Stefan Everts Reigns on a Rainy Sunday
LIEROP (THE NETHERLANDS)-33135 people were in Lierop this weekend for the Motocross World Championship, ending into a rainy but spectacular Sunday.
Having locked the Championship in Namur, Stefan Everts’ next goal was grasping the 100 win record. He tried in Desertmartin but CAS Honda rider Josh Coppins crashed the party.
Stefan already said that Lierop would have been a tough race and so it was. Especially for his rivals trying to stop him but without succeeding in their mission.
Yamaha factory rider Everts brought his YZ450FM to victory in both motos and actually dominated from the first lap of each moto.
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Stefan kept his level of concentration high for the whole first moto, making it to the start with a 43 second 152 thousandths advantage over second, in the shape of Coppins.
29 year old Josh raced a tough first moto on the sandy track of Lierop; such ground was not his favourite and this is why Coppins was satisfied to have kept some Belgian sand specialists behind.
Suzuki factory rider Steve Ramon was third right after Coppins: the former 125cc Champion rode injured because of the crashes in Desertmartin and won the battle for third with Ken De Dycker.
22 year old De Dycker was fifth at the chequered flag, securing his place with a seventeenth lap move on local rider Bas Verhoeven.
Verhoeven’s team mate Tanel Leok grasped fourth place and this was his first top five result in a moto after the Grand Prix of South Africa where he got two fourth place finishes.
Current runner up Kevin Strijbos was sixth ahead of Verhoeven, seventh, and Belgian Manuel Priem.
In the second moto Coppins was still first after the start, with Everts and Ramon battling for second; Stefan found his way through and passed both riders in the first lap. Once again he opened up a gap and run towards his legendary 100th Grand Prix win.
Like in the first moto, Josh Coppins was ahead of the Belgian young riders and grasped second place; he expected Stefan to be fast in Lierop but not that fast.
Steve Ramon crashed when he was in the top three; he restarted the race in sixth place then gained one position passing Manuel Priem and finished the race in fifth place.
On the other hand it was KTM rider Jonathan Barragan entering the top three with a third place finish in the second moto. Jonathan rode strongly and secured third in the fifth lap; then he kept it until the chequered flag.
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In the World Championship standings Ramon made up three points on Strijbos but keeping De Dycker behind was much more important for Steve. So he did: the Suzuki rider has now 20 points more than Honda countryman De Dycker.
The only movement in the top 10 was from Manuel Priem, overtaking Frenchman Pascal Leuret and being now eighth.
MX2 main Title contenders Christophe Pourcel and Antonio Cairoli did not see their distance in the standings changed.
They both got the same score: the Italian defending Champion won the first moto and got third place in the second one while current Championship leader Christophe Pourcel finished the first moto in third place and won the second one.
It was Christophe Pourcel winning the Grand Prix and it was his second time this season after Teutschenthal.
The young Frenchman felt tired in the first heat but rode stronger in the second one when Tyla Rattray tried his best to pass him. Then the South African chose to secure second place, being surprised that Christophe was so fast in the sand. Tyla was second also in the first moto; having some troubles with the tear off at the start, he was out of the top ten at the end of the first lap.
Home rider Marc de Reuver had an unproductive day in Lierop and scored no points, retiring in both motos because of stomach cramps in the first heat and a crash in the second one.
Neither Italian David Philippaerts enjoyed the weekend in Lierop. He made a mistake in the first moto when he was first, crashed and restarted the race. But he crashed again and finished eighth. Second moto was not happier for David, retiring at the fourth lap after a crash.
On the other hand other KTM rider Rui Goncalves was fourth in the Grand Prix thanks to a sixth and an eighth place finishes.
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Tyla Rattray will not grasp the win in the three last GPs of the season as he did last year, but he managed to pass David Philippaerts in the Championship standings. Tyla is now third while Philippaerts is fourth.
Sebastien Pourcel dropped down to ninth: this weekend he has been suffering from a physical problem to his back. Rui Goncalves moved up to seventh and Tommy Searle grasped eighth.
Also Billy Mackenzie lost three places in the Championship and is now eleventh, with Swanepoel being right ahead of him in tenth.
The next Grand Prix will be also the last one of the season. The Motocross World Championship will end in Ernée in two weeks, the 17th of September.
Information and results on www.motocrossmx1.com, the official website of the Motocross World Championships.
