Event Coverage

"The Friday"- November, 12th, 2004

The Joker is back on top

This year the 22nd SX took place in Stuttgart. A really great organization, a well prepared track and a lot of good riders were the promising preconditions. Nearly 13 000 spectators came last weekend to the Hans-Martin-Schleyer-Halle and they saw awesome SX action.


The track was technical and also ridable for the SX2 class

On Friday night the first of three qualification races in SX1 class was dominated by two Honda Meyer riders. Doug Dehaan and Cole Siebler suggested that they would be in great form this weekend. The second race began with a start crash, and local hero Marco "Joker" Dorsch was in the thick of it.


Marco Dorsch was in a brillant shape on both days | 3rd on friday

But after a good race he became fourth after winner Lettelier, Dobes and his buddy Dugmore. Casey Johnson, former SX-Cup champion, was the winner of the third heat in front of Markus Mauser. Daniel Siegl went down in the first corner. He finished in 6th place after a strong performance and qualified himself direct for the upcoming semi final.


Dough DeHaan | 4th place in the final on friday

After winning the repechage Mark Hucklebridge was a surprisingly winner of the first semi final. He was followed by the Honda Meyer riders Dehaan and Siebler. The first five riders were very close with many changes in the ranking. Dugmore and Lettelier crashed one lap before the chequered flag went down and had to go in the last change. The second semi final saw a confident winner. Mauser and Dorsch, team mates but on different bikes, leaded the race from the starting line and get qualified for the main event. Siegl was strong again and finished in 5th position after 8th place in lap one which means he saved the last ticket for the final.


Damien Plotts rode with constance | result was a 2nd place on friday

The last chance was one of the best races at Friday evening. Only two riders could made the final. Dugmore took the lead. After some and he was passed by Aubert and dropped back to second position. But Dugmore shouldn't reach the main event. The reason was Cyrille Coulon. He tried everything to pass Dugmore and Lettelier for doing the main. But he risked to much and hit Dugmore and Lettelier down. It was dangerous situation because the bike was coming from the other side of the track but luckily nobody was injured. Hemery profited from this accident and earned 2nd place and thus the participance for the final.


Start of the Semifinal | Dorsch in the lead

The main event was very dramatical. Marco "The Joker" Dorsch was leading the final about ten laps. Everything looks like a confident win for the German. He rode very smooth and controlled the gap to Siebler and Damien Plotts. But after a small mistake he went down and Siebler and Plotts passed him. Anyway "The Joker" finished in a fantastic third place so he did the podium. Although he was disappointed by missing the victory. So Siebler was able to control Plotts and was the great winner on Friday in front of Plotts and Dorsch. The second German Siegl finished in 9th position.


Manual Chittaro showed on both days that he is the man in SX2 class

The second day of SX in Stuttgart began in comparison with the first evening turbulent. Overcame on Friday nearly all favourites the qualification heats without any problems it happened a bit different on Saturday. In the first heat Coulon won short ahead of Hucklebridge and surprisingly Michael Herrmann. Aubert and Dorsch, both favour for the main, crashed in this heat and had to go to last chance. “The Joker” made the hole shot and was highly motivated. But after half a lap he did a mistake at the end of the whoops section and went down, Aubert crashed in promising position, too. The second heat win went to again very strong Dehaan in front of Vialle and Mauser. Dugmore, idol of the public, get qualified in 5th position.


Casey Johnson had some problem with the jet lag.

The next prominent victims in this race were Casey Johnson, Antoine Lettelier and yesterdays winner Cole Siebler. Only in heat three nothing surprisingly happened and Dupasquier won with Plotts in 2nd, Hemery in 3rd and Siegl in 4th.


Start sequence | Dorsch #17 with an awesome holeshot.

The last chance looks like a main, each of these riders like Siebler, Dorsch, Aubert and Johnson could win a final, but it were only two further places for the upcoming semi finals. First place went unexpected to McGourthy, but behind the winner the action was great. Dorsch, after a bad start in maybe in 7th or 8th position, did a really incredible first lap which brought him to 2nd position. After few laps Aubert came up and tried to pass Dorsch several times. In a corner Dorsch blocked Aubert so the Frenchman lost his chances because of short crash. This mattered a temporary safe 2nd place for Dorsch. But Siebler was able to close the gap till the last lap and attacked the German. At last Dorsch kept his 2nd place with only 0.24 sec. in front of a disappointed Siebler, so yesterdays winner was out...


Dugmore with bad luck on friday, but happy with a 2nd on saturday

First semi final was a further victory for Dehaan. The race was stopped after seven laps because Keefer crashed after the finish jump. This was the only stopped race in the whole event which shows the great quality of the field. Dugmore reached the final with 4th position. The second semi final was interesting from a german point of view. Siegl and Dorsch made a great race a finished confident in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. The win went to Plotts.

The last chance was an easy prey for Joes Dobes. Otherwise inconspicuous Dobes had a good start for the first time and could control the race. Second rider for the main was Hemery after a hard fight with Vialle.


The start of the SX 1 Final on Saturday

Winning each of his races on Saturday the final was another clear victory for Doug Dehaan. But another rider was the hero of this race, 36 years old Collin Dugmore on his Kawasaki had a close battle for 2nd place with Jason Thomas for almost the whole race. The fans were enthused and supported Dugmore to reach this 2nd place, and he did it. Mentionable was the fair riding from Thomas. On several times Thomas had the chance to block Dugmore with a hard move but he accepted this and finished in 3rd. Dorsch finished in a awesome 4th and Siegl, as yesterday, in 9th position.


Collin Dugmore 2nd | Doug Dehaan 1st | Jason Thomas 3rd

The MX2 class was dominated from Manuel Chittaro. He won all four races confident, whatever he had a bad start or lead from the beginning of a race. Mentionable was that Chittaro did the triple jump on Friday but no one else. Andre Adrian and Lucas Millich showed an impressive performance and finished 2nd and 3rd overall.