Everts Wins in Pernes les Fontaines
Rinaldi Yamaha rider Stefan Everts has added to his Mantova
Fastcross victory two weeks ago with a win in the second major
international race of the 2006 season, held at the Pernes les Fontaines
circuit in the south of France. Everts totally dominated the event,
winning both motos of the MX1 class and showing he will be hard to beat
in the '06 MX1 world championship.
CAS Honda rider Josh Coppins also showed good speed, finishing in
second place overall with 2-2 results, while the KTM duo of Mickael
Pichon and Sebastien Tortelli lacked consistency, finishing with 7th
and 12th places overall. Coppins was more than happy with his second
place finish, in what was his first race of the '06 season.
"I qualified eighth, which I wasn't so happy with, but I still had a
good gate pick. In the first heat I made a little mistake coming off
the start, which left me in fifth position. I made my way to fourth
immediately and then to third when Pichon stalled his bike. Pourcel was
riding really well but I passed him and then went after Stefan, who had
managed to holeshot, so he beat me by five seconds in the end,"
explained Coppins after his first moto of the day.
The deciding race would be a three-way battle with a role reverse at
the start. Everts, Pichon, and Coppins fought hard until Pichon stalled
his KTM machine.
"I grabbed the holeshot in the second moto and lead for five laps or
so. I decided to slow the pace a little to let Stefan past and see what
lines he was using, but then I saw that Pichon was right on him, so the
plan wasn't going to work. I made a few mistakes and Stefan got by me,
and he picked up the pace quite a bit, but I managed to stay with him
for a good battle -- this is sort of a sign of things to come!"
In the MX2 it was French youngster Christophe Pourcel who won the
overall. The Kawasaki mounted rider looked awesome around the hard
packed circuit, leading home Tyla Rattray for the victory.
MX1 moto 1 : 1.Everts (Bel,Yamaha) ; 2.Coppins (Nzl,Honda) + 5''055 ;
3.Pourcel (Fra,Kawasaki) + 5''985 ; 4.Demaria (Fra,KTM) + 8''278 ;
5.Leok (Est,Kawasaki) + 26''743 ; 6.Sword (Gbr,Kawasaki) + 33''103 ;
7.Bill (Swi,Yamaha) + 45''117 ; 8.Ramon (Bel,Suzuki) +47''994 ;
9.Ristori (Swi,Honda) + 48''701 ; 10.Strijbos (Bel,Suzuki) + 51''877 ;
11.Leuret (Fra,Honda) + 54''073 ; 12.Martin (Fra,KTM) + 59''635 ;
13.Noble (Gbr,Honda) + 1'05''751 ; 14.Rouis (Fra,Kawasaki) + 1'10''045
; 15.Kovalainen (Fin,Honda) +1'14''035.18.Pichon (Fra,KTM) + 1'27''584
; etc.
MX1 moto 2 : 1.Everts ; 2.Coppins +2''233 ; 3.Pichon +4''855 ;
4.Tortelli (Fra,KTM) +18''055 ; 5.Demaria +43''731 ; 6.De Dycker
(Bel,Honda) +52''211 ; 7.Sword +55''164 ; 8.Leok +59''411 ; 9.Strijbos
+1'02''096 ; 10.Leuret +1'03''127 ; 11.Bill +1'04''087 ; 12.Ramon
+1'05''202 ; 13.Priem (Bel,Yamaha) + 1'24''782 ; 14.Vanni (Fra,KTM)
+1'37''004 ; 15.Martin +1'42''283 ; etc..
MX1 overall : 1.Everts, 50 points ; 2.Coppins, 44 ; 3.Demaria, 34 ;
4.Sword, 29 ; 5.Leok, 29 ; 6.Bill, 24 ; 7.Pichon, 23 ; 8.Strijbos, 23 ;
9.Ramon, 22 ; 10.Leuret, 21 ; 11.Pourcel, 20 ; 12.Tortelli, 18 ; 13.De
Dycker, 15 ; 14.Martin, 15 ; 15.Priem, 13 ; etc..
MX2 moto 1 : 1.Pourcel (Fra,Kawasaki) ; 2.De Reuver (Ned,KTM) +4''047;
3.Philippaerts (Ita,KTM) +15''243; 4.Rattray (Rsa,KTM) +18''553;
5.Searle (Gbr,Kawasaki) +3044694; 6.Meo (Fra,Honda) +34''090; 7.Tarroux
(Fra,Kawasaki) +39''996; 8.Nunn (Gbr,KTM) +51''548; 9.Renet (Fra,Honda)
+43''903; 10.Richier (Fra,Kawasaki) +44''537; 11.Boog (Fra,Yamaha)
+46''630; 12.Frossard (Fra,KTM) +1'01''622; 13.Aubin (Fra,Kawasaki)
+1'02''232; 14.Leok (Est,Yamaha) +1'02''288; 15.Demartis (Fra,Yamaha) +
1'12''379 ; etc.
MX2 moto 2 : 1.Rattray ; 2.Pourcel ; 3.Méo ; 4.Tarroux ; 5.Annelot
(Fra, Honda) ; 6.Renet ; 7.Leok ; 8.Richier ; 9.Nagl (Ger, KTM) ;
10.Dougan (GBR, Honda) ; 11. Roux (Fra, Yamaha) ; 12.Charlier (Fra,
KTM) ; 13.Schiffer (Ger, KTM) ; 14.Sandouly (Fra, Yamaha) ; 15.Aranda
(Fra, Kawasaki) ; etc.
MX2 overall : 1.Pourcel, 47 points ; 2.Rattray, 43 ; 3.Méo, 35 ;
4.Tarroux, 32 ; 5.Renet, 27 ; 6.Richier, 24 ; 7.De Reuver, 22 ;
8.Annelot, 21 ; 9.Leok, 21 ; 10.Philippaerts, 20 ; 11.Nunn, 17 ;
12.Searle, 16 ; 13.Nagl, 12 ; 14.Dougan, 11 ; 15.Sandouly, 11 ; etc