A First for Zach
By TMX Archives on 16th Apr 09
OSBORNE set the base for a successful weekend with fastest time in Pre-Qualifying and made good use all weekend of the inside gate: We've made some changes to the bike to help the starts too, and that inside gate gives you confidence. You can turn tight and no-one can come inside you and take you out.Victory in the Saturday qualifier ensured the gate was Zach's on Sunday and the 19-year-old led both races leaving turn one.
He didn't hold on to the lead for long in the opener as Gn the surprise packet, Khounsith Vongsana, came steaming past within a couple of laps, and the American was man enough to admit: "They were both faster than me, simple as that!” But he was not in a mood for surrender: "There's a second moto and fitness is going to play a role in the final laps.”
A host of French hotshots had made a mess of the qualifier on Saturday and earned outside gates. Steven Frossard remarkably got through turn one unscathed to run fourth for a time, but errors forced him back and eventually out, and Marvin Musquin had not been so lucky at turn one.
Back in 15th on lap one, the slender French kid scorched through the pack to relieve Xavier Boog of fifth place with five laps to go, but Manuel Monni was just too far ahead in fourth.
Simpson had started sixth, but was always in trouble: "Yesterday went OK, but the pain-killers were making me dizzy. Today the pain is back and I just don't have any strength in my left arm. I am effectively riding with just my right arm, and that was also feeling the strain as the race wore on.”
Still seventh approaching halfway, Shaun stalled the KTM and eventually finished 16th. But at least that was better than his team-mate Rui Goncalves! The Portuguese rider had crashed when his bike seized in the waves on Saturday and his lightening gate from the outside came to nought at turn one as he ploughed into the fallen Nikolaj Larsen and wrecked the rear brake in green netting.
Swordy eventually worked up from 13th to ninth, but knew he could do better: "I was riding too tight. Race two will be better.”
Jake Nicholls had a sterling ride from 20th to tenth, one of the few men to make many advances as a single line developed, and Matiss Karro was satisfied with his first points of the year even though he lost a couple of places in the second half.
Osborne again led away in race two and the overall was on from the word go as both Paulin and Vongsana messed up their starts. The series leader eventually got through to seventh but it was hard work: "I managed some good passes, but the track was just so rough when you went off line.”
Osborne's French rivals this time were Musquin and Frossard, and the Honda rider went ahead on lap ten.
"I really wasn't thinking about winning the moto,” admitted the American. "I was more worried about Frossard who was catching up fast, but then I saw it was a long way back to fourth, settled down and Musquin made a mistake to give me the moto as well as the overall.”
Swordy moved forward to fifth behind Marcus Schiffer this time, but Nicholls was tailed off after an error on lap two and never had a chance of points, while the brave Simpson gradually lost places from an initial second to finish 11th. The Scot spent most of the race with a train of riders queuing up behind him, but his gutsy performance at least kept him seventh in the series. "At least we have a weekend off now to get ready for Valkenswaard,” he sighed at the end.
Karro again stuck in there for 13th with Leuret 16th after spending his 28th birthday chasing through in both motos.
CAIROLI had been dominant in the MX1 qualifier and never looked like being defeated in either points-scoring race on Sunday.
He led the first moto throughout after slipping under Kevin Strijbos at turn one, and even a strong Steve Ramon could not endanger his victory.
"I already felt strong last week, but I didn't get the starts and it was difficult to pass on such a fast track. This place is more technical and much slower.”
It took a masterful performance to advance however and the most positional changes were due to errors or problems.
One rider in trouble was holeshot king Max Nagl: "I overshot the first turn in the qualifier, then I did the same at turn two in race one. I had stomach-ache after the first race and just couldn't attack in race two.”
Josh Coppins was also hating the place as was Billy MacKenzie, while Marc De Reuver just can't work out what is wrong: "I do all my training during the week, I set good laps in practice and I then qualified well. But once the racing starts it doesn't happen anymore.”
It was working for his team-mate, Strijbos, however: "I finally got to train again this week and I felt good coming here. I tensed up and got arm pump when Steve came at me in race one, but even then I could follow him.”
Ramon was also relieved: "I had a bad first two GPs, but I enjoyed my riding today. I just need better starts.”
With Strijbos soon downfield in race two after the front wheel washed out, it was Philippaerts' turn to challenge Cairoli in race two and the defending champion went ahead on lap three.
"I don't like the track with the jumps and the weaves, but it is the same for everyone,” he commented philosophically. And what a fight he put up!
Four times Cairoli nosed back ahead before he could make it stick, and the Sicilian was even more determined than usual when he finally went through: "I could see Ramon coming and wanted to escape, but that was a really nice battle with David.”
Ramon eventually had to settle for third: "When I came up to them, I hoped one of them would make a mistake, but then Toni got away. I tried switching lines but I just couldn't find a way past David.”
MacKenzie stalled when eighth on lap three and then looped out big time before bravely getting back on to salvage a point, while Noble, out of the points in race one, really got to grips with the opposition in race two to finish in 12th.
Dougan had taken the final point in the opener but looked set for many more as he held down a solid 16th in race two before the engine cried enough.
The opening stint of three races is over and the red plates are with Cairoli and Paulin, but next up is the sand of Valkenswaard where the Belgians and KTM will be looking to get themselves back into contention.
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – Istanbul, TURKEY
1 Zach Osborne (US - Utag Yamaha) 20 + 25 = 45
2 Gautier Paulin (F - Bud Kawasaki) 25 + 14 = 39
3 Marvin Musquin (F - NGS Honda) 16 + 22 = 38
4 Khounsith Vongsana (F - Honda) 22 + 9 = 31
5 Manuel Monni (I - 3C Yamaha) 18 + 12 = 30
6 Stephen SWORD (GB - Red Bull KTM UK) 12 + 16 = 28
7 Davide Guarneri (I - Ricci Yamaha) 13 + 15 = 28
8 Xavier Boog (F - Teka Suzuki) 15 + 13 = 28
9 Steven Frossard (F - CLS Kawasaki) 0 + 20 = 20
10 Marcus Schiffer (D - Sarholz KTM) 0 + 18 = 18
11 Evgeny Bobryschev (RUS - Van Beers Yamaha) 6+11=17, 12 Matiss Karro (LV - Suzo MVRD Suzuki) 8+8=16, 13 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Red Bull KTM) 5+10=15, 14 Pascal Leuret (F - JK Multitek Honda) 10+5=15, 15 Valentin Teillet (F - Red Bull KTM Jnr) 14+0=14, 16 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Red Bull KTM UK) 11+0=11, 17 Loic Larrieu (F - Ricci Yamaha) 7+3=10, 18 Cedric Soubeyras (F - MD Yamaha) 9+0=9, 19 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM) 0+7=7, 20 Wyatt Avis (ZA - Honda) 1+6=7, 21 Yohei Kojima (J - Teka Suzuki) 3+4=7, 22 Arnaud Tonus (CH - HDI KTM) 4+1=5, 23 Alessandro Lupino (I - Red Bull DeCarli Yamaha) 0+2=2, 24 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Beursfoon Suzuki) 2+0=2.
RACE ONE: 1 Paulin, 2 Vongsana, 3 Osborne, 4 Monni, 5 Marvin Musquin, 6 Boog, 7 Teillet, 8 Guarneri, 9 SWORD, 10 NICHOLLS, 11 Leuret, 12 Soubeyras, 13 Karro, 14 Larrieu, 15 Bobryschev, 16 SIMPSON, 17 Tonus, 18 Kojima, 19 Larsen, 20 Avis.
RACE TWO: 1 Osborne, 2 Marvin Musquin, 3 Frossard, 4 Schiffer, 5 SWORD, 6 Guarneri, 7 Paulin, 8 Boog, 9 Monni, 10 Bobryschev, 11 SIMPSON, 12 Vongsana, 13 Karro, 14 Goncalves, 15 Avis, 16 Leuret, 17 Kojima, 18 Larrieu, 19 Lupino, 20 Tonus.
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 15) rounds: 1 Paulin 108 points, 2 Marvin Musquin 103, 3 Guarneri 78, 4 Boog 73, 5 Osborne 68, 6 Frossard 53, 7 SIMPSON 52, 8 Aubin 47, 9 Vongsana 42, 10 Schiffer 42, 11 Teillet 37, 12 Monni 36, 13 SWORD 32, 14 Goncalves 31, 15 Roelants 30, 16 Lupino 30, 17 Tonus 30, 18 Leuret 25, 19 Van Horebeek 22, 20 NICHOLLS 22,...
NEXT ROUND: April 26 – Valkenswaard, HOLLAND.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – Istanbul, TURKEY
1 Toni Cairoli (I - Red Bull DeCarli Yamaha) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki) 22 + 20 = 42
3 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Yamaha) 18 + 22 = 40
4 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki) 16 + 18 = 34
5 Kevin Strijbos (B - Martin Honda) 20 + 14 = 34
6 Jonathan Barragan (E - Silver Action KTM) 14 + 15 = 29
7 Josh Coppins (NZ - Monster Yamaha) 13 + 13 = 26
8 Clement Desalle (B - LS Honda) 12 + 12 = 24
9 Max Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 15 + 8 = 23
10 Tanel Leok (EW - DeCarli Yamaha) 2 + 16 = 18
11 David Vuillemin (F - Bud Kawasaki) 11+7=18, 12 Gareth Swanepoel (ZA - KRTE Kawasaki) 10+5=15, 13 Julien Bill (CH - Aprilia) 6+6=12, 14 Sebastien Pourcel (F - KRTE Kawasaki) 0+11=11, 15 Gregory Aranda (F - CLS Kawasaki) 0+10=10, 16 Billy MacKENZIE (GB - CAS Honda) 9+1=10, 17 James NOBLE (GB - Suzo MVRD Suzuki) 0+9=9, 18 Aigar Leok (EW - TM) 5+4=9, 19 Manuel Priem (B - Aprilia) 8+0=8, 20 Filip Neugebauer (CZ - Kawasaki) 4+3=7, 21 Marc De Reuver (NL - Martin Honda) 7+0=7, 22 Carlos Campano (E - Van Beers Yamaha) 3+0=3, 23 Gert Krestinov (EW - Silver Action KTM) 0+2=2, 24 Jason DOUGAN (GB - Phoenix Tools CCM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Cairoli, 2 Ramon, 3 Strijbos, 4 Philippaerts, 5 De Dycker, 6 Nagl, 7 Barragan, 8 Coppins, 9 Desalle, 10 Vuillemin, 11 Swanepoel, 12 MacKENZIE, 13 Priem, 14 De Reuver, 15 Bill, 16 Aigar Leok, 17 Neugebauer, 18 Campano, 19 Tanel Leok, 20 DOUGAN.
RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 Philippaerts, 3 Ramon, 4 De Dycker, 5 Tanel Leok, 6 Barragan, 7 Strijbos, 8 Coppins, 9 Desalle, 10 Pourcel, 11 Aranda, 12 NOBLE, 13 Nagl, 14 Vuillemin, 15 Bill, 16 Swanepoel, 17 Aigar Leok, 18 Neugebauer, 19 Krestinov, 20 MacKENZIE.
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 15) rounds: 1 Cairoli 98 points, 2 De Dycker 94, 3 Philippaerts 88, 4 Coppins 85, 5 Barragan 83, 6 Ramon 78, 7 Tanel Leok 73, 8 Nagl 73, 9 Desalle 61, 10 Strijbos 50, 11 Vuillemin 40, 12 Swanepoel 34, 13 Aigar Leok 32, 14 NOBLE 27, 15 Pourcel 26, 16 De Reuver 23, 17 Priem 23, 18 MacKENZIE 22, 19 Bill 22, 20 CHURCH 15,... 23 Krestinov 8,...
NEXT ROUND: April 26 – Valkenswaard, HOLLAND.
Zach Osborne (338), here being chased by Marvin Musquin, delighted the Turkish crowd with a great victory.