A puig of a track
By TMX Archives on 23rd Apr 08
There was a moto win for CCM on their GP comeback after 19-years when Greg Hanson stormed to victory in the opening Veterans World Cup moto.
Stephen Sword and Scott Eastwood each added podiums at Bellpuig as persistent rainfall from the early hours of Sunday turned the hillside track in northern Spain into a quagmire so bad that the MX1 riders refused to take to the track for their second moto after the second MX2 race was red-flagged when the track became blocked with prostrate bikes and bodies.
It was a turbulent day for all of the Brits, Swordy making the podium even after losing an entire lap stuck on the most difficult climb during the second moto, Molson team colleague Gautier Paulin actually leading the second moto when it was stopped but demoted to third on the countback to the previous lap, Tom Church adding more joy for the green squad with a seventh ahead of Billy MacKenzie in the only MX1 race to be run, Tommy Searle getting up from an horrific crash at the start of race two to still finish the day top six, another top ten finish for Shaun Simpson and scorelines for James Noble, Carl Nunn, Jason Dougan and Elliott Banks-Browne.
Davide Guarneri defied a recent shoulder injury to take the MX2 overall after Tyla Rattray had extended his win sequence in race one, and Steve Ramon recorded his first GP victory since 2003 by crossing the line first in that single MX1 moto.
MX2
The holeshot was always going to pay dividends in the terrible conditions and Rattray led moto one throughout, eventually winning by over a minute from Toni Cairoli after Steven Frossard, who had chased the South African hard for half the race, eventually had to slacken his pace as both brakes faded, a fall eventually pushing him downfield.
Already at this stage of the day's proceedings racing had become a lottery, particularly at the sections which were under water, the numerous holes hidden from view by the murky liquid.
Searle twice got as high as eighth before incidents pushed him back to tenth, Simpson had a sterling ride from 22nd to ninth, finishing almost blind after losing his goggles on the opening lap, whilst Nunn and Dougan also battled through from early misfortune to get amongst the scorers. Elliott Banks-Browne got a good jump from his outside gate, but was filled in at turn one and looped-out on the hillside as he gassed it but was back to 24th before becoming the first victim of the dreaded lake at the bottom corner of the track: "My head was completely under water. I stopped for fresh gloves and goggles, but had to stop soon afterwards with my ears ringing from the water.”
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 2 – Bellpuig, SPAIN
1 Davide Guarneri (I - Ricci Yamaha) 20 + 25 = 45
2 Manuel Monni (I - 3C Yamaha) 15 + 22 = 37
3 Stephen SWORD (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 18 + 14 = 32
4 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull Yamaha) 22 + 10 = 32
5 Tyla Rattray (ZA - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 4 = 29
6 Tommy SEARLE (GB - Red Bull KTM) 11 + 13 = 24
7 Joel Roelants (B - Champ KTM) 5 + 16 = 21
8 Gautier Paulin (F - Molson Kawasaki) 0 + 20 = 20
9 Nicolas Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha) 14 + 6 = 20
10 Evgeniy Bobryschev (RUS - Van Beers Yamaha) 8 + 11 = 19
11 Xavier Boog (F - Inotec Suzuki) 10 + 9 = 19
12 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - KTM UK) 12 + 7 = 19
13 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM) 0 + 18 = 18
14 Marvin Musquin (F - NGS Honda) 13 + 3 = 16
15 Jeremy Tarroux (F - Silver Action KTM) 16 + 0 = 16
16 Angelo Pellegrini (I - KTM) 0+15=15, 17 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - Champ KTM) 2+12=14, 18 Gregory Aranda (F - CLS Kawasaki) 4+5=9, 19 Steven Frossard (F - CLS Kawasaki) 9+0=9, 20 Gert Krestinov (EW - Favor KTM) 0+8=8, 21 Carl NUNN (GB - Suso Suzuki) 7+0=7, 22 Alessandro Lupino (I - Red Bull Yamaha) 6+0=6, 23 Jason DOUGAN (GB - Suso Suzuki) 3+0=3, 24 Josef Kulhavy (SVK - Delta Suzuki) 0+2=2, 25 Elliott BANKS-BROWNE (GB - Swift Suzuki) 0+1=1, 26 Mickael Musquin (F - NGS Honda) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Rattray, 2 Cairoli, 3 Guarneri, 4 SWORD, 5 Tarroux, 6 Monni, 7 Aubin, 8 Marvin Musquin, 9 SIMPSON, 10 SEARLE, 11 Boog , 12 Frossard, 13 Bobryschev, 14 NUNN, 15 Lupino, 16 Roelants, 17 Aranda, 18 DOUGAN, 19 Van Horebeek, 20 Mickael Musquin.
RACE TWO: 1 Guarneri, 2 Monni, 3 Paulin, 4 Goncalves, 5 Roelants, 6 Pellegrini, 7 SWORD, 8 SEARLE, 9 Van Horebeek, 10 Bobryschev, 11 Cairoli, 12 Boog , 13 Krestinov, 14 SIMPSON, 15 Aubin, 16 Aranda, 17 Rattray, 18 Marvin Musquin, 19 Kulhavy, 20 BANKS-BROWNE.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 15) rounds: 1 Rattray 79 points, 2 Cairoli 76, 3 Guarneri 61, 4 SEARLE 60, 5 Goncalves 51, 6 Monni 48, 7 Aubin 47, 8 SIMPSON 47, 9 SWORD 46, 10 Boog 45, 11 Roelants 43, 12 Eggens 38, 13 Van Horebeek 35, 14 Paulin 26, 15 Tarroux 26, 16 Krestinov 21, 17 Bobryschev 20, 18 Musquin 16, 19 Pellegrini 15, 20 Van De Ven 10, 21 Frossard 9, 22 Boissiere 9, 23 Aranda 9, 24 Kras 8, 25 NUNN 7,... 30 DOUGAN 3,... 34 BANKS-BROWNE 1,...
NEXT ROUND: Apr 27 – Agueda, PORTUGAL.MX1
MX1
JONATHAN Barragan delighted home fans by leading the MX1 opener for three laps before losing his balance as he lost momentum and simply tipping over.
Ramon inherited a lead he was never to lose, the charge by Josh Coppins to within three seconds of his rear-wheel ending when the Kiwi got stuck on the hill. This let David Philippaerts and Ken De Dycker through, the pair of them having charged hard from a first corner crash with Max Nagl.
Team Martin Honda was in tatters, however, Julien Bill going over the bars into the same pond as Banks-Browne when third on lap one, while Marc De Reuver was black-flagged for allegedly starting outside the line of the end gate.
Mike Brown was hating the mud, but MacKenzie was sixth before a late crash trying to ride round Tanel Leok dropped him behind Tom Church in eighth. Noble got back into the swing of things after his layoff through illness with a 14th.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 2 – Bellpuig, SPAIN
1 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki) 25 + 0 = 25
2 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Yamaha) 22 + 0 = 22
3 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki) 20 + 0 = 20
4 Josh Coppins (NZ - Monster Yamaha) 18 + 0 = 18
5 Tanel Leok (EW - Kawasaki Europe) 16 + 0 = 16
6 Kevin Strijbos (B - GPKR Kawasaki) 15 + 0 = 15
7 Thomas CHURCH (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 14 + 0 = 14
8 Billy MacKENZIE (GB - Monster Honda) 13 + 0 = 13
9 Clement Desalle (B - Inotec Suzuki) 12 + 0 = 12
10 Lauris Freibergs (LV - Van Beers Yamaha) 11 + 0 = 11
11 Alex Salvini (I - Valenti Suzuki) 10 + 0 = 10
12 Kornel Nemeth (H - Sarholz KTM) 9 + 0 = 9
13 Alessio Chiodi (I - TM Racing) 8 + 0 = 8
14 James NOBLE (GB - KTM UK) 7 + 0 = 7
15 Manuel Priem (B - Kawasaki Europe) 6 + 0 = 6
16 Pierre Alexandre Renet (F - Teka Suzuki) 5+0=5, 17 Marvin Van Daele (B - Teka Suzuki) 4+0=4, 18 Marcus Schiffer (D - Sarholz KTM) 3+0=3, 19 Maximilian Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 2+0=2, 20 Loic Leonce (F - JK Yamaha) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: As Overall above.
RACE TWO: Cancelled due to rider protest over track conditions.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 15) rounds: 1 De Dycker 70 points, 2 Ramon 63, 3 Philippaerts 55, 4 Coppins 47, 5 MacKENZIE 46, 6 Nagl 40, 7 Strijbos 36, 8 Priem 35, 9 Nemeth 33, 10 Leok 26, 11 Desalle 22, 12 Barragan 20, 13 CHURCH 20, 14 Leok 20, 15 Freibergs 16, 16 Brown 14, 17 Schiffer 14, 18 De Reuver 13, 19 Van Daele 13, 20 Salvini 11, 21 Chiodi 11, 22 Verhoeven 9, 23 Renet 8, 24 Pyrhonen 8, 25 NOBLE 7,...
NEXT ROUND: April 27 – Agueda, PORTUGAL.
WORLD VETERAN MOTOCROSS CUP
Rd 1 – Bellpuig, SPAIN
1 Toine Van Dijk (NL - Suzuki) 11 + 25 = 36
2 Scott EASTWOOD (GB - Honda) 20 + 15 = 35
3 Thierry Godfroid (B - Kawasaki) 15 + 18 = 33
4 Peter Iven (B - Kawasaki) 22 + 10 = 32
5 Greg HANSON (GB - CCM) 25 + 6 = 31
6 Chris Jacobs (B - Suzuki) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Normunds Ducis (LAT - Yamaha) 6 + 20 = 26
8 Jyri Makarov (EW - Honda) 13 + 13 = 26
9 Dave THORPE (GB - Honda) 2 + 22 = 24
10 Jan Blancquaert (B - Kawasaki) 18 + 0 = 18
11 Leandre Casas (E - Kawasaki) 3+14=17, 12 Freddy Verherstraeten (B - Kawasaki) 12+ 5=17, 13 Janis Mironovs (LAT - KTM) 8+ 8=16, 14 Koos Dijkstra (NL - Honda) 16+ 0=16, 15 Maris Feldmanis (LAT - Kawasaki) 0+12=12, 16 Petr Dokoupil (CZE - Yamaha) 10+2=12, 17 Philippe Bartoll-Loiselet (F - Yamaha) 0+11=11, 18 Regis Simon (F - Honda) 4+7=11, 19 Ervin Krajkovic (CZE - Kawasaki) 9+1=10, 20 Chuck Sun (USA - Honda) 0+9=9, 21 Andres Krestinov (EW - KTM) 7+0=7, 22 Gerard Ravenet (F - Yamaha) 5+0=5, 23 Peter Bergsma (NL - KTM) 0+4=4, 24 Mark SILVESTER (GB - Yamaha) 0+3=3, 25 Tony Cooksley (NZ - Yamaha) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 HANSON, 2 Iven, 3 EASTWOOD, 4 Blancquaert, 5 Dijkstra, 6 Godfroid, 7 Jacobs, 8 Makarov, 9 Verherstraeten, 10 Van Dijk, 11 Dokoupil, 12 Krajkovic, 13 Mironovs, 14 Krestinov, 15 Ducis, 16 Ravenet, 17 Simon, 18 Casas, 19 THORPE, 20 Cooksley.
RACE TWO: 1 Van Dijk, 2 THORPE, 3 Ducis, 4 Godfroid, 5 Jacobs, 6 EASTWOOD, 7 Casas, 8 Makarov, 9 Feldmanis, 10 Bartoll-Loiselet, 11 Iven, 12 Sun, 13 Mironovs, 14 Simon, 15 HANSON, 16 Verherstraeten, 17 Bergsma, 18 SILVESTER, 19 Dokoupil, 20 Krajkovic.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 3) rounds: 1 Van Dijk 36 points, 2 EASTWOOD 35, 3 Godfroid 33, 4 Iven 32, 5 HANSON 31, 6 Jacobs 30, 7 Ducis 26, 8 Makarov 26, 9 THORPE 24, 10 Blancquaert 18, 11 Casas 17, 12 Verherstraeten 17, 13 Dijkstra 16, 14 Mironovs 16, 15 Feldmanis 12, 16 Dokoupil 12, 17 Bartoll-Loiselet 11, 18 Simon 11, 19 Krajkovic 10, 20 Sun 9, 21 Krestinov 7, 22 Ravenet 5, 23 Bergsma 4, 24 SILVESTER 3, 25 Cooksley 1,...
NEXT ROUND: Jun 1 – Mallory Park, Leicestershire, BRITAIN.
