing Team), Nicolas Cousin (Honda) and Sylvain Bidart (Honda).
RACE 1 (Riders 1 + Riders 2)
Austrian Rudolf Bauer (KTM) took the lead of the operations at the start but Steve Bonnal (TC4R1 Racing Team) was first after the second lap. The pupil of Thomas Chareyre – Chareyre missed the event because of an injury – ruled the race and nobody could compete with him. Behind him riders battled it out harshly for the second spot. Italian Luca D’Addato (TM) faced a tough start but recovered from the fourth spot till the second place and kept it till the finish line. Third position went to a stunning Milan Sitniansky (Honda). Nicolas Cousin started from the back and was the author of a phenomenal recovery till the end of the race when he finished with the fourth place and allowed France to be in front of all the other nations in the standings. Fabrizio Bartolini struggled a little bit to make up ground and ended up 12th. Solid performance also for Spain and Belgium that qualified sixth and fifth respectively.
RACE 1 (Riders 1 + Riders 2) Top Ten:
BONNAL Steve (FRA, TM) 10 laps in 20:05.863; 2. D'ADDATO Luca (ITA, TM) +03.591; 3. SITNIANSKY Milan (CZE, Honda) +04.011; 4. COUSIN Nicolas (FRA, Honda) +04.252; 5. KAIVERS Romain (BEL, TM) +04.880; 6. AVILA Julen (ESP, Honda) +15.643; 7. FRECH Eddy (GER, KTM) +22.829; 8. JOANNIDIS Nico (GER, TM) +28.762; 9. TSCHUPP Raoul (SUI, KTM) +30.153; 10. GAYA Jaume (ESP, KTM) +30.851
RACE 2 (Riders 2 + Riders 3)
Sylvain Bidart (Honda) made the best out of his pole position and pulled away in front of everybody taking the lead, followed by Elia Sammartin (L30 Racing Tm Factory) who attacked the race leader in the second lap and took the lead. The Italian rider opened a solid gap but Lukas Hollbacher (MTR Ktm Racing) had an amazing race pace and reached championship leader after a couple of laps. The duo was the protagonist of a breathtaking show and overtook each other several times but the Austrian rider, very fast in the off-road, won with a solid margin over Sammartin and Bidart. The second French rider Nicolas Cousin was the author of another excellent performance as he qualified fifth and strengthened the leadership of his team after two races. Powerful performance also for the Spanish team which was in second place after the two races disputed, thanks to a fourth and sixth place. Italy was in third place.
RACE 2 (Riders 2 + Riders 3) Top Ten:
HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT, KTM) 10 laps in 20:05.024; 2. SAMMARTIN Elia (ITA, TM) +04.901; 3. BIDART Sylvain (FRA, Honda) +10.473; 4. AVILA Julen (ESP, Honda) +11.428; 5. COUSIN Nicolas (FRA, Honda) +13.608; 6. CARDUS Ferran (ESP, Honda) +15.417; 7. DEITENBACH Jan (GER, Husqvarna) +16.831; 8. PROVAZNIK Erik (CZE, TM) +17.075; 9. KRASNIQI Mitja (SUI, TM) +19.198; 10. FIORENTINO Romeo (BEL, Honda) +19.470
RACE 3 (Riders 1+Riders 3)
As it often happens in the Trophy of nations, the third race is the crucial one in defining the winning nations.
France lined up once again with Steve Bonnal in pole position to come home with the points that were needed to take the victory. After a great start, Bonnal kept a great rhythm but never risked too much so when Austrian Lukas Hollbacher got closer, he did not resist and let him take the race victory but came home with precious points. Sylvain Bidart did his best as well with the eighth place. Second place was hard fought between Italy and Spain. The home nation lined up in first position Luca D’Addato followed by Elia Sammartin. The two riders, with technical commissary Massimo Beltrami, did a great job above all with the recovery made by Sammartin who qualified fifth and D’Addato was sixth. Thanks to the results achieved Italy was second on the podium and Spain was third.
RACE 3 (Riders 1+Riders 3) Top Ten:
HOLLBACHER Lukas (AUT, KTM) 10 laps in 20:03.103; 2. BONNAL Steve (FRA, TM) +05.860; 3. SITNIANSKY Milan (CZE, Honda) +08.334; 4. CARDUS Ferran (ESP, Honda) +10.943; 5. SAMMARTIN Elia (ITA, TM) +13.049; 6. D'ADDATO Luca (ITA, TM) +15.070; 7. KAIVERS Romain (BEL, TM) +16.957; 8. BIDART Sylvain (FRA, Honda) +17.958; 9. DEITENBACH Jan (GER, Husqvarna) +18.263; 10. BAUER Rudolf (AUT, GasGas) +29.286
TEAMS TOP TEN:
1. FRANCE pt.15; 2 ITALY pt.26; 3 SPAIN pt.30; 4 GERMANY pt.43; 5 AUSTRIA pt.46; 6 CZECH REPUBLIC pt.47; 7 BELGIUM pt.52; 8 SWIZERLAND pt.56; 9 ESTONIA pt.75; 10 USA pt.88.
Xiem