Stefan Everts, of the Rinaldi Yamaha team, recorded his 78th Motocross Grand Prix win of his career, this time around the treacherous Namur circuit in Belgium, yesterday. In front of around 30,000 Belgian spectators, Everts went 1-3 to snatch victory from French rider Mickael Pichon of the Tiscali Honda Martin team. Pichon won the last three GPs and also produced a moto win in Namur, although a crash in the opening moto cost Pichon the overall victory. It was a great weekend for Everts all round as he celebrated the birth of his first child, a son named Liam on the Friday night of the GP.
Pichon though missed his opportunity for victory by scoring a fourth place finish in the opening moto, and his 4-1 results were only good enough for third overall. Second place in Namur went to New Zealand’s Josh Coppins of the CAS Honda team.
“I won this for my son,” Everts said. “This is the best weekend of my life, and Friday night was the best day of my life. I couldn’t ask for more than what I have now, it’s just such a happy time for me. The emotions I have had this weekend have been amazing.”
In the MX2 class, the victory went to Italian Antonio Cairoli who rides for the DeCarli Yamaha team. Cairoli picked up a second place in the opening moto and then finished in fourth place in the second race. The Italian nipped CAS Honda rider Jussi Vehvilainen who scored 6-3 for second overall, and Australian rider Andrew McFarlane went 5-8 for third overall. Series leader Ben Townley won the second moto of the day, although he DNFed the opening moto with a fuel problem. Marc De Reuver the other lead rider in the KTM team also DNFed the opening moto, and finished second in moto two. For Cairoli is was a big day.
“My first Grand Prix victory,” Cairoli said. “It’s nice, I tried to race with Chicco (Chiodi) in the first moto, but he was too strong and I slower for second. In the second moto I didn’t have a good start and finished in fourth place, which was good enough for the win.”
MX1 Moto one: 1. Stefan Everts (Yam); 2. Josh Coppins (Hon); 3. Steve Ramon (KTM); 4. Mickael Pichon (Hon); 5. Ken De Dijcker (Hon); 6. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 7. Julian Bill (KTM); 8. Yoshi Atsuta (Hon); 9. Luigi Seguy (Yam); 10. Billy Mackenzie (Yam)
MX1 Moto two: 1. Mickael Pichon (Hon); 2. Josh Coppins (Hon); 3. Stefan Everts (Yam); 4. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 5. Brian Jorgensen (Hon); 6. Tanel Leok (Suz); 7. Danny Theybers (Yam); 8. Marnicq Bervoets (Yam); 9. Josef Dobes (Suz); 10. Yoshi Atsuta (Hon)
O/A: 1. Stefan Everts (45pts); 2. Josh Coppins (44); 3. Mickael Pichon (43); 4. Kevin Strijbos (33); 5. Tanel Leok (25); 6. Yoshi Atsuta (24); 7. Josef Dobes (21); 8. Steve Ramon (20); 9. Brian Jorgensen (16); 10. Marko Kovalainen (16)
Championship points: 1. Stefan Everts (572/6wins); 2. Mickael Pichon (479/4); 3. Josh Coppins (441/1); 4. Steve Ramon (394); 5. Kevin Strijbos (360); 6. Tanel Leok (298); 7. Brian Jorgensen (294/1); 8. Cedric Melotte (291/1); 9. Ken De Dijcker (211); 10. Yoshi Atsuta (181)
MX2 Moto one: 1. Alessio Chiodi (Yam); 2. Antonio Cairoli (Yam); 3. Mickael Maschio (Kaw); 4. Patrick Caps (Yam); 5. Andrew McFarlane (Yam); 6. Jussi Vehvilainen (Hon); 7. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 8. Andrea Bartolini (Yam); 9. Chris Stevanini (Hon); 10. Aigar Leok (KTM)
MX2 Moto two: 1. Ben Townley (KTM); 2. Marc De Reuver (KTM); 3. Jussi Vehvilainen (Hon); 4. Antonio Cairoli (Yam); 5. Stephen Sword (Kaw); 6. Carl Nunn (Hon); 7. Sebastien Pourcel (Kaw); 8. Andrew McFarlane (Yam); 9. Tyla Rattray (KTM); 10. Manuel Monni (Yam)
O/A: 1. Antonio Cairoli (40pts); 2. Jussi Vehvilainen (35); 3. Andrew McFarlane (29); 4. Tyla Rattray (26); 5. Ben Townley (25); 6. Carl Nunn (25); 7. Alessio Chiodi (25); 8. Marc De Reuver (22); 9. Stephen Sword (21); 10. Sebastien Pourcel (20)
Championship points: 1. Ben Townley (497/6wins); 2. Tyla Rattray (404/4); 3. Stephen Sword (382/1); 4. Antonio Cairoli (337/1); 5. Andrew McFarlane (329/1); 6. Alessio Chiodi (318); 7. Mickael Maschio (303); 8. Carl Nunn (253); 9. Patrick Caps (248); 10. Claudio Federici (207)
