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the race in fourth place and looked to be on
course to make it a Poret two-three-four,
but dramatically came off his Ski passing a
group of backmarkers just before the finish
line, eventually clambering back on board and
finishing in eighth.
Raphael Maurin made up ground from sixth
place passing Stian Schjetlein on lap 4 and then
passing a floundering Poret to finish in fourth.
Fifteen-year-old Marten Manni produced
another impressive outing moving up from
ninth to take fifth place ahead of Markus
Lutsokert.
It was a disappointing afternoon for two of
the championship’s big names; Schjetlein
struggling with his set-up and coming off his Ski
after colliding with another rider but salvaging
seventh spot, whilst Kevin Reiterer was forced
to jump off his preferred SDC before the start
and jump on to Jonna Borgstrom’s Kawasaki.
The switch forced the 2015 champion to start
from the outside line of 29, and despite carving
his way through the pack of riders ahead of him
could only manage to finish in 12th.
In Moto 2 Poret and Bossche traded places at
the front early on, Poret losing the lead after
the opening lap then getting it back before
being passed by the young Belgian rider for the
second time on lap three and trailing him to the
chequered flag.
But the victory that would have given him
his first Grand Prix title was short-lived with
Bossche penalised and disqualified for cutting
the course, handing the win and title to Poret.
Raphael Maurin made it a France one-two
with his best result from the opening rounds
of the season and was unchallenged in second
and secured his first podium, with 2015 world
champion Kevin Reiterer ending his run of bad
luck moving up from 12th to take third and
finally put some solid points on the board.
Defending champion Jeremy Poret struggled
in the rough conditions but fourth place after
finishing in second in Moto1 put him on the
podium in third overall.
Fifteen-year-old Estonian rider Marten Manni
produced another impressive performance
coming home in fifth with Stian Schjetlein in
sixth.
Estelle Poret capped a memorable 10 days in
Italy sealing her second Grand Prix title of the
season with victory in Moto2.
Second place overall went to defending
champion and Moto1 winner Emma-Nellie
Ortendahl despite only managing fourth,
with Kylie Ellmers’ second place sealing the
remaining podium place.
Ortendahl simply outclassed the field of 11 in
Ski Ladies to take her second win of the season
in the opening Moto after a blistering start
from pole and was eight seconds clear by the
end of lap 1 and then simply disappeared into
the distance to run out a comfortable winner by
over a minute.
Despite picking up a place at the start Poret
had no answer to the exceptional pace of her
main rival and was comfortable in second for
the majority of the eight laps but then had to
stave off a late challenge from New Zealander
Kylie Ellmers, who continued her impressive
run of form, finishing third.
Jonna Borgstrom lost ground after starting
from P2 and despite pushing hard at the end
Riders celebrate in Vieste
32
n° 3August | 2017