Double victory for Stefan Everts in the MX1 and for David Philippaerts in the MX2 who respectively dominated their class.
The Italian GP, 7th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, took place on the splendid green hills of Tuscany, in Montevarchi in front of 26000 spectators.
Another expected victory for Stefan Everts, who has won all the GPs disputed is rapidly approaching his 10th world title so far and has reached an incredible amount (94) in his career: the "road roller" won both motos always in front of his conational Kevin Strijbos on his Suzuki factory. To complete the absolute Belgian triumph, Steve Ramon got third on thepodium on his Suzuki.
In the MX2 there's been a great battle and this time victory went to the Italian David Philippaerts who on his KTM factory won both Motos, followed by the defending world champion Antonio Cairoli.
The young French Kawasaki rider, Cristophe Pourcel, got an absolute third and he's still leading the championship.
MX1 1st MOTO
Another memorable race was about to be witnessed when the gate came down and the Belgian 9 time world champion Stefan Everts made an appearance not only thanks to his livery but especially thanks to his proverbial holeshot that saw him putting hands on the lead straight away, followed by the other Belgians Cedric Melotte and Kevin Strijbos.
Without losing too much time Strijbos is behind the leader and in fourth position we find the Spanish Javier Garcia Vico .There's nothing to do for the group who are all trying to catch Stefan Everts up ,who `s the winner after 21 laps in the lead, ahead of the the Belgian Strijbos who never manages to make his attempts to overtake dangerous enough. nice performance by Ken De Dycker who finishes the rece on the third step of the podium after the tough recovery from the 10th position as well as Tanel Leok's recovery who eventually got 7th.
MX1 2nd MOTO:
There's no surprise at the start of this second and conclusive moto where the "Owner" of the championship Stefan Everts got out his best performance.
TheYamaha/Rinaldi rider looked as though he was racing on his own again in this moto but Strijbos, this time round more determined, managed to even overtake him around the 5th lap but only for a few meters, and after that it's all over as Everts flew away towards his second victory of the day.
Everts won the Italian GP in front of his connationals Strijbos and Ramon and the provvisory chart sees him at the top with 342 points on the 253 that Strjbos has collected so far and on Tanel Leok who's got 245.
Phillippaerts and Cairoli...
Phillippaerts and Cairoli
Stefan Everts:
"I don't get bored with winning because every race is a hard job! Kevin did well today to put some pressure on me, especially in the second moto. He is keeping me focussed lately and I have to keep pushing to stay in front. It was a good close race for the crowd. It is not coming that easily for me. Every weekend is a new challenge, there are still many races to go and I want to stay in good shape."
Kevin Strijbos:
"I am happy with this GP. My speed was almost enough to run with Stefan and hopefully we are getting a little bit closer. It was hard work on this track but I was riding well. I found that I could push harder in the second moto. I managed to lead for one corner but Everts passed me back quickly. I rode my own race and was satisfied to be second twice. I am second in the Championship now which is another positive. It is hard to say how we can beat Stefan. I think he has the edge over us in certain sections of each track and we will have to work to match him if we at least want to beat him."
Steve Ramon:
"The race was difficult for me because my starts were not that good today. My speed was OK but I really had to push at the beginning of the race to try and catch the leaders. Kevin and Stefan had already gone and it was so hard to close the gap. Being fourth twice is ok today because I had a tough weekend".
MX1 Moto1
1 S. Everts Yamaha
2 K. Strijbos Suzuki
3 K. De Dycker Honda
4 S. Ramon Suzuki
5 J. Barragan KTM
6 J. Garcia Vico Honda
7 T. Leok Kawasaki
8 C. Melotte Yamaha
MX1 Moto 2
1 S. Everts Yamaha
2 K. Strijbos Suzuki
3 T. Leok Kawasaki
4 S. Ramon Suzuki
5 J. Garcia Vico Honda
6 B. Jorgensen Honda
7 K. De Dycker Honda
8 P. Leuret Honda
After 7 Round of 15
1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 342
2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 253
3 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 245
4 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 231
5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 227
6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 166
7 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 147
8 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 120
9 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 120
10 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 118
MX2 1st MOTO
The fastest rider at the gate is number 1, Antonio Cairoli (Yamaha) who at the top of the first uphill section is followed by the other Italian rider David Philippaerts and the South African Tyla Rattray.
During the first laps the actions of the two chasers are very sharp and so Cairoli is forced to step down to their pace.
The 22 year old Phillippaerts, incited by his new team manager Gorge Jobe' ( with Pichon and Tortelli out of the game, Jobe' has given availability to keep an eye on Phillippaerts), gains advantage on Rattray, who doesn't same to be in agood shape today. Sebastien Pourcel (Kawasaki), Kenneth Gundersen (Yamaha), Gareth Swanepoel (Kawasaki) and the actual leader of the championship Cristophe Pourcel, who's had to recover a lot due to a poor start, are all behind the podium. Around the 7th lap, which is one third of the race, Cairoli starts his recovery and manages to catch up and overtake Rattray, after a long and challenging duel, to then try to head for Philippaerts.
In the meantime C.Pourcel has been recovering many positions. All the attentions are on the duel between Phillipaerts and Cairoli: the leader keeps up the pace but can't stop his chaser to reduce the advantage between them; the flag declares that the victory went toPhilippaerts with half a second of advantage on Cairoli.
Sbeastien puorcel got third ahead of his brother and the South African duo Rattray and Swanepoel
MX2 2nd MOTO
Cairoli once again starts off very fast in the 2nd moto but he's too wide in the first turn so Phillipaerts and Gundersen (Yamaha) get past him on the inside: the Norwegian then slips and Cairoli, to avoid him, is forced to brake and gets overtaken by the Portuguese Rui Concalves (KTM). Phillipaerts is the one who gets the most out of this situation as he's'first with a good distance from Goncalves, Cairoli, C. Pourcel, Rattray and Swanepoel. During the 3rd lap Philippaerts (KTM) slips and loses 6 positions allowing the Portuguese to take the lead in front of Cairoli. The world champion gives the impression he doesn't want to push it too much when Philippaerts is instead trying hard to recover postions he lost: he struggles to overtake Swanepoel but after that he manages to easily get past all his opponents, possibly thanks to initially taking advantage of Pourcel's slipping . Halfway through the race there' s another coup de theatre: Rattray overtakes Cairoli and attacks Concalves, the two of them have some contact which causes the South African to fall and retire. Straight after Cairoli and Phillippaerts are behind the leader, they both overtake him ( possibly thanks to a physical loss) amd from that moment onwards they're the two protagonists of the scene. Pourcel recovers the third position ahead of Swanepoel and his brother Sebastien Pourcel alongside Goncalves who's progressively losing positions. Everyone is focuse on the couple in front: Phillipaerts manages to create a fair distance between himself and Cairoli but the world champion doesn't give up andget real close to Phillipaerts but not enough to attempt to overtake him.
Philippaerts wins in front of Cairoli and C. Pourcel. Philippaerts (KTM) got an absolute victory in this Italian GP which not only means 50 points but also his first double victory of his career; an absolute second place for Cairoli with 44 points whereas C.Puorcel only got 38 points but still leads the championship.
David Philippaerts:
"It has been a perfect day. Yesterday I was fast but I felt quicker today and the track was better for me. The bike was really working well. It was a shame about the crash in the second race because I made a lot of work for myself. I lost control before the jump and had to recover the bike and get going again quickly if I didn't want to lose the GP. There were so many people cheering for me and I am happy to have given them some nice races and a win."
Antonio Cairoli:
"For sure I wanted to win in my country but today David was very fast. I lost concentration in the second heat when I saw Rattray and Goncalves crash. I was riding a bit stiff and didn't have a good feeling but afterwards when David came back I was able to pick up my speed. It was very hard to pass him here and I didn't want to make a mistake because the standings would be much closer. For me and for the Championship this is a good GP."
Christophe Pourcel:
"I knew that even with a bad position on the grid it was possible to get a good start, and twice I was in the top five after some corners. In both heats I did a mistake at the same place! I lost many places in the first heat and less time in the second one, but then I had to recover from this crash. In the second race I was fourth behind Gonalves, Rattray and Cairoli, I saw that they were pretty agressive and I didn't want to take any risk. I was just behind them when Rattray crashed, and then I secured my third place. There were some nice jumps on this track, yesterday I had troubles with my rear shock but we changed it and today it was perfect. I came here for a podium and I got it, it was a good weekend for us. The championship is long but even with my new advantage I will keep the same goal at each round: to be on the podium." round: to be on the podium."
MX2 Moto 1
1 D. Philippaerts KTM
2 A. Cairoli Yamaha
3 S. Pourcel Kawasaki
4 C. Pourcel Kawasaki
5 T. Rattray KTM
6 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki
7 D. Guarneri Yamaha
8 K. Gundersen Yamaha
MX2 Moto 2
1 D. Philippaerts KTM
2 A. Cairoli Yamaha
3 C. Pourcel Kawasaki
4 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki
5 S. Pourcel Kawasaki
6 R. Goncalves KTM
7 T. Searle Kawasaki
8 C. Campano KTM
After 7 Round of 15
1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 274
2 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 246
3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 235
4 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 231
5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 210
6 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 168
7 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 159
8 Sbastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 140