Event Coverage

90th victory for Everts in MX1 and
1st victory for Christoph Pourcel in MX2

The Kärcher Grand Prix in Germany was held last weekend in Teutschethal near Halle/Saale. It was the last opportunity for all MX fans to see 9 times world champion Stefan Everts on a track in the german speaking region. A huge crowd about 31000 spectators over the weekend, sunny and warm weather and a well organized event were the promising preconditions for great race action.

MX1
In both MX1 races Stefan Everts showed the fans a great performance. He leads each heat from the first till the last lap and controlled the other riders easily. Only Kevin Strijbos in the first and Tanel Leok in the second race were able to follow Everts for 25 minutes. In the critical phase Everts pushed hard for some laps and made a gap from about 8 seconds.


Stefan Everts celebrated his 90th GP victory in Teutschenthal

Second overall finished Kevin Strijbos on his factory Suzuki with a (2/4) result. Strijbos looked very strong and only a middle rated start and a small crash in the second moto bared him from a better result.
Third place in the GP classification (6/2) went to Tanel Leok on his De Groot Kawasaki. His teammate Steven Sword crashed heavily in the worm up on Sunday morning and broke his ankle. On a big table-top jump Sword had a take off like a rocket and jumped about ten metres to long in the flat.


Kevin Strijbos was in a brillant shape and finished (2/4)

CAS Honda’s Ken De Dycker scored 36 points with a (5/3) result. In both races he came from outside the top ten and passed many riders, especially in the first laps. He is definitive one of the fastest riders in the GP circus.


Pole setter Steve Ramon

Pole setter Steve Ramon had a disappointing weekend (9/5). In the first heat Ramon crashed in the first corner after the gate dropped down. From last position he did it into the top ten. In the second moto the Suzuki rider was in third position till 5 laps before the chequered flag went down. But he was not able to keep away De Dycker and Strijbos and finished in 5th position.

Mentionable from a German point of view was Collin Dugmore. After a technical DNF in race one the 38 year old Kawasaki rider finished in 11th position. A really great performance from the oldest rider in the field.

MX2
French 17 year old Christoph Pourcel was the mirror image of Everts in the MX2 class. He sweeped two clear start-finish victories. Nobody had a chance against the Team Freeman Kawasaki rider. His older brother, Sebastien Pourcel, was pretty fast, too. Unfortunatelly he had bad luck with two technical DNF’s in promising positions.


Christoph Pourcel celebrated his 1st GP victory

Marc De Reuver on his factory KTM finished (2/2) second overall but could not challenge Christoph Pourcel seriously. His Red Bull KTM teammate and the current leader of the world championchip, Tyla Rattray, scored a (4/3) result. He struggeled with his starts and stalled his bike in the first and crashed in a corner in the second heat while passing De Reuver. Germans hero Max Nagl scored a great 8th place in heat 2. In heat one he was on his way to the top ten after a bad start. With good speed but two crashes he finished in 18th position. Nagl showed he is able to ride with the top guys when his start went well.
The second qualified German, Marcus Schiffer, had no chances to get any points this weekend. Bad starts and missing rhythm are the reasons therefore.