USA Don the stars
By TMX Archives on 2nd Oct 08
TOMMY Searle, Billy MacKenzie and Shaun Simpson gave their all and came within an ace of snatching the Peter Chamberlain Trophy from the all-conquering Americans before savagely missing the podium at the death to Belgium, while the French were even more unlucky, a tyre defect costing them a sensational victory.
The promised sunshine never appeared on race day and drizzle from mid-morning to mid-afternoon made the track treacherous in all three motos, but the stars of world motocross went at it hammer and tongs in all three 35-minute motos with Sebastien Pourcel eventually the most successful individual on the day.
World champ, David Philippaerts, stormed to the front at the start of the opening moto, which matched the MX1 and MX2 riders up against each other.
James Stewart, who had walked away with the qualifier on Saturday, was immediately in the Italian's rear wheel, but he needed three laps to find a way through, leaping past in the centre of the arena after building momentum through a rhythm section.
But the Americans were not the early leaders. Villopoto had been gifted fifth on the opening lap when Max Nagl misjudged a jump, but clearly expected cotton wool treatment as he cut across Pourcel in the following turn: "I got blown out from behind.”
The more secure Frenchman explained: "I jumped the triple, he was on the left and switched to the right at the last moment. I tried to brake, but I was already having problems with my clutch.”
The Frenchman came out of it all pretty unscathed, but a host of riders were brought down, the only significant victims being Villopoto and Nagl however. By the finish they were tenth and 13th.
With MacKenzie seventh and Searle tenth Britain disputed the early lead in the team stakes with Italy and then France, but both were finding it hard to advance.
"They were manic first few laps,” explained the Scot. "It was so slippery in the drizzle.” At the close he demoted Josh Coppins from sixth, and, with Searle advancing one place to lead home the MX2 boys when Rattray dumped it mid-moto, Britain held third spot, two points down on the French ad a further two on the Americans.
It could have been much closer had Tommy nailed a couple of the 450s which he had in his sights by the end on a heavy track which was most definitely favouring the big bikes at this stage.
The MX1 boys got a rest now, but the MX2 class had to come out again after just 45-minutes break to tackle the ‘Open' class riders, most of whom, other than Simpson, were on 450s.
And it was Cody Cooper, already a winner during the Qualifying race on Saturday, who led away, but he was soon tracked down by first Villopoto, given the inside gate by team-manager Roger DeCoster, and then Boissiere, as Searle again had to come out of the pack.
As in race one, it took the Brit several laps to settle, but, once on it, he was hauling them in by the lap. With Boissiere struggling to the finish 18th as his tubeless front tyre lost its hold, Tommy surged past Salvini and Cooper to miss adding Ramon to his scalp by a bikes' length.
Simpson too was giving it his all, converting his first lap 28th into a highly respectable 15th, but this was always going to be the discard score for the Brits as the track got rougher and team-manager Mark Eastwood declared: "I didn't expect the track to be so fast, the third moto will be better for a 250.”
MOTOCROSS des NATIONS
Donington Park, Leicestershire, BRITAIN
FINAL STANDINGS (Nations): 1 USA 26 points, 2 France 31, 3 Belgium 41, 4 GREAT BRITAIN 42, 5 Italy 45, 6 Australia 55, 7 Spain 58, 8 New Zealand 63, 9 Switzerland 82, 10 Germany 96, 11 Finland 98, 12 Estonia 103, 13 Canada 107, 14 Brazil 113, 15 Republic of South Africa 117, 16 Latvia 143, 17 Japan 160, 18 Netherlands 164, 19 Puerto Rico 100, 20 Denmark 134.
RACE ONE (MX1/ MX2): 1 James Stewart (US - Kaw), 2 Sebastien Pourcel (F - Kaw), 3 David Philippaerts (I - Yam), 4 Jonathan Barragan (E - KTM), 5 Julien Bill (CH - Hon), 6 Billy MacKENZIE (GB - Hon), 7 Josh Coppins (NZ - Yam), 8 Ken De Dycker (B - Suz), 9 Tommy SEARLE (GB - KTM), 10 Ryan Villopoto (US - Kaw), 11 Anthony Boissiere (F - KTM), 12 Chad Reed (AUS - Suz), 13 Maximilian Nagl (D - KTM), 14 Manuel Monni (I - Yam), 15 Carlos Campano (E - Yam), 16 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KTM), 17 Brett Metcalfe (AU - Kaw), 18 Arnaud Tonus (CH - KTM), 19 Antti Pyrhonen (SF - Hon), 20 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Hon), 21 Colton Facciotti (CAN - Yam), 22 Gert Krestinov (EW - KTM), 23 Harri Kullas (SF - KTM), 24 Tyla Rattray (ZA - KTM), 25 Scott Columb (NZ - Suz), 26 Leandro Nunes da Silva (BR - Hon), 27 Hiroaki Arai (J - Kaw), 28 Manuel Chittaro (D - KTM), 29 Ceriel Klein Kromhof (NL - KTM), 30 Lauris Freibergs (LA - Yam), 31 Wellington Garcia Matos (BR - Hon), 32 Tyler Medaglia (CAN - Suz), 33 Marc De Reuver (NL - Hon), 34 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Suz), 35 Tarah Gieger (PUR - Yam), 36 Tanel Leok (EW - Kaw), 37 Matiss Karro (LA - Hon), 38 Yoshiki Kitai (J - Suz).
RACE TWO (MX2/ Open): 1 Villopoto (US), 2 Steve Ramon (B - Suz), 3 SEARLE (GB), 4 Cody Cooper (NZ - Suz), 5 Alex Salvini (I - Suz), 6 Osborne (PUR), 7 Nicolas Aubin (F - Yam), 8 Michael Byrne (AUS - Suz), 9 Tim Ferry (US - Kaw), 10 Metcalfe (AUS), 11 Monni (I), 12 Antonio Jorge Balbi Jr (BR - Hon), 13 Van Horebeek (B), 14 Campano (E), 15 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - KTM), 16 Juss Laansoo (EW - Yam), 17 Dusty Klatt (CAN - Kaw), 18 Boissiere (F), 19 Matti Seistola (SF - Hon), 20 Alvaro Lozano (E - KTM), 21 Tonus (CH), 22 Medaglia (CAN), 23 Karro (LA), 24 Kullas (SF), 25 Rattray (ZA), 26 Chittaro (D), 27 Herjan Brakke (NL - Hon), 28 Daniel Siegl (D - Suz), 29 Rasmus Jorgensen (DK - Suz), 30 Kerim Fitzgerald (ZA - Hon), 31 Gregory Wicht (CH - Yam), 32 Davis Livs (LA - Yam), 33 Garcia Matos (BR), 34 Krestinov (EW), 35 Gieger (PUR), 36 Yohei Kojima (J - Suz), 37 Kitai (J), 38 Columb (NZ), 39 Larsen (DK).
RACE THREE (MX1/ Open): 1 Pourcel (F), 2 Leok (EW), 3 Nagl (D), 4 De Dycker (B), 5 Ferry (US), 6 Coppins (NZ), 7 Seb Pourcel (F), 8 Reed (AUS), 9 Barragan (E), 10 Aubin (F), 11 MacKENZIE (GB), 12 Salvini (I), 13 SIMPSON (GB), 14 Ramon (B), 15 Facciotti (CAN), 16 Lozano (E), 17 Seistola (SF), 18 Bradshaw (ZA), 19 Jorge Balbi Jr (BR), 20 Pyrhonen (SF), 21 Cooper (NZ), 22 Philippaerts (I), 23 Stewart (US), 24 Osborne (PU), 25 Nunes da Silva (BR), 26 Siegl (D), 27 Kojima (J), 28 Freibergs (LA), 29 Laansoo (ES), 30 Livs (LA), 31 Wicht (CH), 32 Jorgensen (DK), 33 Arai (J), 34 Fitzgerald (ZA), 35 Klatt (CAN), 36 Byrne (AUS), 37 Brakke (NL), 38 De Reuver (NL).
TOP MX1 CLASS SCORERS: 1 Pourcel 3, 2 de Dycker 12, 3 Bill 12, 4 Coppins 13, 5 Barragan 13, 6 Nagl 16, 7 Mackenzie 17, 8 Reed 20, 9 Stewart 24, 10 Philippaerts 25.
TOP MX2 CLASS SCORERS: 1 Villopoto 11, 2 Searle 12, 3 Monni 25, 4 Metcalfe 27, 5 van Horebeek 29, 6 Campano 29, 7 Boissiere 29, 8 Tonus 39, 9 Kullas 47, 10 Rattray 49.
TOP OPEN SCORERS: 1 Ferry 14, 2 Ramon 16, 3 Aubin 17, 4 Salvini 17, 5 Cooper 25, 6 Simpson 28, 7 Osborne 30, 8 Jorge Balbi Jr 31, 9 Lozano 36, 10 Seistola 36.
MOTOCROSS des NATIONS
Donington Park, Leicestershire, BRITAIN
B FINAL (Nations): 1 Brazil 9, 2 IRELAND 12, 3 Russia 14, 4 Sweden 16, 5 Portugal 17, 6 Czech Republic 19, 7 Slovenia 21, 8 Norway 35, 9 Lithuania 49, 10 Slovakia 50, 11 Iceland 51, 12 Venezuela 58, 13 Mongolia 64.
B FINAL (Individuals): 1 Martin BARR (IRE - Yam), 2 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Yam), 3 Martin Zerava (CZ - Hon), 4 Antonio Jorge Balbi Jr (BR - Hon), 5 Leandro Nunes da Silva (BR - Hon), 6 Johan Carlsson (S - Suz), 7 Mateuz Irt (SLO - Yam), 8 Luis Correira (P - Suz), 9 Paulo Goncalves (P - Hon), 10 Andreas Hultman (S - Suz), 11 Stuart EDMONDS (IRL - Suz), 12 Sergey Astaykin (RUS - KTM), 13 Hugo Basaula (P - Suz), 14 Saso Kragelj (SLO - Yam), 15 Vitaly Tonkov (RUS - Yam), 16 Jiri Cepelak (CZE - Yam), 17 Fredrik Aulisether (N - Hon), 18 Remi Nyegaard (N - Hon), 19 Filip Thuresson (S - Suz), 20 Tomas Bucenec (SVK - Hon).
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008
Shaun Simpson (KTM) was on the ball as he helped his Great Britain team-mates to fourth overall.