Kawasaki/Racer X Race Report
First spoils for Philippaerts and Searle
A drama-packed fourth round of fifteen in the 2008 FIM Motocross World Championship delivered some of the best action seen yet this season, as the Grand Prix of Bulgaria at the dauntingly fast Sevlievo circuit gave the riders of the MX1 and MX2 classes a mix of weather and conditions to negotiate throughout the six-hour race program. After last-lap crashes, last-gasp lead changes, first-corner melees and a set of motos run first in the dry and then the wet, factory Yamaha Monster Motocross Team’s David Philippaerts scored his first victory on the YZ450FM to increase his window at the top of the MX1 series while AMA-bound Tommy Searle etched a second-career MX2 success with his Red Bull KTM SXS-250F.
|
Philippaerts was less than one minute from accepting a second runner-up position in a row. The Italian escaped from the Hondas of Billy Mackenzie (who would later suffer from arm-pump and drop back) and then Marc de Reuver (having his best ride since the final GP of 2007) to clinch moto one and his second checkered flag in two meetings.
|
|
|
|
Cairoli’s turbulence was a big talking point but it was not the main one in Sevlievo. He had dominated race one from Searle and Rattray, but an entertaining treat lay in store for the 27,000 spectators once the sodden second sprint got under way.
KTM UK’s Shaun Simpson made the most of a bright start to head Searle from the opening lap. The likeable Scot – who is having his best season yet after two terms with Honda and one with Kawasaki, and is now setting personal best finishes with every round – did not make a mistake and the duel went literally all the way to the wire. Twenty-year-old Simpson benefited from a slip by 18-year-old Searle and the latter was clearly faster but Simpson was unperturbed. A bold move by the factory rider (Searle) was immediately countered by the privateer (Simpson) and again the chase continued. Searle eventually used a little more of his experience in running at the front of the field (Simpson had never been as high) to grab a different line coming out of the final turn and down the hill to steal the win by less than half a second. Third place was still a landmark for Simpson, who maybe could have been second if he hadn’t crashed while vying for fifth in moto one. Rattray made an all-orange top three. Even KTM team boss Stefan Everts, surely a man who has seen and ridden everything in motocross, expressed his bewilderment with the events that had passed through the afternoon.
Yamaha’s Nico Aubin shrugged off a poor first moto to catch the KTM spat and was less than three seconds away from the exciting culmination. Works Kawasaki racer Stephen Sword would have been a podium contender if a technical problem with his forks had not occurred, ruining his fourth place from the first race, and teammate Gautier Paulin, fresh from his best result of the season in moto one (fifth), had to pit with a warped front disc after becoming involved in the Cairoli mess at turn one.
The first round of five in the inaugural Women’s World Championship was swept by the talent and Gallic beauty of Kawasaki’s Livia Lancelot; the firm favorite for the title with double World Cup winner Katherine Prumm struggling to a brave fourth courtesy of a broken right ACL, and 2005 victor Stephanie Laier out of action with an injured shoulder. Lancelot had to accept second spot behind pole sitter Larissa Papenmeier in moto one, but a first-lap crash by the diminutive German led to a suspected broken ligament in her right foot. Moto two belonged to the French rider with some ease, with another German, Maria Franke, in second and Katherine Prumm third. The honor of the Stars and Stripes (and that of Honda, still podium-less in MX1 and MX2) was upheld by a good performance from 17-year-old Honda U.S.-backed Ashley Fiolek, who grabbed the final step of the rostrum beside the Kawasaki ladies.
|
A convoy of trucks and rigs will now slowly eek their way west across Europe and straight to the Mantova circuit for the Grand Prix of Italy next week; a meeting that fell into Yamaha hands during 2007 thanks to authoritative performances from Cairoli and Coppins, and will now host the second appointment of 2008 for the women.