The Grand Prix of Italy in Mantua ended with a surprisingly almost dry Sunday, as the day was predicted to be rainy. Rain actually came out before the start to the MX1 final moto, at the end of which Marc de Reuver took his maiden MX1 Grand Prix win. In the MX2 class Antonio “Tony” Cairoli set the crowd on fire with a brilliant win, making up for a Moto 1 crash; Tyla Rattray was second overall today and still leads the standings ahead of the Italian, while home rider David Philippaerts retained the MX1 red plate courtesy of another podium result.MX1 CLASS
It was an incredible weekend for Martin Honda’s Marc de Reuver; the latter took the Pole Position Award yesterday and eventually topped the podium of this fifth Grand Prix, marking his comeback to victory after his last success in Sevlievo 2006, which was another wet race. This victory was a stepping stone for Honda as well, as the last Honda rider topping the podium was Ken de Dycker in 2007 (Uddevalla) and this is the first GP win since the manufacturer is officially back in the GP series. GPKR’s Sebastien Pourcel was second after he took the victory in heat one; on the other hand he went down twice and made a lot of mistakes in the final wet heat. Yamaha Monster Motocross’ David Philippaerts also showed up on his home rostrum to collect both the Cup and the red plate. Teka Suzuki WMX1′s Ken de Dycker and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Max Nagl rounded off the top five as the latter dominated the second moto.MX1 MOTO1
Sebastien Pourcel put in a stunning performance in the opening heat, taking a start to checkers victory in dominant style despite De Dycker trying to close in several times. The Belgian settled for a safe second while a battle went on for the third spot. De Reuver made a mistake to let Mackenzie by; the Brit eventually had an highside crash with De Reuver moving back up to third ahead of Coppins. Philippaerts rounded out the top five at the end of an eventful first moto, crashing out at the third corner after the start. The home rider worked his way up from last, making his final move on both Tanel Leok and the defending world champion Ramon in one single determined lap.MX1 MOTO2
The final heat was a different story as the rain started to hit the track right before the start. That was time for Max Nagl to show his speed in the slippery conditions, as the German took the eventual victory in a Pourcel-like style. Philippaerts got the start alright to cruise in second for the entire moto, giving priority to the Championship points instead of the overall win. De Reuver sealed the overall by taking once again a third place finish despite stalling the bike once; Pourcel, who was level in points with the Dutchman, slipped twice to go backwards in the overall standings. Mackenzie rode to fourth with Coppins rounding off the top five after having taken the holeshot. De Dycker and Pourcel were respectively sixth and seventh.Marc DeReuver: “In all of Saturday’s practices I was first and so I was very confident for today. But then in warm-up this morning all the lines had changed and the track wasn’t flowing as well for me and all of a sudden I didn’t feel quite as confident. I have been feeling sick for the past few days and I am losing my voice plus with the rain overnight I wasn’t really looking forward to today’s races to be honest. In the first heat I got the holeshot but Pourcel passed me, then I made some mistakes and I crashed riding over a hay bail and getting the bike stuck for a moment, then I crashed again but I still managed to finish third – quite easily really.”In the second heat I didn’t have such a good a start but I worked my way up to third and I was closing the gap with Philippaerts until I stalled the bike. I restarted it quite easily again and got going with no problems and from there I concentrated hard on finishing without crashing. I didn’t know I had won the overall until after I crossed the line and my team was going crazy. It’s the team’s home GP of course and so I’m very happy I could win it for them and for Honda – it made me feel really good. From here I want to podium at every race and I know that I can do that. I also want to win a moto as well as more GPs.”
Sebastien Pourcel: “Last year I scored my first MX1 GP podium here and for sure it’s good to be back on the podium here today. But I’m not happy as I also need to score as many points as possible (since) the first two GPs were not good for me and this weekend it was possible to win. The first moto was good, I had my best start of the season and then pushed to increase the gap on De Dycker.”I am unhappy with the second race, I made too many mistakes and nearly crashed five or six times. I didn’t feel confident for this heat, the same feeling as during the qualification session on Saturday. The track was difficult with many ruts and also some jumps were pretty dangerous as we saw with the big crash of Barragan. Next week I will go to the French Championship in Villars sous Ecot knowing that will be another good practice session before the British GP.”David Philippaerts: “Someone went down in front of me and when I was hit from behind I went over the bike that was lying on the ground. It was a big crash and also disappointing because I knew it would be hard to win the GP after that. I tried as hard as I could. I was watching my lap-times and I knew they were fast; I did the best lap of the race near the end and that was a good thing. In the second moto I pushed to get near to Nagl so that he would see me and maybe make a mistake but it was raining a lot and I did not want to make a mistake. I thought of the points and did not take any risks. I wanted to win here but to be on the podium is OK. The bike and the team are so good and this is a big reason why we have this lead in the championship.”MX1 MOTO 1
1, Sebastien Pourcel, Kawasaki, FRA
2, Ken De Dycker, Suzuki, BEL
3, Marc De Reuver, Honda, NED
4, Joshua Coppins, Yamaha, NZL
5, David Philippaerts, Yamaha, ITA
6, Steve Ramon, Suzuki, BEL
7, Tanel Leok, Kawasaki, EST
8, Aigar Leok, Yamaha, EST
9, Billy MacKenzie, Honda, GBR
10, Jonathan Barragan, KTM, ESPMX1 MOTO 2
1, Maximilian Nagl, KTM, GER
2, David Philippaerts, Yamaha, ITA
3, Marc De Reuver, Honda, NED
4, Billy MacKenzie, Honda, GBR
5, Joshua Coppins, Yamaha, NZ
6, Ken De Dycker, Suzuki, BEL
7, Sebastien Pourcel, Kawasaki, FRA
8, Tanel Leok, Kawasaki, EST
9, Steve Ramon, Suzuki, BEL
10, Manuel Priem, KawasakiMX1 championship points:
1, David Philippaerts, Yamaha, ITA, 187
2, Steve Ramon, Suzuki, BEL, 159
3, Joshua Coppins, Yamaha, NZL, 149
4, Ken De Dycker, Suzuki, BEL, 135
5, Billy MacKenzie, Honda, GBR, 130
6, Sebastien Pourcel, Kawasaki, FRA, 129
7, Marc De Reuver, Honda, NED, 116
8, Maximilian Nagl, KTM, GER, 114
9, Jonathan Barragan, KTM, ESP, 105
10, Tanel Leok, Kawasaki, EST, 98MX2 CLASS
An incredible Yamaha Red Bull De Carli’s Tony Cairoli walked away from Mantova with his second season’s win despite a crash in the opening moto. The Sicilian entered Italy with the goal of snatching also the red plate from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tyla Rattray -riding ill- but the latter defended his leadership with a solid second place on today’s podium. Teammate Tommy Searle was third overall as he lost the opening moto from Ricci Racing Yamaha’s Nicolas Aubin after a hard fight. The Frenchman was fourth overall ahead of KTM UK’s Shaun Simpson and CLS’ Steven Frossard.MX2 MOTO 1
Aubin and Searle battled it out for victory in the opening moto, with the Frenchman taking the early lead to let Searle by at the second lap. The Brit made a mistake and Aubin was back on first, pulling away to win his first heat of 2008. Searle was an eventual second in front of teammate Rattray, while Cairoli delighted the crowd with a fantastic recovery from last to fourth after a crash at the start. Goncalves rounded off the top five ahead of Sword and Simpson.MX2 MOTO2
Cairoli took a fantastic start to display all his speed and win a flawless second moto. Rattray settled into second and cruised to the flag ahead of KTM fellow riders Searle and Simpson. The two actually battled it out again as they did in Bulgaria the previous week, with Simpson crashing once Searle got by. The former had to fight again to defend the fourth place as Frossard pushed him in the second half of the heat. After moving past Simpson, Frossard dropped back to an eventual fifth ahead of Aubin.Antonio Cairoli: “For sure I wanted to win both races but the second corner was a big problem. Out of the gate I started well but then I had some contact with Tommy. I tried for a good line in the second corner but Eggens was on the inside of me and decided to come across to the outside and hit my front wheel.
Tyla Rattray:”I’m very happy to still have the red number plate, today I started to feel better after having had the flu this week and my results were quite ok. The track was very bumpy from the rain and we had to work on the bike’s settings. I got a good start in the second heat but I took the first corner a bit too wide and I got overtaken. “.Tommy Searle: “I made some mistakes and just tried to stay on the bike, I did try to catch Tyla and Cairoli in the second heat but I wasn’t able to manage it. Also the track was ruined after all the rain at the weekend.MX2 MOTO 1
1, Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha, FRA
2, Tommy Searle, KTM, GBR
3, Tyla Rattray, KTM, RSA
4, Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha, ITA
5, Rui Goncalves, KTM, POR
6, Stephen Sword, Kawasaki, GBR
7, Shaun Simpson, KTM, GBR
8, Jeremy Van Horebeek, KTM, BEL
9, Xavier Boog, Suzuki, FRA
10, Steven Frossard, Kawasaki, FRAMX2 MOTO2
1, Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha, ITA
2, Tyla Rattray, KTM, RSA
3, Tommy Searle, KTM, GBR
4, Shaun Simpson, KTM, GBR
5, Steven Frossard, Kawasaki, FRA
6, Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha, FRA
7, Jeremy Van Horebeek, KTM
8, Erik Eggens, Suzuki, NED
9, Gautier Paulin, Kawasaki, FRA
10, Carl Nunn, Suzuki, GBRMX2 championship points:
1, Tyla Rattray, KTM, RSA, 199
2, Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha, ITA, 196
3, Tommy Searle, KTM, GBR, 191
4, Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha, FRA, 146
5, Rui Goncalves, KTM, POR, 132
6, Shaun Simpson, KTM, GBR, 124
7, Stephen Sword, Kawasaki, GBR, 113
8, Jeremy Van Horebeek, KTM, BEL, 109
9, Xavier Boog, Suzuki, FRA, 99
10, Manuel Monni, Yamaha, ITA, 97
