America Wins Red Bull Motocross of Nations
BUDDS CREEK, 23 September 2007- An incredibly crowded Budds Creek Motocross Park, with a total of 75000 fans, hosted this eventful Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations. With hot and demanding weather conditions, team America dominated on home soil, ahead of France and Belgium, who were separated by just one point, while Italy and Great Britain rounded off the top five.
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Belgium, which was managed by Joel Smets for the first time, rounded off the podium after an eventful weekend. Ken De Dycker, who crashed and hurt himself in yesterday’s qualifying race, held on for the team; he brought the bike home with a second and an eleventh place, and also tried to chase Villopoto in heat two. MX1 World Champion Steve Ramon was fourth and eighth, while Jeremy Van Horebeek was tenth in race two, but had technical problems in the opening heat, finishing thirty-fourth.
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Great Britain was another team who struggled for their position; with James Noble having a partially injured shoulder and riding with unbearable pain, the squad finished fifth. Noble was thirty-second and thirty-eighth, and tried to put in as many laps as he could, while Tommy Searle was third in heat two and ninth in heat one, where he crashed twice. Billy Mackenzie was eight and eleventh, after being involved in a crash in heat three.
Spain, with Jonathan Barragan, Carlos Campano and Alvaro Lozano, ended sixth, ahead of Japan and Switzerland, with Germany and Canada rounding off the top ten.
With Ricky Carmichael winning the MX1 class, Ryan Villopoto winning the MX2 class and Tim Ferry winning the Open class, the three America Team members topped all the individual classifications.
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FIM/CMS President Dr. Wolfgang Srb stated: “The Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations was an outstanding event, of course one of the best Motocross of Nations we had. The track at Budds Creek was really well prepared and well organized; in this event all the riders race for a team purpose, and they ride with their hearth. I have to congratulate everybody who took part in this event, we are very satisfied about it.”
And finally FIM President Vito Ippolito concluded: “I was very happy to be here in the United States, where the Motocross of Nations has come back after a 20 year absence. We had a very big event going on, and I would like to thank the local organizer, the promoter Youthstream, and all the people who were here today. Motocross in the USA is a very popular sport, and we had very fast riders on the track today, at the best world-wide Motocross event.”
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Top five heat two: 1. Ryan Villopoto (USA, Kawasaki), 36:19.260; ; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Honda), +1:05.559; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, KTM), +1:12.646; 4. Tim Ferry (USA, Kawasaki), +1:16.401; 5. Pierre A. Renet (FRA, Honda), +1:27.448
Top five heat three: 1. Ricky Carmichael (USA, Suzuki), 36:41.390; ; 2. Tim Ferry (USA, Kawasaki), +0:11.748; 3. Grant Langston (RSA, Yamaha), +0:22.950; 4. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:27.416; 5. Tanel Leok (EST, Kawasaki), +0:50.504
NEWS OF THE DAY – GLORIES FROM THE PAST AT BUDDS CREEK
Today at Budds Creek some former top Motocross riders and key people in the sport made their appearance on the podium to celebrate the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations. Tony Distefano, Charles Sun, Donny Hansen, Danny Chandler, Ron Lechien, Georges Jobe, Bevo Forte and Jeff Emig all walked on the podium, reminding the fans of the good old days. Stefan Everts and Ricky Carmichael completed the gig by doing one lap of honour around the 1500 metre long track.
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The 2007 FIM Motocross series is finished, but will continue with the forthcoming FIM Off Road Awards, where the Champions will be awarded in Monte Carlo on December 1.
The Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations will be:
Broadcast delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2: Sunday September 23, Race 3 MX1+Open at 23:45 CET
VRT: Sunday September 23, summary of Race 1 MX1+MX2 and Race 2 MX2+Open at 23:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD: Sunday September 23, Race 3 MX1+Open at 23:45; Monday September 24, Race 1 MX1+MX2 at 12:00, Race 2 MX2+Open at 12:30, Race 3 MX1+Open at 13:00; Tuesday September 25, Race 3 MX1+Open at 16:30 GMT
AMERICA ONE: Tuesday September 25, Race 1 MX1+MX2 at 21:00, Race 2 MX2+Open at 22:00, Race 3 MX1+Open at 23:00 USA East Coast Time
GAORA: Race 1 MX1+MX2, Race 2 MX2+Open, Race 3 MX1+Open, N/A (check http://www.gaora.co.jp)