Toni marches on!
By TMX Archives on 1st Aug 07
EVEN a broken finger couldn't slow down Toni Cairoli's relentless march towards the world MX2 title, but Josh Coppins has got a sweat on after landing on his shoulder at round 11 of the championship at Loket on Sunday and going home pointless.
Tommy Searle grabbed another podium to close towithin 20 points of Tyla Rattray for the MX2 class bronze medal andStephen Sword was an astounding fourth in his third GP back from a yearoff. Billy MacKenzie, Gareth Swanepoel and Ken De Dycker all ended theday in the top 10 and James Noble, Martin Barr and Jason Dougan allpiled up the points. Surprise, surprise, Mike Brown holeshot both MX1motos, and we got one new winner and one phoenix from the ashes as NicoAubin fended off Toni C's second race charge and Kevin Strijboscelebrated his impending release from Suzuki with a resounding doubleat the track where he scored his maiden win two years ago.
MX2
The weather was miserable and the racing too,initially, but the fastest ice cream salesman in the west wasn'tworried as he gave the east a glimpse of his skills.
Toni Cairoli holeshot and led throughout in thefirst MX2 moto, but the Sicilian couldn't, indeed he never tried to,shake off Aubin for 40 minutes.
The track flows pretty good so I didn't need theclutch so much and that protected my broken finger,'' he reckoned afterthe first moto. But I didn't push to increase my lead. It wasenough.''
The spectacular but initially flat track did notencourage much passing for most of the race, the most common cause ofpositional changes coming when riders got caught out by a slipperypatch as occasional squalls of rain spattered the polished surface.Dougan was one who was caught out as he sacrificed a scoring ride whenthe front wheel washed out.
Searle ran down Leuret to make third place securewithin 10 minutes, but continually lost ground to the leaders: Iwasn't getting tired, but I've felt drained all weekend. Third wasgood.''
MX1
FAENZA winner, Seb Pourcel, sat on pole onSaturday, but Coppins was satisfied with sixth: I've won GP's fromsixth and seventh this year. Both times I set pole I lost.''
The big boys got the worst of the weather allweekend, and the track, gradually getting bumpier and naturallyslippier in the rain, became a handful on a 450.
All started well for Josh as he sat third behindBrown and Barragan, but it all went wrong at 15 minutes as the CASHonda American pumped up after setting the suspension too hard and allhell let loose amongst the train on his tail.
It was a whole lap before anyone could follow theSpaniard through, and in that time Jonathan had built up an eightsecond lead. The race was his, but he pushed too hard, went over aberm, and was back in fourth.
Coppins was already gone. With a charging Strijbosalongside, the series leader suddenly had no anchor; a stone had lodgedin the rear brake mechanism and, by the time it was removed, he hadlost a lap and any chance of points.
It should have been the signal for Steve Ramon totake advantage: No such luck. Barragan lost it on the take-off andjumped sideways. I was already committed and couldn't miss him. Thebike was a wreck, I couldn't do anymore than keep station after gettingback on ninth.''
The KTM was in a worse state, silencer hanging offand shock demolished, but Philippaerts took up the cause and chasedStrijbos, now leading, to the flag.
De Dycker performed his usual array of glancesbehind and arm shaking on his way forward to third, and Pourcel, whohad gone down after clipping Ramon's rear wheel at turn one, got towithin 10 seconds of the pace but was still only sixth behind Bill andLeok.
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS Rd 11 - Loket, CZECH REPUBLIC
1 Nicolas Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Antonio Cairoli (I - DeCarli Yamaha) 25 + 22 = 47
3 Tommy SEARLE (GB - Red Bull KTM) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Stephen SWORD (GB - Molson Kawasaki) 11 + 16 = 27
5 Christophe Pourcel (F - GPKR Kawasaki) 18 + 9 = 27
6 Jeremy Tarroux (F - JK Yamaha) 12 + 13 = 25
SERIES STANDINGS after 11 (of 15) rounds: 1 Cairoli 533 points, 2Pourcel 411, 3 Rattray 371, 4 SEARLE 351, 5 Leuret 320, 6 Swanepoel265, 7 Aubin 262, 8 Seistola 200, 9 Gundersen 197, 10 Boissiere 171, 11Schiffer 170, 12 Guarneri 154, 13 NUNN 143, 14 Boog 135, 15 Goncalves122, 16 CHURCH 97, 17 DOUGAN 81, 18 Bonini 79, 19 Verbruggen 78, 20Tarroux 77, 21 Hamblin 76, 22 Van Horebeek 70, 23 SIMPSON 67, 24 Monni66, 25 Frossard 58,...
NEXT ROUND: Aug 5 - Namur, BELGIUM.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS Rd 11 - Loket, CZECH REPUBLIC
1 Kevin Strijbos (B - Team Suzuki) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Sebastien Pourcel (F - GPKR Kawasaki) 15 + 22 = 37
3 David Philippaerts (I - Red Bull KTM) 22 + 12 = 34
4 Tanel Leok (EST - Kawasaki) 16 + 16 = 32
5 Julien Bill (CH - Delta Kawasaki ) 18 + 14 = 32
6 Steve Ramon (B - Team Suzuki) 12 + 18 = 30
SERIES STANDINGS after 11 (of 15) rounds: 1Coppins 445 points, 2 Ramon 368, 3 Pourcel 322, 4 Philippaerts 312, 5Strijbos 300, 6 Barragan 292, 7 T Leok 272, 8 Brown 272, 9 De Dycker267, 10 MacKENZIE 247, 11 NOBLE 212, 12 Priem 164, 13 De Reuver 156, 14Nemeth 139, 15 Bill 115, 16 Van Daele 109, 17 Nagl 107, 18 Renet 105,19 CROCKARD 102, 20 A Leok 92, 21 Desalle 77, 22 Allier 61, 23 Vanni42, 24 Salvini 42, 25 Atsuta 29,...
NEXT ROUND: Aug 5 - Namur, BELGIUM.
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, August 3, 2007.