One hit wonders
By Alex Hodgkinson on 20th May 10
Things are looking up for Britain in world motocross! Shaun Simpson took his first podium of 2010 at Bellpuig, but it could even have been the win if he hadnt lost the front end on a table-top at the start of race two.
Jake Nicholls snatched a career first GP top six, Zach Osborne had the speed if not the luck, Nat Kane just missed the podium in the Ladies Series and Evgeny Bobryshev continues to shake up the front runners in MX1. And add in points for Matiss Karro, Gareth Swanepoel and Josh Coppins on a day of furious action when Germany were the big losers at the end of the day.
"There were actually more lines this year,” reckoned Simpson. "The problem was, most of the alternatives were just as fast as each other.” Indeed the big uphill triple didn't save anything on time, as MX2 first moto winner Ken Roczen proved by taking it two-and-one all race. "The biggest gain was that you got over the braking bumps,” grinned Simpson.
Passing was still a rarity around the Spanish hillside, but it was possible, especially for Roczen.
"Lappers got in the way when I got both Frossard and Herlings, but they would have been no problem. I was cruising,” grinned a happy Roczen after turning his pre-race aim – "I need to start winning” – into reality in the opening moto.
Errors dropped precocious teenager Jeff Herlings off the pace in the end, though the ebullient Steven Frossard stayed on Roczen to the close as Marvin Musquin emerged as the big loser of the race.
Chasing Roczen in fifth on lap one, the champion nailed Osborne's fallen bike on lap two and was pushed back down to 17th. The Frenchman quickly gobbled back up ten slots, but that was the end of the road as Simpson held his team-mate in check.
The Scot had advanced quickly from eighth to fifth, before meeting his own personal road block in comeback boy Gautier Paulin: "I caught him quickly, but just couldn't find a way past. Everyone was riding the same ruts and they were getting jittery. I tried to change lines, but my arms stiffened up and Roelants went past before I settled again. I managed to pass him back once but he came straight back at me and then I had to concentrate on keeping Marvin behind me.”
Nicholls had also pushed quickly into the top ten even though his gate bounced back up and fouled his front wheel: "That was a good race for me. I could run their pace and didn't lose places at the end.”
Mel Pocock was less happy after his gate did the same and was still stuck outside the points in 23rd at the flag.
Karro was again in the thick of things and came home 15th even though: "My clutch adjuster broke and I had too much free play in the tight corners. I should have got Lupino earlier. I was alongside once on the steps, but a lap later Osborne and Tonus were on us and it was me who lost places!”
With just a point separating the two title favourites before race two, the tension increased yet further as Musquin holeshot and Roczen immediately moved into his tyre tracks. Surging clear at a second a lap, the rivals gave promise of an epic duel to the finish, but no sooner had the German broken the 1-59 barrier as they simply went faster and faster, his Suzuki started to play up.
"It started missing, and in the end just stopped. I've no idea what it was,” admitted the devastated teenager. The team was still seeking the cause into the evening, but confirmed that a voltage drop was causing erratic sparks. Mechanic Marc Ver Paelen eventually rode the bike back to the pits, but it was misfiring and no way could Roczen have risked racing to the finish with so many jumps off the hillside.
Musquin came home alone to win the moto... and the GP as well, even though he was only seventh in race one! Frossard and Herlings had both gone down at turn one, the Dutch kid pulling out after another fall and several near misses.
Simpson had quickly moved to third – "I was even pulling in Roczen but I went for a tear-off on a table top and lost the front end.” Back >>> <<< on the bike in 11th, the Scot knuckled down to snatch fourth at the end with a series of laps faster than anyone bar the leaders.
Nicholls was again a revelation, quickly getting into the top six and only surrendering a place to Simpson all moto: "It's getting better all the time. I've actually been riding with a problem in my right leg since Hawkstone and that was troubling me at the end, but I go to get it seen to this week.”
Osborne had again been flying and was up to third until a main bearing went. "Not one of the Cosworth parts!” Steve Dixon pointed out. Pocock again raced outside the points, but Karro again added to his score with a battling 14th from 27th on lap one.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 5 – Bellpuig, SPAIN
1 Tanel Leok (EW - LS Honda) 14 + 25 = 39
2 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Rinaldi Yam) 22 + 16 = 38
3 Max Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 12 = 37
4 Toni Cairoli (I - Red Bull KTM) 15 + 20 = 35
5 Clement Desalle (B - Teka Suzuki) 20 + 15 = 35
6 Ken DeDycker (B - Monster Ricci Yamaha) 13 + 18 = 31
7 Xavier Boog (F - KRTE Kawasaki) 8 + 22 = 30
8 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Monster CAS Honda) 16 + 11 = 27
9 Anthony Boissiere (F - TM) 18 + 7 = 25
10 Kevin Strijbos (B - Teka Suzuki) 10 + 13 = 23
11 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki) 6+14=20, 12 Josh Coppins (NZ - Aprilia) 7+8=15, 13 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM) 5+9=14, 14 Alvaro Lozano (E - Yamaha) 9+5=14, 15 Nicolas Aubin (F - Bud Kawasaki) 12+0=12, 16 Davide Guarneri (I - LS Honda) 11+0=11, 17 Gareth Swanepoel (ZA - Monster CAS Honda) 0+10=10, 18 Cedric Soubeyras (F - Sarholz KTM) 4+6=10, 19 Julien Bill (CH - JK Datch Aprilia) 0+4=4, 20 Filip Neugebauer (CZ - Kawasaki) 1+3=4, 21 Matteo Bonini (I - 3C Yamaha) 3+0=3, 22 Kevin Wouts (B - Sturm Kawasaki) 0+2=2, 23 Gunther Schmidinger (A - Delta Suzuki) 2+0=2, 24 Mathias Walkner (A - Hillinger KTM) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Nagl, 2 Philippaerts, 3 Desalle, 4 Boissiere, 5 Bobryshev, 6 Cairoli, 7 Tanel Leok, 8 DeDycker, 9 Aubin, 10 Guarneri, 11 Strijbos, 12 Lozano, 13 Boog, 14 Coppins, 15 Ramon, 16 Goncalves, 17 Soubeyras, 18 Bonini, 19 Schmidinger, 20 Neugebauer.
RACE TWO: 1 Tanel Leok, 2 Boog, 3 Cairoli, 4 DeDycker, 5 Philippaerts, 6 Desalle, 7 Ramon, 8 Strijbos, 9 Nagl, 10 Bobryshev, 11 Swanepoel, 12 Goncalves, 13 Coppins, 14 Boissiere, 15 Soubeyras, 16 Lozano, 17 Bill, 18 Neugebauer, 19 Wouts, 20 Walkner.
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 15) rounds: 1 Cairoli 214 points, 2 Nagl 198, 3 Philippaerts 171, 4 Desalle 158, 5 DeDycker 145, 6 Ramon 144, 7 Boog 136, 8 Tanel Leok 135, 9 Bobryshev 106, 10 Guarneri 84, 11 Coppins 78, 12 Pourcel 75, 13 Strijbos 70, 14 Swanepoel 67, 15 Boissiere 62, 16 Albertson 59, 17 Barragan 56, 18 Monni 46, 19 De Reuver 40, 20 Goncalves 38,... 25 CHURCH 11,...
NEXT ROUND: May 30 – Glen Helen, California, USA.
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 5 – Bellpuig, SPAIN
1 Marvin Musquin (F - Red Bull KTM) 14 + 25 = 39
2 Joel Roelants (B - JM KTM) 16 + 22 = 38
3 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Red Bull KTM) 15 + 18 = 33
4 Steven Frossard (F - Monster CLS Kawasaki) 22 + 10 = 32
5 Gautier Paulin (F - Monster Rinaldi Yamaha) 18 + 11 = 29
6 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - HMP Red Bull KTM) 12 + 16 = 28
7 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - Monster CLS Kaw) 13 + 14 = 27
8 Harri Kullas (SF - Gariboldi Yamaha) 11 + 15 = 26
9 Alessandro Lupino (I - Ricci Yamaha) 5 + 20 = 25
10 Ken Roczen (D - Teka Suzuki) 25 + 0 = 25
11 Valentin Teillet (F - HDI KTM) 10+13=23, 12 Jeff Herlings (NL - Red Bull KTM) 20+0=20, 13 Dennis Verbruggen (B - JM KTM) 7+12=19, 14 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Teka Suzuki) 8+6=14, 15 Matiss Karro (LAT - MVR-D Suzuki) 6+7=13, 16 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - SRS Honda) 3+8=11, 17 Hugo Dagod (F - KTM) 0+9=9, 18 Zach Osborne (US - BikeIt Cosworth Yamaha) 9+0=9, 19 Ceriel Klein Kromhof (NL - Van Beers Yamaha) 0+5=5, 20 Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS - ESTA Suzuki) 0+4=4, 21 Axel Alletru (F - JM KTM) 1+3=4, 22 Nick Triest (B - Shineray KTM) 4+0=4, 23 Augusts Justs (LAT - Elksni Honda) 0+2=2, 24 Petr Smitka (CZ - Sarholz KTM) 2+0=2, 25 Khounsith Vongsana (F - TM) 0+1=1.
RACE TWO: 1 Musquin, 2 Roelants, 3 Lupino, 4 SIMPSON, 5 NICHOLLS, 6 Kullas, 7 Van Horebeek, 8 Teillet, 9 Verbruggen, 10 Paulin, 11 Frossard, 12 Dagod, 13 Larsen, 14 Karro, 15 Tonus, 16 Klein Kromhof, 17 Tonkov, 18 Alletru, 19 Justs, 20 Vongsana.
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 15) rounds: 1 Musquin 218 points, 2 Roczen 192, 3 Herlings 184, 4 Frossard 165, 5 SIMPSON 138, 6 Tonus 130, 7 Van Horebeek 128, 8 Osborne 123, 9 Roelants 118, 10 Kullas 109, 11 NICHOLLS 104, 12 Christophe Charlier 81, 13 Verbruggen 79, 14 Lupino 70, 15 Karro 53, 16 Larsen 45, 17 Teillet 38, 18 Paulin 29, 19 POCOCK 29, 20 Smitka 29,... 35 ALLINGHAM 2,...
NEXT ROUND: May 30 – Glen Helen, California, USA.
WORLD LADIES MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – Bellpuig, SPAIN
1 Stephanie Laier (D - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Livia Lancelot (F - KTM) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Larissa Papenmeier (D - Teka Suzuki) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Natalie KANE (IRE - HMP Red Bull KTM) 16 + 18 = 34
5 Elien De Winter (B - KTM) 15 + 14 = 29
6 Marielle De Mol (NL - Yamaha) 13 + 15 = 28
7 Chiara Fontanesi (I - Yamaha) 10+16=26, 8 Maria Franke (D - KTM) 18+5=23, 9 Justine Charroux (F - Yamaha) 12+9=21, 10 Elin Mann (S - KTM) 6+13=19, 11 Francesca Nocera (I - Honda) 7+12=19, 12 Nicky Van Wordragen (NL - Yamaha) 8+11=19, 13 Sara Pettersson (S - KTM) 9+7=16, 14 Shirley Verkade (NL - KTM) 5+10=15, 15 Nikki Scott (NZ - KTM) 14+0=14, 16 Manon Giroix (F - Yamaha) 4+8=12, 17 Marianne Veenstra (NL - Suzuki) 11+0=11, 18 Britt Van der Wekken (NL - Honda) 3+4=7, 19 Virginie Germond (CH - Suzuki) 0+6=6, 20 Morane De Barquin (B - KTM) 1+3=4, 21 Filippa Jonasson (S - KTM) 0+2=2, 22 Gabriela Seisdedos (E - Kawasaki) 2+0=2, 23 Kim Irmgartz (D - Yamaha) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Laier, 2 Lancelot, 3 Papenmeier, 4 Franke, 5 KANE, 6 De Winter, 7 Scott, 8 De Mol, 9 Charroux, 10 Veenstra, 11 Fontanesi, 12 Pettersson, 13 Van Wordragen, 14 Nocera, 15 Mann, 16 Verkade, 17 Giroix, 18 Van der Wekken, 19 Seisdedos, 20 De Barquin.
RACE TWO: 1 Laier, 2 Lancelot, 3 Papenmeier, 4 KANE, 5 Fontanesi, 6 De Mol, 7 De Winter, 8 Mann, 9 Nocera, 10 Van Wordragen, 11 Verkade, 12 Charroux, 13 Giroix, 14 Pettersson, 15 Germond, 16 Franke, 17 Van der Wekken, 18 De Barquin, 19 Jonasson, 20 Irmgartz.
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 7) rounds: 1 Laier 145 points, 2 Lancelot 120, 3 Franke 103, 4 KANE 102, 5 Papenmeier 99, 6 Fontanesi 98, 7 De Mol 75, 8 Mann 72, 9 De Winter 70, 10 Van Wordragen 54, 11 Borchers 43, 12 Veenstra 42, 13 Nocera 40, 14 Verkade 38, 15 Scott 37, 16 Fiolek 33, 17 Charroux 33, 18 Van der Wekken 32, 19 Pettersson 26, 20 Giroix 16,... 24 PAULL 4,...
NEXT ROUND: June 6 – St Jean d'Angely, FRANCE.
For full report and pictures, see T+MX News May 21.
