Motocross World Championship Wallone (Namour) GP Round 13

The 13th round of the Motocross World Championship the GP of Wallone took place on the legendary track of Namur. The oldest track connected with the series, Namur entertained its first GP in 1957 and hosted a 500cc event annually (except in 1959, 1965 and 1984) until 2001. Absent from the calendar in 2002, the Citadel was back on the schedule the following year. Considered as the Monaco of Motocross, the track has a long and prestigious history and it sits within a National Park all around the Citadel of Namur, one of the Belgium's important and historical military constructions. Nowhere else can you race between trees, come into a sunny esplanade from under dark undergrowth, and plough through roots, cinder paths or sand. Riders either love or hate the Namur track, there's no gray zone here.

Most of Belgium's former and current racers love this track, where some of their prestigious countrymen clinched success; Roger De Coster won seven 500 GP's, Stefan Everts five now, Andre Malherbe and Jacky Martens won twice and André Vromans, Joel Smets, Cedric Melotte, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers and Johan Boonen have claimed a victory here.

MX1 Class
Stefan "Big Daddy" Everts conquers "The Citadel" of Namur

It was quite the weekend for 31-year-old Stefan Everts. The team Yamaha/Rinaldi L&M rider broke the win streak of Team Tiscali/Martin Honda talent Mickael Pichon and added another win (his fifth at Namur) to his career win record, making it now 78 GP victories. Perhaps the best news for him was the birth of his son Liam on Friday. Click here to see Everts new son.

Factory KTM rider Steve Ramon holeshot Moto1 with fellow Belgian Everts, Pichon and Josh Coppins in tow. Everts pushed into the lead by lap two and set a pace that the rest of the field were unable to match. Pichon maintained his rhythm and pushed up to second place by lap two, but three laps later the Tiscali/Martin Honda rider crashed at the end of a downhill, relegating himself to seventh. Coppins and Ramon made the most of the Frenchman's error and moved up into second and third places, which they held onto until the chequered flag, whilst Pichon recovered to fourth. Another Belgian, Cedric Melotte was back in action at Namur, but he retired on lap six. He was suffering from extreme back pain from an injury sustained earlier in the year

It was Pichon's turn to holeshot in Moto2 but Everts still passed him in the wooded section to take the lead of the pack in lap one. However, Everts crashed on lap two, allowing Pichon followed by factory Suzuki RM-Z450 pilot Kevin Strijbos and Coppins to surge by him. Pichon and Coppins rode hard on the while Everts climbed back up from seventh to third. Ramon removed himself from the scene when he crashed spectacularly in the woods.

Stefan Everts said: "I think that this weekend has been the most emotional in my life! Friday was a great day for me. And then winning in Namur is a dream come true, especially after Liam. In both races I was really aggressive from the beginning, like Mickael was in Czech Republic. I made some tricky passes today, it's a pity that I crashed in the Moto2. After that it was tough as Steve Ramon was pushing really hard, I knew I needed to finish third to win the GP. When Steve passed me it was a difficult place, he started to slide and then had a very big crash, he hit the trees and went over the handlebars; I saw in the next lap that he was OK. The track was really physical this year, very hot and hard in some places to stay focused."

Joshua Coppins said: "My starts were not especially good today, but my riding was good. It was easier for me when the track was wet; it was more technical and slippery. In the Moto2 I came really close to Mickael, I think I was a little bit faster at this moment but on the big double my hand came off the bar. It was pretty sore and I tried to keep pushing but almost crashed and then decided to slow down a little bit. My plan was to attack again later, but my rhythm was not good; I was too tired. It has been a really good day for me, everyone on the Cas team is working hard and I hope I can win another GP before the season is finished."

MX1 MOTO 1
1. S. Everts Yamaha
2. J. Coppins Honda
3. S. Ramon KTM
4. M. Pichon Honda
5. K. De Dijcker Honda
6. K. Strijbos Suzuki
7. J. Bill KTM
8. Y. Atsuta Honda
9. L. Seguy Yamaha
10. B. Mackenzie Yamaha

MX1 MOTO2
1. M. Pichon Honda
2. J. Coppins Honda
3. S. Everts Yamaha
4. K. Strijbos Suzuki
5. B. Jorgensen Honda
6. T. Leok Suzuki
7. D. Theybers Yamaha
8. M. Bervoets Yamaha
9. J. Dobes Suzuki
10. Y. Atsuta Honda

MX1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDING AFTER ROUND 13 OF 16

1. Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 572
2. Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 479
3. Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 441
4. Steve Ramon KTM BEL 394
5. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 360
6. Tanel Leok Suzuki EST 298
7. Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 294
8. Cédric Melotte Yamaha BEL 291
9. Ken De Dijcker Honda BEL 211
10. Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 181

MX2 CLASS
Italian Antonio Cairoli's first time

Thanks to a second and a fourth moto finishes, Antonio "young goblin" Cairoli won his first GP and Finn Jussi Vehvilainen went 6-3 to secure his best GP result ever and a double runner-up result for the Team CAS Honda. Team Yamaha UK Race Andrew McFarlane took third.

Moto1 was a great battle between Vehvilainen, former World champion Alessio "Chicco" Chiodi and Cairoli. Vehvilainen led half of the race but made a mistake and gave the lead to Chiodi and Cairoli. Stephen Sword was not a threat as he was involved in a pile-up at the start and could only recover to sixteenth. KTM's didn't fair so well, but Tyla Rattray did get a seventh despite his damaged shoulder.

The current World Championship leader, New Zealander Ben Townley and his teammate Marck De Reuver both DNF'd with technical problems on their factory KTM 4-strokes. Both took their revenge in the Moto2, battling until the last lap - Townley finally winning the moto. Again Vehvilainen got the holeshot, followed by Chiodi, but the Italian rider broke his engine in the first lap and was done for the day. In the end, it was Cairoli claiming his first ever GP win just a week after his first moto win.

Antonio Cairoli said, "The track here in Namur is quite unique so when I first rode on Saturday I had some problems finding a good rhythm, but lap after lap I was getting faster and by the end of the day I was happy. The first race was quite intense racing with Chiodi, but I enjoyed it very much. Then in the second race, I didn't get such a good start but I saw that Alessio had stopped and so the pressure was off me a little. I am very happy to win here today."

Jussi Pekka Vehvilainen said, "It's a big surprise for me to be on the podium in my second GP since the end of 2002! I injured my back twice, once in 2003 and last time just before the opening race in Zolder. I had two good starts today, it's always important at Namur; I made some mistakes in the first moto and the second one was better. I would like to thank Harry, the boss of the CAS Honda team; I don't know many managers who keep confidence in a rider who get two big injuries in two years and Harry was always behind me during this time."

MX2 MOTO1
1. A. Chiodi Yamaha
2. A. Cairoli Yamaha
3. M. Maschio Kawasaki
4. P. Caps Yamaha
5. A. McFarlane Yamaha
6. J. Vehvilainen Honda
7. T. Rattray KTM
8. A. Bartolini Yamaha
9. C. Stevanini Honda
10. A. Leok KTM

MX2 MOTO2
1. B. Townley KTM
2. M. De Reuver KTM
3. J. Vehvilainen Honda
4. Cairoli Yamaha
5. S. Sword Kawasaki
6. C. Nunn Honda
7. S. Pourcel Kawasaki
8. McFarlane Yamaha
9. T. Rattray KTM
10. M. Monni Yamaha

MX2 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDING AFTER ROUND 13 OF 16

1. Ben Townley KTM NZL 497
2. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 404
3. Stephen Sword Kawasaki BGR 382
4. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 337
5. Andrew McFarlane Yamaha AUS 329
6. Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 318
7. Mickael Maschio Kawasaki FRA 303
8. Carl Nunn Honda GBR 253
9. Patrick Caps Yamaha BEL 248
10. Claudio Federici Yamaha ITA 207

After 13 of 16 rounds, Stefan Everts in MX1 class and Ben Townley in the MX2 class together have taken 50% of all victories and both sport huge points leads on the second place riders in their class. Consequently, the GP in three weeks could see both clinch the respective class titles early.