Event Coverage

A nice and technical track in Neeroeteren was a good premis for the 10th GP of the year. A particular race for MX1 championship leader Stefan Everts because Neeroeteren is his hometown.

The first MX1 race sees a group of seven riders in front which made a gap between them and the rest of the field. In the first laps they were very close together. After few laps Everts took the lead and it seems to become a normal Everts-Race with another race victory. But it came different from the normal action. Everts made a for him totally unusual mistake and went down.

Everts dropped down to 6th place an couldn’t find a good rhythm again so he finished in 6th position. But that wasn’t the only bad luck for LM Yamaha Racing Team in the first heat. The second rider of the team, Cedric Melotte, crashed hard during he was lying in the top seven group. He took a injury which is followed by a break between six weeks and three months. So the way was free for Pichon, at the moment certain the only rider which can defeat Everts permanent on track. A good second place was taken by Brian Jörgensen. He controls the gap to Strijbos, Coppins and Ramon. German Joes Dobes finished in 15th position after a bad start and a crash at the beginning of the race. Dobes had to work round to arrive through the field and his six points for the championship.


Joes Dobes | 15th place in the 1st heat and 12th in the 2nd.


The second German driver, Sarholz Honda driver Andi Boller earned a disappointing 21st place. Boller can certainly bring better results instead to rode at the end of the field.

The second race was a clean figt between Everts and Pichon during the whole race. In the first laps Coppins and especially Ramon could follow the two race leaders. But when the race went towards the chequered flag, Everts and Pichon were the riders which battled for the win. Several times Pichon was very close to Everts and everybody was exited whether it work out or not. But Everts persist cool and win the race in front of his home crowd. Pichon was happy with his second place so he could take GP winning glories. 3rd Place went to Ramon in front of Coppins.

Jörgensens second race wasn’t approximately good as his first race. He finished unspectacular in 8th. A nice 12th place in heat two was the wage for a good race from Kurz Suzukis Joes Dobes. Coming from outside the top 15 he overtook some good riders like Burnham, Freibergs or Kovalainen. Since his comeback two weeks ago in Italy Dobes ride constant and fast with rising tendency. Boller finished again in 21st position outside the points. But this time it looks like Boller can keep up with top twenty riders already better. If Boller can take more chances to ride the MX1 he will be faster definitely. Completing it is to say that the MX1 races are full of strain only in the first half of the races. The gaps are big between the riders and even if the riders were apart by few seconds it looks like they only want to manage their position without any risks. Only on positions outside the top ten there were hard battles for positions.

In MX2 it is to say that nobody can stop Ben Townley beside his KTM with technical problems. Heat one was a demonstration from Townley with a confident win. In race two Townley was lying on first place again and everything looks like the same in heat one. But after two laps clowds of smoke came from his engine so he had to stop in the pits and the race was over. New leaders were Maschio and McFarlane. Until one lap before the checkered flag went down Maschio had a comfortable lead in front of McFarlane. But Maschio lost his concentration and dropped down two times in the last lap. So heat two saw a surprised winner Andrew McFarlane in front of Maschio, Dement and Rattray. Rattray could win the GP overall without a race win. Noticeable was Sebastien Pourcel with a respectable third place behind Townley and GP winner Rattray in heat one and a 6th place after a bad start in race two.

Germans Max Nagl finished 13th and 16th in the two races. In fact he profit from did not finish from other riders like Sword in both races, McFarlane in race two, Townley in race two, Cairoli in race one but especially in race one Nagl made an excellence performance. After a bad start he came from the end of the field and passed many riders. Yet “Chicco” Chiodi, a former world champion, got passed by Nagl. That was a really great race from Max and hard earned 8 points. In race two Nagl was a little bit weaker than in race one so he couldn’t ride as fast as in race one. Anyhow he took other five points for the championship table.

Townley is still in the lead of the MX2 champion chip with new second Tyla Rattray, both on KTM. The only difference is that Townley ride on a four stroke KTM and Rattray on real horny two stroke KTM.