The following is a release from Mediapress –
Rain was the topic of the day at the Motocross GP in Bulgaria, yesterday, but Marc De Reuver and Stefan Everts starred on the podium at the end of the day, with De Reuver taking the MX2-class win and Everts the MX1 win.
The first heat of the MX2 class was the only race with a perfect track. Nicolas Aubin got the holeshot in the first MX2 moto but surrendered the early lead to Antonio Cairoli, who ended up riding off to victory. Aubin held on to second place for almost half race before dropping back to seventh at the finish.
At the end of the moto, Cairoli felt some pressure by Christophe Pourcel, who made up ground from fifth to second. Pourcel’s chances to pass Cairoli ended when he lost valuable time to a lapped rider.
Third place went to David Philippaerts, while fourth and fifth went to Sebastien Pourcel and Tyla Rattray, respectively. De Reuver finished sixth.
The second moto did not go well for Cairoli who crashed twice and ended his race after the second fall. He injured his left hand and wrist, thus handing the lead to De Reuver, who left teammate Rattray behind in second.
Many riders had a hard time with the rain in the second moto, especially Christophe Pourcel and Philippaerts who both had water fill up their goggles, making it difficult for them to see. But Philippaerts held on to get third, followed by Christophe and Sebastien Pourcel.
De Reuver admitted that he was surprised to come out of the GP win a win.
“I had a problem yesterday, so I was starting from behind,” De Reuver said. “In the first heat, I touched another rider at the start, but in the second one, I started much better. I saw Rattray was arriving from behind, but I stayed focused and won the race. At the end, I was also surprised of being the overall winner!”
Both the MX1 motos were run in the wet, and the top three riders did not change from moto to moto. Everts won them both, starting the first one in dry conditions and finishing it in the wet.
In the first moto, Tanel Leok got the holeshot then crashed, while Everts went on to lead and take the moto win again.
The battle for second was between Suzuki teammates Steve Ramon and Kevin Strijbos. At half race, Strijbos passed Ramon and took second place, while Ramon ended up third.
In heat two, Leok again took the holeshot, but Brian Jorgensen and Everts were right behind him and did not wait to pass him. Despite the heavy rain, Everts secured first place by the end of the first lap. Jorgensen held second until Strijbos, Leok and Ramon all eventually passed him.
Strijbos ended up holding on to second, while his teammate Ramon snatched third place from Leok, who ended up fourth. Jorgensen slipped back to fifth.
“In the first race, I was consistent”, Everts said. “I had good speed and I am pretty happy with that. The second one was harder, but I kept up the pace and stayed focused anyways. We will try to keep going like this, but every race is different and no one knows what can happen.”
