Young gun Teuts to thrill
By TMX Archives on 25th Jun 09
EVEN the weather was perfect, enthused club president Joachim Jahnke on Sunday evening, The best crowd we've had for years, not too hot, not too cold, and a bit of rain between races to dampen the track.It was the crowning glory for the Teutschenthal crew as they welcomed two German winners, a moto victory in the third class, and a roar of approval when the Motocross des Nations was announced for 2013 as part of a new six-year contract.And the race will go down in history, as Ken Roczen became the youngest GP winner ever, knocking more than a year off Dave Strijbos' record, which had stood for a quarter of a century.The Teka Suzuki teenager didn't win either MX2 moto, but no one could deny that the 15-year-old was the best on the day.The UK challenge continues to wilt. Natalie Kane's fourth overall and Jake Nicholls' first moto ninth place were the only highlights, though Tom Church scored twice and the British male contingent was reduced to six by mid-afternoon on Sunday as Billy MacKenzie had to give up the unequal struggle against his lingering thumb injury.Report and Pictures: ALEX HODGKINSON EVEN the Teka Suzuki team were bemused by Roczen's success, team manager Thomas Ramsbacher admitting: "The step Ken has made is unbelievable. We were looking at this as a learning year, but he is already winning.”
In the first moto the 15-year-old moved up the leader-board with a series of thrilling thought-out passes – "It is never easy to pass here. You had to build the pass by switching lines through several turns and that is what I did!” – but by the time he hit second place Steven Frossard was gone.
The Frenchman looked a winner all weekend and inherited the lead when his pressure forced Marvin Musquin into a mistake. It was no surprise when the series leader went down. Put under pressure for the first time since his controversial switch to KTM, he was making mistakes and looking behind him long before the vital error. He got back on to finish sixth.
Out-gated for once by team-mate Rui Goncalves in race two, Musquin took over the leadership when the Portuguese bobbled, but he could never relax as Roczen, having quickly followed him past Goncalves, started to exert pressure.
"Ken obviously had better lines, so I didn't defend as he went for the pass,” admitted the Frenchman. "When I saw his lines I could pass him back.”
With Frossard down in fifth after two falls, Roczen was not about to put the GP victory in danger: "I could hear him pushing for the pass and I was afraid he might block-pass me, I might crash and lose the overall.
"It's incredible to win my first GP at only my fifth attempt, and here in Germany too. It hasn't really sunk in yet!”
Continuing his fine form from Hawkstone, Jake Nicholls was Britain's best. Ninth in race one after running as high as seventh, the KTM youngster was heading for an identical finish in race two until a single error dropped him to 14th. The GP was another unfortunate one for Stephen Sword. Twice the Scot found himself at the back of the pack after incidents on lap one, but had a spirited ride through the pack to 18th in race one.
Mel Pocock had a good pace in the opener, but was always outside the points after being pushed out at turn one when Lupino went down. He eventually chased the Italian home after the front wheel washed out at the bottom of one of the rapid descents on the switchback Talkessel.
THE first MX1 moto had the huge crowd on their feet in the thrilling closing laps.
After his patented holeshot Max Nagl led all the way, but Toni Cairoli had caught him on the final lap of the Saturday qualifier and, after initial difficulties getting through to second, was clearly biding his time for another assault in the closing stages.
Max: "I knew he was coming, but I was determined not to make the same mistake again. I pushed too hard, and I paid for it in the second moto – but I won that one!”
Toni: "I didn't want to let Max get away, but I wasted too much time getting passed Coppins early on. I tried to push at the end, but it was just too late.”
Race two was also all about Cairoli and Nagl, but the Italian soon took command.
However he could not pull away however and admitted: "The track was so rough by the pit boxes so I had to keep looking at the track, not my pit-board. But I knew if Max was getting closer again by the noise of the fans.”
In the end Nagl had to slacken his pace as the efforts of race one took their toll and Ken De Dycker came through to snatch second.
The big Belgian had had an unfortunate opening moto – "One of the lenses came out of my goggles and that made it difficult to pass.,” However he was riding with a vengeance in race two on a track he knows so well from his German championship days and swept inside Nagl four laps from the end to secure second spot, declaring proudly, and correctly: "It was a nice clean pass!”
That pass also gave De Dycker the final place on the podium after a three-way tie with David Philippaerts and Josh Coppins.
Josh had been third in race one, and, riding better than at any time this year, looked a cert for the podium as he chased down Philippaerts for fourth.
But then the Kiwi made an elementary mistake. He tried to pass the struggling champion on the outside... and ended up on the ground! In another remarkable recovery he was right back on his team-mate's rear wheel after a late pass on Clement Desalle.
In an outrageous finish Desalle tried desperately to re-pass Coppins on the line, jumping off the bike after failing by just a tenth of a second.
Tom Church was the only one of the UK's MX1 contingent who could be satisfied with his day, 14th overall from 13-15 motos after battling the track all day: "I had a big moment halfway through the race, side-swapping in the rhythm section. It took my breath away and I needed a couple of laps to settle down again.”
Fellow CCM teamster Jason Dougan salvaged three points in the end but was frustrated: "I got away 12th and lost the front wheel on the first lap.”
Bryan MacKenzie joined the duo in the points after passing cousin Billy late on.
The British champion simply couldn't hold on as he dropped out of the points from a top six start and he didn't not start race two: "There's no point in me carrying on like this. I need an operation on my thumb. I thought if I persevered it would clear up, but I just can't hold on. It was really bad here in the ‘G outs' as you sweep through the valley.” The Scot expects to return to action at Loket in August.
‘Irn Bry' and ‘Doogie' had no chance in the second encounter after being involved in the big pile-up at turn four which claimed the latest injury victim – Gert Krestinov with a dislocated shoulder.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 9 – Teutschenthal, GERMANY
1 Toni Cairoli (I - Red Bull DeCarli Yam) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Max Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 20 = 45
3 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki) 14 + 22 = 36
4 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Yam) 18 + 18 = 36
5 Josh Coppins (NZ - Monster Yamaha) 20 + 16 = 36
6 Clement Desalle (B - LS Honda) 16 + 15 = 31
7 Tanel Leok (EW - Red Bull DeCarli Yam) 15 + 14 = 29
8 Mickael Pichon (F - Martin Honda) 12 + 13 = 25
9 Aigar Leok (EW - TM) 9 + 12 = 21
10 David Vuillemin (F - Bud Kawasaki) 13 + 7 = 20
11 Manuel Priem (B - Aprilia) 10+8=18, 12 Julien Bill (CH - Aprilia) 4+11=15, 13 Loic Leonce (F - JK Aprilia) 5+10=15, 14 Tom CHURCH (GB - Buildbase CCM) 8+6=14, 15 Gregory Aranda (F - CLS Kawasaki) 11+0=11, 16 Gareth Swanepoel (ZA - KRTE Kawasaki) 6+4=10, 17 Kornel Nemeth (H - KTM) 0+9=9, 18 Florent Richier (F - Kawasaki) 7+0=7, 19 Carlos Campano (E - Van Beers Yamaha) 0+5=5, 20 Shannon Terreblanche (ZA - Sturm Kawasaki) 0+3=3, 21 Jason DOUGAN (GB - Phoenix Tools CCM) 3+0=3, 22 Ivo Steinbergs (LV - Latvia Elksini Honda) 0+2=2, 23 Bryan MacKENZIE (GB - CAS Honda) 2+0=2, 24 Rob Van Vijfeiken (NL - Van Beers Yamaha) 0+1=1, 25 Gert Krestinov (EW - Silver Action KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Nagl, 2 Cairoli, 3 Coppins, 4 Philippaerts, 5 Desalle, 6 Tanel Leok, 7 De Dycker, 8 Vuillemin, 9 Pichon, 10 Aranda, 11 Priem, 12 Aigar Leok, 13 CHURCH, 14 Richier, 15 Swanepoel, 16 Leonce, 17 Bill, 18 DOUGAN, 19 Bryan MacKENZIE, 20 Krestinov.
RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 De Dycker, 3 Nagl, 4 Philippaerts, 5 Coppins, 6 Desalle, 7 Tanel Leok, 8 Pichon, 9 Aigar Leok, 10 Bill, 11 Leonce, 12 Nemeth, 13 Priem, 14 Vuillemin, 15 CHURCH, 16 Campano, 17 Swanepoel, 18 Terreblanche, 19 Steinbergs, 20 Van Vijfeiken.
SERIES STANDINGS after 9 (of 15) rounds: 1 Cairoli 338 points, 2 Philippaerts 297, 3 Nagl 293, 4 Coppins 274, 5 Desalle 268, 6 De Dycker 264, 7 Tanel Leok 252, 8 Barragan 215, 9 Aigar Leok 139, 10 Vuillemin 137, 11 Swanepoel 130, 12 Billy MacKENZIE 103, 13 Ramon 100, 14 Priem 95, 15 Aranda 91, 16 Strijbos 82, 17 Pichon 81, 18 CHURCH 65, 19 Bill 62, 20 Krestinov 47,... 22 DOUGAN 43,... 24 NOBLE 39,... 27 ANDERSON 24,... 30 NUNN 18,... 39 Bryan MacKENZIE 7,... 42 ROSE 3,...
NEXT ROUND: June 28 – Kegums, LATVIA.
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 9 – Teutschenthal, GERMANY
1 Ken Roczen (D - Teka Suzuki) 22 + 22 = 44
2 Steven Frossard (F - CLS Kawasaki) 25 + 16 = 41
3 Marvin Musquin (F - Red Bull KTM) 15 + 25 = 40
4 Gautier Paulin (F - Bud Kawasaki) 16 + 20 = 36
5 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM) 14 + 18 = 32
6 Davide Guarneri (I - Ricci Yamaha) 18 + 11 = 29
7 Nico Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha) 13 + 13 = 26
8 Marcus Schiffer (D - Sarholz KTM) 10 + 14 = 24
9 Xavier Boog (F - Teka Suzuki) 20 + 0 = 20
10 Jeremy v Horebeek (B - Red Bull KTM Jun) 7 + 12 = 19
11 Manuel Monni (I - 3C Yamaha) 11+8=19, 12 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Red Bull KTM UK) 12+7=19, 13 Dennis Verbruggen (B - LS Honda) 8+9=17, 14 Anthony Boissiere (F - HDI KTM) 0+15=15, 15 Petr Smitka (CZ - Sarholz KTM) 5+10=15, 16 Joel Roelants (B - Red Bull KTM Jnr) 9+4=13, 17 Jose Antonio Butron (E - KTM) 2+6=8, 18 Loic Rombaut (F - CLS Kawasaki) 6+2=8, 19 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Beursfoon Suzuki) 0+5=5, 20 Agnus Heideke (D - Kawasaki) 4+1=5, 21 Cedric Soubeyras (F - MD Yamaha) 1+3=4, 22 Stephen SWORD (GB - Red Bull KTM UK) 3+0=3.
RACE ONE: 1 Frossard, 2 Roczen, 3 Boog, 4 Guarneri, 5 Paulin, 6 Marvin Musquin, 7 Goncalves, 8 Aubin, 9 NICHOLLS, 10 Monni, 11 Schiffer, 12 Roelants, 13 Verbruggen, 14 Van Horebeek, 15 Rombaut, 16 Smitka, 17 Heideke, 18 SWORD, 19 Butron, 20 Soubeyras.
RACE TWO: 1 Marvin Musquin, 2 Roczen, 3 Paulin, 4 Goncalves, 5 Frossard, 6 Boissiere, 7 Schiffer, 8 Aubin, 9 Van Horebeek, 10 Guarneri, 11 Smitka, 12 Verbruggen, 13 Monni, 14 NICHOLLS, 15 Butron, 16 Larsen, 17 Roelants, 18 Soubeyras, 19 Rombaut, 20 Heideke.
SERIES STANDINGS after 9 (of 15) rounds: 1 Marvin Musquin 324 points, 2 Paulin 286, 3 Guarneri 264, 4 Goncalves 254, 5 Frossard 246, 6 Boog 197, 7 Aubin 187, 8 Roczen 164, 9 Monni 153, 10 Van Horebeek 147, 11 Roelants 116, 12 Boissiere 115, 13 Larrieu 115, 14 Schiffer 113, 15 Tonus 108, 16 Osborne 100, 17 SIMPSON 97, 18 SWORD 87, 19 Teillet 71, 20 NICHOLLS 71,... 37 Mel POCOCK 11,...
NEXT ROUND: June 28 – Kegums, LATVIA.
Rising star Ken Roczen delivered a thrilling performance at Teutschenthal. Cheered on by the home crowd, the youngster re-wrote history as the youngest ever GP winner!