By Sunday’s IRRC action at Circuit De Chimay opened with a sumptuous, captivating ten-lap Supersport encounter, as Marek Cerveny, Jorn Hamberg jostled it out for victory honours.
Second on the grid, yesterday’s BeNeLux Supersport race winner Cerveny got the best start and by the completion of lap two, was 1.68 seconds in front of Performance Racing Achterhoek’s Hamberg.
By lap four though, rising Dutch star Hamberg was beginning to up the pressure on Czech roads great Cerveny, with just 0.845 separating the front running pair.
Across lap five, Cerveny’s race lead gradually reduced as Hamberg, illustrating why many consider him favourite for the IRRC Supersport title, began to show ominous speed.
Positions out front remained the same on lap’s six to eight but on lap nine, positions changed with Hamberg lapping sub 1.43 seconds, making his move to P1.
0.315 clear as attentions turned to the tenth, final lap, could WRP/AAB Racing’s Cerveny respond?
The answer was yes, with a dramatic last lap culminating in a last gasp, thrilling race success for Cerveny, winning by 0.004 of a second over Hamberg.
Hamberg’s Performance Racing Achterhoek team-mate Ilja Caljouw took third ahead of Team Schleizer Dreieck’s Thomas Walther.
Third during the early race stages, Xavier Denis dropped back to fifth whilst sixth was top Swiss racer Erwan Bannwart.
Finalising the top ten finishers were Sebastian Frotscher, Denmark’s Anders Blacha, Christian Schmitz and Anssi Koski.
Top event wildcards placing 11th-13th respectively were Elias Van Roekel, Manxman Jamie Williams and Mauro Poncini.
IRRC Chimay – Supersport Race 1 Result:
1st – Marek Cerveny
2nd – Jorn Hamberg
3rd – Ilja Caljouw
4th – Thomas Walther
5th – Xavier Denis
6th – Erwan Bannwart
7th – Sebastian Frotscher
8th – Anders Blacha
9th – Christian Schmitz
10th – Anssi Koski
11th – Elias Van Roekel
12th – Jamie Williams
13th – Mauro Poncini
14th – Kevin Rigot
15th – Romain Cleaz-Savoyen
16th – Cyril Lecocq
17th – Amalric Blanc
18th – Julien Cregniot
19th – Robert Rohde
20th – Andreas Jochum
21st – Wes Kleinfeld
22nd – Stefan Wauter
23rd – Gregory Botty
24th – Fabrice Faure
25th – Gerald Dath
26th – Thierry Vanhollebeke
27th – Austin Wren
Photo credit: Robby Repsol
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
