ON THE KREST OF A WAVE
By TMX Archives on 6th Aug 08
IT WAS KTM's day again at Lommel on Sunday, but neither of their winners came out of the factory awning!Jonathan Barragan took his fourth victory of the year, and his third in a row, to move into serious contention for the MX1 title, while, 11-years after Avo Leok won the last real GP at the infamous, fearsome sand track in north-eastern Belgium, it was the turn of Gert Krestinov, another Estonian, to sensationally take the MX2 win as Orange monopolised the first six places. And just to make the fairy tale complete, Saturday, when he won his qualifier too, was Gert's 18th birthday!
In the most outrageous GP of the year, watched by a massive international crowd which packed both sides of the track for every inch of its length in true Belgian fashion as security staff finally gave up the hopeless task of keeping them behind the fences, there was stacks more going on too.
Marc De Reuver, with a brace fitted to his broken foot, came within five laps of MX1 victory, Ken De Dycker helped Suzuki team-mate Steve Ramon to the red plate by putting David Philippaerts on the ground, Billy MacKenzie salvaged top ten despite being dumped in the sand by an exhausted Josh Coppins, and the entire KTM spearhead of Tyla Rattray, Tommy Searle and Shaun Simpson landed in a heap exiting turn one in the second MX2 race. After frantic chases through the pack Tommy ended the day one point closer to the South African in the chase for gold.
The unrelenting sand had already reduced the visiting contingent during qualification, but Brad Anderson and Tom Church added to their scorecard in MX1, Zach Osborne made a commendable debut in MX2, Stephen Sword had a nightmare, and Jake Nicholls and Jason Dougan knuckled down to gain reward.
Estonian Gert Krestinov shocked the GP establishment with a surpirse win and the overal in MX2.
MX2
IT WAS already clear from qualification that KTM would dominate the class in the absence of Toni Cairoli, and all semblance of opposition disappeared when Erik Eggens and Dennis Verbruggen went down together at turn one of the opening moto.
The normally slick-starting Searle gated lamentably in both motos - I spun at the gate in the deep sand - but his advance to third was the signal for Rattray to stop playing games, take FIVE seconds out of leader Rui Goncalves in a lap and disappear over the still blue horizon: I didn't want to let Tommy get too close and follow. I had plenty in reserve all race, I saved a lot of energy for race two. Little did he realise at the time how much he would need it!
Simpson was another not to gate up to his usual standards, but the Scot stormed to third on 25 minutes before finally dropping back to fifth behind Goncalves and Joel Roelants: I pushed a little too early. We were all just saving a bit, and they had more energy than me at the end.
Krestinov had not been able to capitalise on his choice of gate, going down on the opening lap after contact with Roelants, and hitting the deck again mid-moto after regaining contact with the leading six.
Sword finally made it to 13th: I never got in a rhythm. Sand is not my favourite ground, but my injury stopped me preparing as I would have liked. I can ride better.
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 11 Lommel, BELGIUM
1 Gert Krestinov (EW - Favor KTM) 13 + 25 = 38
2 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM) 20 + 18 = 38
3 Tommy SEARLE (GB - Red Bull KTM) 22 + 15 = 37
4 Tyla Rattray (ZA - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 11 = 36
5 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - Champ KTM) 15 + 20 = 35
6 Joel Roelants (B - Champ KTM) 18 + 16 = 34
7 Nicolas Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha) 9 + 22 = 31
8 Matti Seistola (F - SRS Honda) 11 + 14 = 25
9 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - KTM UK) 16 + 9 = 25
10 Davide Guarneri (I - Ricci Yamaha) 12 + 8 = 20
11 Steven Frossard (F - CLS Kawasaki) 14+5=19, 12 Anthony Boissiere (F - HDI KTM) 6+10=16, 13 Manuel Monni (I - 3C Yamaha) 10+6=16, 14 Zach Osbourne (US - Yamaha) 0+13=13, 15 Xavier Boog (F - Inotec Suzuki) 1+12=13, 16 Stephen SWORD (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 8+0=8, 17 Dennis Verbruggen (B - Shineray Yamaha) 0+7=7, 18 Francisco Millan (E - Champ KTM) 7+0=7, 19 Kerjan Brakke (NL - Honda) 5+1=6, 20 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Swift Suzuki) 2+3=5, 21 Rob Van Vijfeijken (NL - Van Vijfeijken Yamaha) 0+4=4, 22 Jason DOUGAN (GB - Suso Suzuki) 4+0=4, 23 Jordi Paez Dominguez (NL - Honda) 3+0=3, 24 Alessandro Lupino (I - Red Bull Yamaha) 0+2=2.
RACE ONE: 1 Rattray, 2 SEARLE, 3 Goncalves, 4 Roelants, 5 SIMPSON, 6 Van Horebeek, 7 Frossard, 8 Krestinov, 9 Guarneri, 10 Seistola, 11 Monni, 12 Aubin, 13 SWORD, 14 Millan, 15 Boissiere, 16 Brakke, 17 DOUGAN, 18 Dominguez, 19 NICHOLLS, 20 Boog.
RACE TWO: 1 Krestinov, 2 Aubin, 3 Van Horebeek, 4 Goncalves, 5 Roelants, 6 SEARLE, 7 Seistola, 8 Osbourne, 9 Boog, 10 Rattray, 11 Boissiere, 12 SIMPSON, 13 Guarneri, 14 Verbruggen, 15 Monni, 16 Frossard, 17 Van Vijfeijken, 18 NICHOLLS, 19 Lupino, 20 Brakke.
SERIES STANDINGS after 11 (of 15) rounds: 1 Rattray 452 points, 2 SEARLE 432, 3 Cairoli 357, 4 SIMPSON 312, 5 Goncalves 279, 6 Aubin 274, 7 Van Horebeek 232, 8 Boog 224, 9 Frossard 215, 10 Monni 203, 11 SWORD 178, 12 Boissiere 174, 13 Marvin Musquin 173, 14 Guarneri 153, 15 Tarroux 140, 16 Roelants 133, 17 Aranda 101, 18 Paulin 95, 19 NUNN 73, 20 Krestinov 73, 23 Eggens 51,
NEXT ROUND: Aug 10 Loket, CZECH REPUBLIC.
MX1
FORTY minutes MX1 at Lommel is pure hell and nobody was going to take off like a scalded cat.
Max Nagl even admitted during the interval that he had ridden too conservatively in the opening laps but his last lap charge on a sick Coppins only failed by inches, and the only man who read it right was De Reuver.
Content to sit no higher than fifth for half the race, the Dutchman, who had broken his foot practising at Lommel 19-days earlier, was masterful: I just kept my eye on Ramon. I could look across from the table top opposite the pit lane and he didn't pull away, so I didn't have to rush.
When Ramon crashed Marc dropped his lap times by two seconds and was leading within three laps. Then potential disaster. I stalled and Barragan got back in front. I couldn't play around, he's the fittest guy in MX1, but I got him again the next lap and kept it going. I lost a week's training when I had the plaster on my foot, but I've still got something left for race two.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 11 Lommel, BELGIUM
1 Jonathan Barragan (E - Silver Action KTM) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki) 20 + 20 = 40
3 Maximilian Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 15 + 22 = 37
4 Marc De Reuver (NL - Martin Honda) 25 + 11 = 36
5 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki) 18 + 16 = 34
6 Sebastien Pourcel (F - GPKR Kawasaki) 14 + 18 = 32
7 Josh Coppins (NZ - Monster Yamaha) 16 + 13 = 29
8 Kornel Nemeth (H - Sarholz KTM) 10 + 14 = 24
9 Billy MacKENZIE (GB - Monster Honda) 12 + 10 = 22
10 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Yamaha) 6 + 15 = 21
11 Aigar Leok (EW - Van Beers Yamaha) 9+12=21, 12 Clement Desalle (B - Inotec Suzuki) 13+4=17, 13 Patrick Roos (NL - Pater KTM) 8+5=13, 14 Manuel Priem (B - Kawasaki Europe) 11+2=13, 15 Tanel Leok (EW - Kawasaki Europe) 3+8=11, 16 Brad ANDERSON (GB - Swift Suzuki) 1+9=10, 17 Danny Theybers (B - MTM Suzuki) 5+3=8, 18 Julien Bill (CH - Martin Honda) 0+7=7, 19 Cedric Melotte (B - Team Aprilia) 7+0=7, 20 Tom CHURCH (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 0+6=6, 21 William Saris (NL - Yamaha) 4+0=4, 22 Marcus Schiffer (D - Sarholz KTM) 2+0=2, 23 Loic Leonce (F - JK Yamaha) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 De Reuver, 2 Barragan, 3 De Dycker, 4 Ramon, 5 Coppins, 6 Nagl, 7 Pourcel, 8 Desalle, 9 MacKENZIE, 10 Priem, 11 Nemeth, 12 Aigar Leok, 13 Roos, 14 Melotte, 15 Philippaerts, 16 Theybers, 17 Saris, 18 Tanel Leok, 19 Schiffer, 20 ANDERSON.
RACE TWO: 1 Barragan, 2 Nagl, 3 De Dycker, 4 Pourcel, 5 Ramon, 6 Philippaerts, 7 Nemeth, 8 Coppins, 9 Aigar Leok, 10 De Reuver, 11 MacKENZIE, 12 ANDERSON, 13 Tanel Leok, 14 Bill, 15 CHURCH, 16 Roos, 17 Desalle, 18 Theybers, 19 Priem, 20 Leonce.
SERIES STANDINGS after 11 (of 15) rounds: 1 Ramon 362 points, 2 Philippaerts 360, 3 Coppins 345, 4 De Dycker 336, 5 Barragan 331, 6 Pourcel 306, 7 Nagl 290, 8 MacKENZIE 257, 9 Tanel Leok 245, 10 De Reuver 214, 11 Desalle 190, 12 Priem 173, 13 Bill 148, 14 Nemeth 139, 15 Aigar Leok 118, 16 Brown 107, 17 Schiffer 97, 18 NOBLE 93, 19 CHURCH 72, 20 Boniface 63, 25 Chiodi 31,
NEXT ROUND: Aug 10 Loket, CZECH REPUBLIC.
VETS
DAVID Thorpe surrendered his World Cup title to Peter Iven, but was still smiling at the end of the day despite not making the podium: I actually enjoyed it, but I don't think I would have wanted to go two seconds a lap faster. I crashed this morning and the bike hit a lady marshall and broke her leg. That's not fun.
Clear winner of both motos was Toine Van Dijk: 20-minutes plus two laps is hard for old people round here. I fell off three times yesterday and concentrated on staying on today.
WORLD VETERAN MOTOCROSS CUP
Rd 3 Lommel, BELGIUM
1 Toine Van Dijk (NL - Suzuki) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Jan Blancquaert (B - Kawasaki) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Peter Iven (B - Kawasaki) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Greg HANSON (GB - CCM) 16 + 18 = 34
5 Dave THORPE (GB - Honda) 18 + 16 = 34
6 Chris Jacobs (B - Suzuki) 14 + 15 = 29
7 Scott EASTWOOD (GB - Honda) 15 + 13 = 28
8 Erwin Gabriel (B - Yamaha) 13 + 14 = 27
9 Soren Moller Ebessen (DK - Suzuki) 10 + 12 = 22
10 Johan Aerts (B - Yamaha) 11 + 11 = 22
11 Peter Bergsma (NL - KTM) 12+8=20, 12 Janis Mironovs (LAT - KTM) 8+10=18, 13 Thierry Godfroid (B - Kawasaki) 9+9=18, 14 Chuck Sun (US - Honda) 7+6=13, 15 Maris Feldmanis (LAT - Kawasaki) 5+7=12, 16 Bogomir Gajser (SLO - KTM) 3+4=7, 17 Albert Mellendijk (NL - KTM) 6+0=6, 18 Terry HOUSE (GB - Suzuki) 0+5=5, 19 Petr Dokoupil (CZ - Yamaha) 2+3=5, 20 Jyri Makarov (EW - Honda) 4+0=4, 21 Leandre Casas (E - Kawasaki) 1+2=3, 22 Mark SILVESTER (GB - Yamaha) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Van Dijk, 2 Blancquaert, 3 Iven, 4 THORPE, 5 HANSON, 6 EASTWOOD, 7 Jacobs, 8 Gabriel, 9 Bergsma, 10 Aerts, 11 Moller Ebessen, 12 Godfroid, 13 Mironovs, 14 Sun, 15 Mellendijk, 16 Feldmanis, 17 Makarov, 18 Gajser, 19 Dokoupil, 20 Casas.
RACE TWO: 1 Van Dijk, 2 Blancquaert, 3 Iven, 4 HANSON, 5 THORPE, 6 Jacobs, 7 Gabriel, 8 EASTWOOD, 9 Moller Ebessen, 10 Aerts, 11 Mironovs, 12 Godfroid, 13 Bergsma, 14 Feldmanis, 15 Sun, 16 HOUSE, 17 Gajser, 18 Dokoupil, 19 Casas, 20 SILVESTER.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Peter Iven 122 points (CHAMPION), 2 Toine Van Dijk 117, 3 Dave THORPE 102, 4 Blancquaert 100, 5 EASTWOOD 85, 6 HANSON 85, 7 Godfroid 81, 8 Jacobs 81, 9 Mironovs 54, 10 Bergsma 43, 11 Simon 41, 12 Sun 41, 13 HOUSE 35, 14 Makarov 33, 15 Gabriel 27, 16 Feldmanis 26, 17 Ducis 26, 18 Dokoupil 24, 19 Aerts 22, 20 Bartoll-Loiselet 22,
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008