Julien Bill storms in Greece

Swiss rider Julien Bill wins the first and only race at the start of the 2011 FIM MX3World Championship in a sodden Megalopolis circuit in Greece.

With the weather forecast already mentioning rain during all weekend, instead of the usual postcard sunny Greece, the MX3 riders got a wet reception with heavy showers and thunderstorms. With the track all soggy and slippery the event management had no other solution than to cancel the second race of the day.

The Pellicari Honda team rider started with the best qualifying time on Saturday by only a fraction of a second to Milko Potisek so there was some anticipation to watch these two riders on race day.

After the gate dropped with Milko leading, Bill and the French UFO Racing team rider soon built a considerable gap to the rest of the field and went on a wild pace like there was no mud at all. However, this private battle came to an end with only three laps to complete when Potisek crashed spending precious time restarting his bike and offering the Swiss rider the win but still finishing fourth.

Out for a good performance was Dmitry Parshin who was already fast during the morning’s warm-up riding in the top-three. The Russian rider got his first ever podium on the FIM MX3 World Championship as well as Marco Maddii coming from an injury sustained in the middle of last year’s season while riding on the EMX2 World Championship proving that it was a good move coming to the MX3 class.

Austrian KTM rider Michael Staufer had some difficulties managing his race on the muddy Megalopolis although ending in fifth place just like the returned Antii Pyrhonen who also had a ‘damage controlled’ outing, still far from his aspirations for this year. Luca Fontanesi struggled quite a lot with the conditions, getting stuck on the mud for a couple of times but still finishing seventh.

Julien Billt: "I had a very good start and followed Milko for the all race and he was riding really good but I knew that in these conditions it is better to ride without any mistakes because the track was very slippery and sticky so when he crashed I just managed my race to secure the win.”

The FIM MX3 World Championship continues next 23rd April weekend in Troyan, Bulgaria.

MX3 Race Results:  1. Julien Bill (SUI, Honda), 38:28.840; ; 2. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), +2:03.723; 3. Marco Maddii (ITA, KTM), +2:17.321; 4. Milko Potisek (FRA, Honda), +2:42.266; 5. Michael Staufer (AUT, KTM), +3:15.064; 6. Antti Pyrhonen (FIN, Honda), -1 lap(s); 7. Luca Fontanesi (ITA, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 8. Nikolay Kumanov (BUL, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 9. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), -1 lap(s); 10. Martin Zerava (CZE, Honda), -1 lap(s);