A Fairytale for Leok
By TMX Archives on 4th Sep 08
TYLA Rattray moved relentlessly closer to the MX2 world title at the all-new track at the Fairyhouse race course, Ireland, on Sunday, but the MX1 battle was cut from five to three as Tanel Leok beat them all for his first-ever GP win.Tommy Searle already had the cards dealt against him after breaking the bike during quali, but only a couple of race two errors stopped Billy MacKenzie from a sensational victory in his first ride for a fortnight on a track which found few friends.But the track could not be blamed for the demise of Jonathan Barragan and Josh Coppins. Both saw their outside chance of the title disappear in a bagatelle pile-up at turn one of the opening MX1 moto, as Ken De Dycker kept his slender hopes alive with a first moto win and David Philippaerts retained a slender lead over Steve Ramon at the sharp end of the table despite having to ride the final five laps of racing with a slipping clutch.There was heartbreak and joy in the British camp as Zach Osborne sensationally won the opening MX2 moto before blowing up the Utag Yamaha in race two, Shaun Simpson surrendered fourth in the series to Nico Aubin after mid-race lapses in race two, Stephen Sword narrowly missed the podium, Carl Nunn had his best race for ages, Jason Dougan was running top six before a late crash sent him to hospital with a dislocated arm, and Gordon Crockard narrowly missed a top ten finish on his GP return. And that was just a fraction of the action.
FEW riders had a good word to say for a track which resembled the bottom of a hamster's cage rather than a GP motocross venue, but that clearly didn't bother Osborne, who managed three holeshots against the factory KTMs over the weekend and was never going to be caught in race one.
Even series leader Rattray could merely match the American at arm's length as they hammered round in front from the opening lap: "The track was wide open and fast, and so was Zach.”
But he should care. After being forced to the Last Chance when mud got in his brake pedal in his qualifier and caused him to pit to have the brake line severed, Tommy Searle had a no-hope outside gate and was struggling out of the pack to lose four more points as Nico Aubin made third secure behind the leaders.
Simpson was also off his usual form: "My shoulder's OK, I'm just race rusty. Brampton was my only race for a month.”
And Sword was furious with himself at the finish: "I passed Boissiere two corners from the end for seventh but then cased the small jump before the finish and handed it back to him.”
Equally frustrated was Jake Nicholls who had surged through the pack and was actually closing down both Scots until the head gasket blew, while Swift team-mate Elliott Banks-Browne had also been moving forward until Tarroux fell in his path and dragged the young Brit down.
Dougan had gone out mid-moto after damaging the front-end when he ran into the back of Rui Goncalves, but Suso Suzuki team-mate Nunn narrowly missed top ten despite a mid-moto lapse: "I start making mistakes and get flustered in the middle of every race, and on a track as fast as this it takes time to get your confidence back.”
Martin Barr did well to advance to 15th from a poor start, and Marcus Norlen took the final point.
"The track was rougher in race two and I saw some good lines already on the sighting lap,” admitted Rattray after turning the tables on Osborne in race two. "I'd managed to get past before he went out.”
It was on lap 13 that the Utag Yamaha expired to hand second to Searle, but until then Osborne had kept Rattray honest.
Ken de Dycker (9) leads David Philippaerts (19) on his way to a motoone victory but a third place in moto two gave Leok the overall.
Simpson had gated second but had a wretched time mid-moto to lose six places in two laps and never really recovered his composure, but Sword was happier this time after advancing to fourth.
Dougan was riding a blinder to regain his early top six ranking until he crashed hard two laps from the end; the initial diagnosis of a broken arm fortunately proved ill-founded, but team boss Mark Chamberlain took him back to the UK for a closer diagnosis. The points were gone however.
Nunn was restricted to four points this time after needing to pit early for fresh goggles, Nicholls paid for his own impetuosity - "I tried to repay Guarneri for a hard pass and went down myself” - on his way to 14th, one ahead of Banks-Browne who crashed and stalled on his way into the points.
Mel Pocock got a ride from first reserve, his first in GP competition, but knocked himself silly before the close.
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 13 – Fairyhouse, Dublin, IRELAND
1 Tyla Rattray (ZA - Red Bull KTM) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Tommy SEARLE (GB - Red Bull KTM) 18 + 22 = 40
3 Steven Frossard (F - CLS Kawasaki) 16 + 20 = 36
4 Nicolas Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha) 20 + 14 = 34
5 Stephen SWORD (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 13 + 18 = 31
6 Anthony Boissiere (F - HDI KTM) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - KTM UK) 15 + 10 = 25
8 Zach Osborne (US - Yamaha) 25 + 0 = 25
9 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM) 11 + 13 = 24
10 Xavier Boog (F - Inotec Suzuki) 12 + 12 = 24
11 Manuel Monni (I - 3C Yamaha) 8+11=19, 12 Joel Roelants (B - Champ KTM) 2+15=17, 13 Matteo Bonini (I - Red Bull Yamaha) 7+9=16, 14 Carl NUNN (GB - Suso Suzuki) 10+4=14, 15 Gert Krestinov (EW - Favor KTM) 4+8=12, 16 Alessandro Lupino (I - Red Bull Yamaha) 5+5=10, 17 Elliott BANKS-BROWNE (GB - Swift Suzuki) 3+6=9, 18 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - Champ KTM) 9+0=9, 19 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Swift Suzuki) 0+7=7, 20 Martin BARR (IRE - UTAG Yamaha) 6+0=6, 21 Marcus Norlen (S - Suzuki) 1+3=4, 22 Teddy Maier (US - Kawasaki) 0+2=2, 23 Deny Philippaerts (I - 3C Yamaha) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Osborne, 2 Rattray, 3 Aubin, 4 SEARLE, 5 Frossard, 6 SIMPSON, 7 Boissiere, 8 SWORD, 9 Boog, 10 Goncalves, 11 NUNN, 12 Van Horebeek, 13 Monni, 14 Bonini, 15 BARR, 16 Lupino, 17 Krestinov, 18 BANKS-BROWNE, 19 Roelants, 20 Norlen.
RACE TWO: 1 Rattray, 2 SEARLE, 3 Frossard, 4 SWORD, 5 Boissiere, 6 Roelants, 7 Aubin, 8 Goncalves, 9 Boog, 10 Monni, 11 SIMPSON, 12 Bonini, 13 Krestinov, 14 NICHOLLS, 15 BANKS-BROWNE, 16 Lupino, 17 NUNN, 18 Norlen, 19 Maier, 20 Philippaerts.
SERIES STANDINGS after 13 (of 15) rounds: 1 Rattray 546 points, 2 SEARLE 519, 3 Cairoli 357, 4 Aubin 343, 5 SIMPSON 337, 6 Goncalves 327, 7 Frossard 284, 8 Boog 269, 9 Van Horebeek 253, 10 Monni 245, 11 SWORD 243, 12 Boissiere 240, 13 Marvin Musquin 180, 14 Guarneri 167, 15 Roelants 165, 16 Tarroux 161, 17 Aranda 101, 18 NUNN 99, 19 Paulin 95, 20 Krestinov 92,... 25 Jason DOUGAN 48,... 29 NICHOLLS 37,... 31 BANKS-BROWNE 33,... 45 BARR 6,... 54 Neville BRADSHAW 2
NEXT ROUND: Sep 7 – Lierop, HOLLAND.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 13 – Fairyhouse, Dublin, IRELAND
1 Tanel Leok (EW - Kawasaki Europe) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki) 25 + 20 = 45
3 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki) 16 + 22 = 38
4 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Yamaha) 18 + 18 = 36
5 Billy MacKENZIE (GB - Monster Honda) 20 + 16 = 36
6 Maximilian Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 14 + 15 = 29
7 Manuel Priem (B - Kawasaki Europe) 13 + 14 = 27
8 Sebastien Pourcel (F - GPKR Kawasaki)15 + 12 = 27
9 Clement Desalle (B - Inotec Suzuki) 7 + 13 = 20
10 Jonathan Barragan (E - Silver Action KTM) 11 + 9 = 20
11 Gordon CROCKARD (IRE- Honda) 4+10=14, 12 Aigar Leok (EW - Van Beers Yamaha) 10+4=14, 13 Marcus Schiffer (D - Sarholz KTM) 5+8=13, 14 Gregory Aranda (F - Kawasaki) 6+7=13, 15 Tom CHURCH (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 9+3=12, 16 Josh Coppins (NZ - Monster Yamaha) 12+0=12, 17 Julien Bill (CH - Martin Honda) 0+11=11, 18 Alex Salvini (I - Valenti Suzuki) 2+6=8, 19 Carlos Campano (E - Utag Yamaha) 3+5=8, 20 Marc De Reuver (NL - Martin Honda) 8+0=8, 21 Luis Correira (P - Yamaha) 0+2=2, 22 Stuart EDMONDS (IRE - TM) 0+1=1, 23 James NOBLE (GB - KTM UK) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 De Dycker, 2 Tanel Leok, 3 MacKENZIE, 4 Philippaerts, 5 Ramon, 6 Pourcel, 7 Nagl, 8 Priem, 9 Coppins, 10 Barragan, 11 Aigar Leok, 12 CHURCH, 13 De Reuver, 14 Desalle, 15 Aranda, 16 Schiffer, 17 CROCKARD, 18 Campano, 19 Salvini, 20 NOBLE.
RACE TWO: 1 Tanel Leok, 2 Ramon, 3 De Dycker, 4 Philippaerts, 5 MacKENZIE, 6 Nagl, 7 Priem, 8 Desalle, 9 Pourcel, 10 Bill, 11 CROCKARD, 12 Barragan, 13 Schiffer, 14 Aranda, 15 Salvini, 16 Campano, 17 Aigar Leok, 18 CHURCH, 19 Correira, 20 EDMONDS.
SERIES STANDINGS after 13 (of 15) rounds: 1 Philippaerts 441 points, 2 Ramon 436, 3 De Dycker 414, 4 Barragan 389, 5 Coppins 382, 6 Pourcel 371, 7 Nagl 356, 8 Tanel Leok 322, 9 MacKENZIE 293, 10 Desalle 235, 11 De Reuver 232, 12 Priem 224, 13 Bill 159, 14 Nemeth 159, 15 Aigar Leok 145, 16 Schiffer 110, 17 Brown 107, 18 NOBLE 94, 19 Tom CHURCH 86, 20 Boniface 75,... 22 Brad ANDERSON 54,... 31 CROCKARD 14,... 43 Wayne SMITH 5,... 47 Jordan ROSE 3,... 52 EDMONDS 1,...
NEXT ROUND: Sep 7 – Lierop, HOLLAND.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY,SEPTEMBER 5, 2008