Everts relishing star-studded swansong
By G2F on 30th Aug 06
The 60th Motocross of Nations, due to take place on British shores at the Matterley Basin circuit near Winchester on 23 / 24 September, will witness the most decorated and successful two riders from the modern era of the sport crossing swords for the final time as confirmed by the official entry list recently released for the competition by the FIM.
The 2006 and ten-times World Champion Stefan Everts, who has appeared on the Nations podium an incredible fourteen times from fourteen appearances including five victories, will again lead Team Belgium in his last competitive season. The 2006 AMA Supercross and Motocross number one Ricky Carmichael fronts the reigning Champions Team USA in the traditional season curtain-closer. The Suzuki ace and most successful rider in AMA history will complete a final full campaign of motocross and Supercross with his Matterley Basin outing.
Aside from the two big names thirty one other countries will be submitting three man squads to contest the three classes of MX1, MX2 and MX Open. Three continents are covered with the diverse presence of nations such as Slovenia, China and Slovakia. Among the favourites for podium positions will of course be the USA (needing one more victory to take the lead in the winner's table, they currently stand tied with Great Britain on sixteen triumphs) The 2005 runner-ups Belgium, a young French crew, Italy, New Zealand and of course the hosts with Billy Mackenzie, Carl Nunn and Tommy Searle confirmed as the UK's representatives.
33 year old Everts has won all but one of the Grand Prix events this season and recently clinched his sixth World title in succession. He currently has ninety nine career wins in all classes and will be hoping to enter the next stage of his life without the boots and helmet by giving the electric Carmichael – equally dominant again this year across the Atlantic - a run for his money. In terms of their meetings ‘RC' has the upper hand having defeated his factory Yamaha nemesis on the track in Belgium 2003 and at Ernee in France during 2005.
"All the previous Motocross of Nations were such great days for me but in 2005 I don't know what happened; I just did not have that magic in Ernee or a good feeling on the track. Hopefully this year I can have another memorable Nations especially as this is my last one,” commented Everts. "I want to push Ricky as much as possible. I will do my best and I will keep working with my fitness so that I am in the optimum shape although the last few weeks have been very hectic with a lot of planning and discussions about my future. It also depends a little on the state of the track and the weather in England. I have been very strong this year, perhaps more than ever, so who knows? I will not say now that I will beat him because I know it will be difficult but we'll see what happens on the day and what I am capable of on the bike.”
While Everts will count on the support of Kevin Strijbos and Steve Ramon the other two members of the American team to compliment Carmichael make for a formidable line-up with World Supercross Champion James Stewart set to make his first pro racing appearance outside of the States and young talent Ryan Villopoto filling the MX2 saddle. "For sure the fans will be excited to see James Stewart,” Everts continued. "Of course he is very good on the bike and it will be nice to see him competing in Europe for the first time. It is great for the Nations that he is in there.”
The entry list sadly saw the withdrawal of other top US-based riders Chad Reed (Australia) and Grant Langston (South Africa) due to injury but this pushes the emphasis even more onto the Americans and Belgians. "The USA will be the favourites,” concedes Everts. "They have the strongest team. A few riders have got injured and that has affected some of the others. South Africa had a decent line-up but now Langston is out and the same can be said for Australia with Reed gone. Ben Townley will ride for New Zealand but might not be at top level after a long time off the bike. At this point the USA is the biggest target for us.”
The three races on Sunday with all three classes racing the other at some stage will be a premium draw for off-road motorcycle racing fans around the World. A bumper crowd is expected into the vast expanses of Matterley Basin and the venue that hosted the British Grand Prix in June is currently undergoing modifications to prepare for the biggest and most historic motocross event.
"I think Matterley is a good track for the Nations, but I hope the changes that they make won't head too much in the direction of American layouts,” concluded Everts. "They need to keep that European style in there!”
Call 0845 4566536 or visit the official event site www.mxofnations.com to book discounted advance tickets / camping or for further information.
2006 Motocross of Nations entry list
United States
1 CARMICHAEL Ricky MX1 SUZUKI
2 VILLOPOTO Ryan MX2 KAWASAKI
3 STEWART James OPEN KAWASAKI
France
4 POURCEL Sébastien MX1 KAWASAKI 450
5 POURCEL Christophe MX2 KAWASAKI 250
6 DEMARIA Yves OPEN KTM 450
Belgium
7 EVERTS Stefan MX1 YAMAHA 450
8 STRIJBOS Kevin MX2 SUZUKI 250
9 RAMON Steve OPEN SUZUKI 450
New Zealand
10 COPPINS Joshua MX1 HONDA 450
11 TOWNLEY Benjamin MX2 KAWASAKI 250
12 COOPER Cody OPEN HONDA 450
Great Britain
13 MacKENZIE Billy MX1 YAMAHA 450
14 SEARLE Tommy MX2 KAWASAKI 250
15 NUNN Carl OPEN KTM 450
Estonia
16 LEOK Tanel MX1 KAWASAKI 450
17 LEOK Aigar MX2 YAMAHA 250
18 LAANSOO Juss OPEN HONDA 450
Netherlands
19 DE REUVER Marc MX1 KTM 450
20 STRIK George MX2 KTM 250
21 VERHOEVEN Bas OPEN KAWASAKI 450
Portugal
22 SANTOS Hugo MX1 HONDA 450
23 GONCALVES Rui MX2 KTM 250
24 CORREIA Luis OPEN SUZUKI 450
South Africa
25 SWANEPOEL Gareth MX1 KAWASAKI 450
26 RATTRAY Tyla MX2 KTM 250
27 AVIS Wyatt OPEN KTM 450
Spain
28 BARRAGAN Jonathan MX1 KTM 450
29 CAMPANO Carlos MX2 KTM 250
30 GARCIA VICO Javier OPEN HONDA 450
Finland
31 PYRHÖNEN Antti MX1 TM 450
32 SEISTOLA Matti MX2 HONDA 250
33 VEHVILÄINEN Jussi -Pekka OPEN SUZUKI 450
Japan
34 NARITA Akira MX1 YAMAHA 450
35 KOJIMA Yohei MX2 SUZUKI 250
36 ATSUTA Yoshitaka OPEN HONDA 450
Italy
37 PHILIPPAERTS David MX1 KTM 450
38 CAIROLI Antonio MX2 YAMAHA 250
39 BEGGI Cristian OPEN HONDA 480
Germany
40 NAGL Maximilian MX1 KTM
41 SCHIFFER Markus MX2 KTM
42 SCHRÖTER Dennis OPEN SUZUKI
Switzerland
43 BILL Julien MX1 YAMAHA
44 WALTHER Patrick MX2 YAMAHA 250
45 RISTORI Marc OPEN HONDA 490
Australia
46 REARDON Daniel MX1 KAWASAKI 450
47 METCALFE Brett MX2 YAMAHA 250
48 BOYD Cheyne OPEN YAMAHA 450
Canada
49 FACCIOTTI Colton MX1 KAWASAKI 450
50 DUBE Marco MX2 KTM 250
51 MORGAN Blair OPEN HONDA 450
Czech Republic
52 ZAREMBA Jan MX1 KTM 450
53 NEUGEBAUER Filip MX2 KAWASAKI 250
54 ZERAVA Martin OPEN HONDA 490
Sweden
55 LINDHE Jonny MX1 KTM 450
56 WING Jonas MX2 KTM 250
57 NILSSON Mats OPEN YAMAHA 450
Denmark
58 JORGENSEN Brian Kjaer MX1 HONDA 450
59 LARSEN Nikolaj MX2 KTM 250
60 JENSEN Bo Vang OPEN SUZUKI 450
Slovenia
61 MOZE Jaka MX1 HONDA 450
62 JELEN Roman MX2 KTM 250
63 KRAGELJ Saso OPEN YAMAHA 480
Ireland
64 CROCKARD Gordon MX1 HONDA 450
65 BARR Martin MX2 YAMAHA 250
66 McCULLOUGH Philip OPEN KTM 450
Austria
67 STAUFER Michael MX1 KTM 450
68 RINGHOFER Philipp MX2 KTM 125
69 REISINGER Oswald OPEN HONDA 450
Russia
70 TONKOV Vitaly MX1 YAMAHA 450
71 BOBRYSHEV Evgeny MX2 KTM 250
72 IVANYUTIN Alexander OPEN YAMAHA 482
Latvia
76 BOBKOVS Aigars MX1 HONDA 450
77 STEINBERGS Ivo MX2 YAMAHA 250
78 FREIBERGS Lauris OPEN SUZUKI 475
Hungary
79 NÈMETH Kornèl MX1 SUZUKI 450
80 BORKA Jànos MX2 KAWASAKI 250
81 CZUNI Làslò OPEN HONDA 450
Greece
82 PAPANIKOLAKIS Aleandros MX1 KAWASAKI 450
83 PANAGIOTOPOULOS Mihalis MX2 KTM 125
84 FOTOPOULOS Christos OPEN KAWASAKI 250
China
101 SU Wen Min MX1 HONDA 450
102 SHI Le MX2 HONDA 250
103 YAO Yao OPEN HONDA 450
29 Norway
104 BAKKE Ronny MX1 HONDA 450
105 GUNDERSEN Kenneth MX2 YAMAHA 250
106 AULISETHER Fredrik OPEN HONDA 450
Croatia
107 LELJAK Marko MX1 KTM 450
108 GOLUB Karlo MX2 YAMAHA 250
109 SIPEK Nenad OPEN YAMAHA 460
Slovakia
110 BUCENEC Tomas MX1 KTM 450
111 KOHUT Martin MX2 HONDA 250
112 KULHAVY Josef OPEN KAWASAKI 250
Issued by: G2F T: + 44 (0) 161 763 6660 F: + 44 (0) 161 763 6663 E: worldpress@g2f.co.uk