Results MotoCross World Championship, Lierop, The Netherlands2007-09-02 16:24The final round of the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship saw Steve Ramon crowned World Champion for the first time as Belgian riders maintain their iron-like grip on the premier class. After three years of domination by Stefan Everts Ramon became the latest Flemish pilot to take MX1 honours after perennial series leader Josh Coppins missed the event due to the persistent effects of a shoulder injury. CAS Honda's Ken de Dycker signed off a decent campaign with fourth overall giving the 23 year old, also from Belgium, fifth place in the championship standings. The Grand Prix was won by Kevin Strijbos with Dutchman Marc de Reuver second and Ramon in third place. Cloudy and chilly weather coated the flat and sandy circuit 10km from Eindhoven. 36,000 spectators came to the venue that hosted the 2004 Motocross of Nations and has been a regular fixture on the world championship schedule since the inauguration of the MX1 and MX2 classes in '04. The many racing lines across the technical terrain meant an entertaining brace of motos but it was physically very hard on the riders and tough on the machinery. De Dycker scored two relatively lonely fourth positions after a crash during warm-up left him aching as he entered the start gate. The CAS rider battled with the leaders during Moto1 but rode within himself on a rough sandy course that heavily punished any mistakes and saw riders continually upping and lowering their pace to suit the conditions around the physical drain. It was another mature display from De Dycker who earned a top five championship finish with two podiums and his first ever GP victory during his 2007 campaign. Team-mate Mike Brown struggled on the surface in his first visit to Lierop and the veteran racer admitted that the circuit was one of the roughest tracks he had ever seen. He was close to being lapped in the first moto as he crossed the line fifteenth with a less-than-ideal set-up on the CRF450F. Some adjustments and changes in the break served him much better and he was able to score a tenth place finish for eleventh overall. The American re-established his Grand Prix credentials in 2007 with two podiums and a moto win (Sugo, Japan) and only missed the points once from thirty motos (a mechanical glitch forced a DNF in Ireland). Martin Honda's Julien Bill, who put pen to paper on a new one year contract with the Martin team for 2008 on Saturday morning, also fought vainly in the sand. He fell twice in the first moto and retired and then could not score any points in the second with 21st position. The Swiss completed the year in 15th. He joined the team during the middle of the season and made an instant impact. He did not drop out of the top ten for ten consecutive motos prior to Lierop. Better news lay in store for the Italian crew with the news that MX2 representative Gautier Paulin had won the European 125cc championship by just one point. The French teenager owned both motos at Roggenburg in Switzerland at the final round and will come into the world championship as Europe's number one for '08. Shineray MX Team China's Marvin Van Daele produced one of his best finishes of the season today with eighth position overall and was two places ahead of Multitek Honda's James Noble who went on to secure eleventh place in the championship. Antonio Cairoli had already won the MX2 World Championship for the second time in three years in Ireland, two rounds ago, and demonstrated his talents with a maiden MX1 success last week at the British Grand Prix. The Italian was back on his 250F at Lierop and rushed to his eighth double moto victory of the campaign. The podium was completed by Gareth Swanepoel in second and series runner-up Tommy Searle in third. Pascal Leuret was back in the paddock for the first time since his heavy crash in the Czech Republic that led to an injured shoulder and dislocated right wrist. The Frenchman, who is Honda's best placed rider in the MX2 standings with seventh position (he previously reached as high as fourth) despite missing the last four Grand Prix, is hoping to get the all-clear from doctors to begin riding in October. SRS Honda's Matti Seistola finished eighth in the championship and equalled his best ever moto result in the first Lierop race when he gained fifth. Sadly his chances of making a push for the final podium of the year ended early in the second outing when he crashed and could not restart. De Dycker and Bill will be representing their countries at the 61st Motocross of Nations in three weeks time at the Budds Creeks circuit near Washington DC. De Dycker will be attempting to defend his British Championship at the final meeting at Pontrilas in a fortnight. Ken de Dycker, CAS Honda: "Today was OK. I was happy on Saturday until Timed Practice because I could not get a quick lap. I had a big crash in warm-up which meant I was sore for the races but I had some decent starts anyway. I rode my own motos today and didn't push too hard because I know this track can catch you out. Two fourth positions were not bad and I have never done better here. The season has been alright. I was also on the podium twice in 2006 also but we took a win this time. At the beginning of the season I was angry with myself and we had to develop the bike. There were a few problems but we turned it around. I have been with Honda for four years and we have had a good association. I am very thankful that I could ride for Honda and thanks also to the team." Mike Brown, CAS Honda: "I am not really happy with the result here at this last GP but I had never ridden this track before and it was one of the roughest I have seen. I had the wrong bike set-up in the first moto. I was riding like an amateur trying to find the right lines and I was beating myself to death but the guys got it fixed and it handled much better in the second one. I went backwards a little bit but then fought through at the end; the more laps I rode the better I got. To end up seventh overall in the series is really good for me. I have been consistent this year and a similar approach worked for Ramon who is now champion. I just did not want to DNF the races and through being there each week my championship standing is pretty good." Julien Bill, Martin Honda: "It was really difficult for me this weekend. It was my first time in the sand since last year and it was very tough. This is a special track and you need to train for it. I couldn't get any laps done beforehand and it showed. I was really far away from the guys. I have learnt a lot though and know that I need more sand training. My result has been bad today, but I am really happy to have signed a new deal with the team. We will have direct support from HRC and this is a dream for me; I will work really hard to be ready for 2008." Results Motocross MX1 Race 1 ( ) Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time 1 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 40:12.396 2 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 40:23.634 3 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / Yamaha / 40:31.826 4 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 40:52.327 5 / Mackenzie, Billy / GBR / Kawasaki / 41:04.542 6 / Priem, Manuel / BEL / TM / 41:10.500 7 / Nagl, Maximilian / GER / KTM / 41:18.947 8 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 41:26.730 9 / Pourcel, Sebastien / FRA / Kawasaki / 41:28.498 10 / Noble, James / GBR / Honda / 41:32.843 11 / van Daele, Marvin / BEL / Honda / 41:40.355 12 / Leok, Aigar / EST / Yamaha / 42:13.465 13 / Freibergs, Lauris / LAT / Yamaha / 42:15.874 14 / Renet, Pierre A. / FRA / Honda / 42:18.457 15 / Brown, Mike / USA / Honda / 42:21.140 MX1 Race 2 ( ) Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time 1 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / Yamaha / 41:27.025 2 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 41:32.730 3 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 42:16.527 4 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 42:29.281 5 / Mackenzie, Billy / GBR / Kawasaki / 42:32.194 6 / Priem, Manuel / BEL / TM / 42:54.405 7 / Leok, Tanel / EST / Kawasaki / 42:55.718 8 / van Daele, Marvin / BEL / Honda / 42:56.464 9 / Nagl, Maximilian / GER / KTM / 43:33.266 10 / Brown, Mike / USA / Honda / 43:39.407 11 / Leok, Aigar / EST / Yamaha / 44:00.849 12 / Melotte, Cedric / BEL / Aprilia / 41:43.564 13 / Noble, James / GBR / Honda / 41:48.384 14 / Nemeth, Kornel / HUN / Suzuki / 41:49.180 15 / Freibergs, Lauris / LAT / Yamaha / 42:02.284 MX1 World Motocross Championship Standings Pos Rider Total 1 Ramon, Steve 508, 2 Strijbos, K. 475, 3 Coppins, J. 452, 4 Pourcel, S. 439, 5 de Dycker, Ken 421, 6 Philippaerts, D. 419, 7 Brown, Mike 361, 8 Leok, Tanel 355, 9 Mackenzie, B. 351, 10 Barragan, J. 347, 11 Noble, James 270, 12 Nemeth, Kornel 215, 13 Priem, Manuel 204, 14 de Reuver, M. 201, 15 Bill, J. 199. MX2 Race 1 () Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time 1 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 39:35.785 2 / Swanepoel, Gareth / RSA / Kawasaki / 39:40.775 3 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 40:17.084 4 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / KTM / 40:17.617 5 / Seistola, Matti / FIN / Honda / 40:41.901 6 / Schiffer, Marcus / GER / KTM / 40:46.623 7 / Boog, Xavier / FRA / Yamaha / 40:47.753 8 / Aubin, Nicolas / FRA / Yamaha / 40:48.610 9 / Avis, Wyatt / RSA / KTM / 41:00.215 10 / van Horebeek, Jeremy / BEL / KTM / 41:01.708 11 / van Vijfeijken, Rob / NED / KTM / 41:03.252 12 / Goncalves, Rui / POR / KTM / 41:05.436 13 / Guarneri, Davide / ITA / Yamaha / 41:14.121 14 / Hamblin, Sean / USA / Suzuki / 41:16.756 15 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / Yamaha / 41:17.826 MX2 Race 2 () Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time 1 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 42:13.317 2 / Eggens, Erik / NED / Suzuki / 42:18.341 3 / Goncalves, Rui / POR / KTM / 42:21.251 4 / Swanepoel, Gareth / RSA / Kawasaki / 42:22.031 5 / Aubin, Nicolas / FRA / Yamaha / 42:42.719 6 / Boog, Xavier / FRA / Yamaha / 43:23.937 7 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / KTM / 43:30.063 8 / van Horebeek, Jeremy / BEL / KTM / 43:37.225 9 / Boissiere, Anthony / FRA / Kawasaki / 43:49.843 10 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / Yamaha / 43:55.762 11 / Schiffer, Marcus / GER / KTM / 44:14.710 12 / Bonini, Matteo / ITA / Yamaha / 44:20.237 13 / van Vijfeijken, Rob / NED / KTM / 44:30.688 14 / Church, Tom / GBR / Kawasaki / 42:20.830 15 / Monni, Manuel / ITA / Yamaha / 42:48.801 MX2 World Motocross Championship Standings Pos Rider Total 1 Cairoli, A. 660, 2 Searle, Tommy 510, 3 Pourcel, C. 436, 4 Rattray, Tyla 371, 5 Swanepoel, G. 364, 6 Aubin, Nicolas 358, 7 Leuret, Pascal 320, 8 Seistola, M. 276, 9 Schiffer, M. 260, 10 Gundersen, K. 244, 11 Goncalves, Rui 243, 12 Guarneri, D. 226, 13 Boog, Xavier 219, 14 Nunn, Carl 198, 15 Boissiere, A. 192. Source: Honda Pro Image Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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