Everts' Third Triumph in the Mantova International

The European preseason opened February 13 at the spectacular sandy track at Mantova, Italy, with the international Star Cross race. At the end, eight-time World champion Stefan Everts stood atop the podium, prevailing through three strong motos.

Thanks to a beautiful day with sun and a northwest wind sweeping away any clouds, this latest edition in the 22-year history of the Nuvolari brought the crowd to its feet even as it confirmed "the Cannibal," Stefan Everts, at the top of European motocross.

The morning launched the battle for the Airoh Cup, as the best riders fought each other in "tennis matchups" until the final moto, in which L&M Rinaldi Yamaha's Everts faced Team Suzuki's Joel Smets. The world champion won after Smets' crashed. In an elegant gesture, the Cannibal suggested rerunning the match, but Smets, for timing reasons, could not accept his challenge; so the race director decided to leave the Cup under racing silk, and the Everts-Smets duel will open Star Cross 2006.

As for the race itself, in the first moto, former world champion (and now a test rider for factory Yamaha), Andrea Bartolini grabbed the holeshot, while a crash took down all of the L&M Rinaldi Yamaha riders—Everts, Brian Jorgensen and Cédric Melotte. Factory KTM rider Steve Ramon wrested the lead, but under pressure from Martin Honda's Mickael Pichon, fell, clearing the way for Smets and Spaniard Javier Garcia-Vico.

The second moto was exciting as Pichon led Bartolini, but he crashed out. Ramon then took the lead, with Everts attacking furiously. In the seventh turn, Everts forced his way past as Ramon hit the ground. He then held the lead ahead of Pichon and Garcia-Vico.

For the third and decisive moto, tension among Everts, Pichon, Smets and Garcia-Vico was high. Everts speedily grabbed the lead and carried home his third victory in Mantova (his other wins were in 1994 and 2004). In second was Garcia-Vico, who was bathed in champagne for his debut with the Martin Honda team. Third place went to Smets, which dispelled ugly memories from a year ago when the Belgian suffered a knee injury that required an eight-month rehab.

No such luck for MX2 World champion Ben Townley. In the first moto, the factory KTM rider broke a chain and DNFed; in the second moto, he crashed; and in the third moto, he DNFed due to a hand injury.

Results

Moto 1:
1. Pichon (Honda/Fra)
2. Smets (Suzuki/Bel) +0:17
3. Garcia-Vico (Honda/Spa) +0:21
4. Bartolini (Yamaha/Ita) +0:29
5. Leok Aigar (KTM/Est) +0:39

Moto 2:
1. Everts (Yamaha/Bel)
2. Pichon +0:04
3. Garcia-Vico +0:27
4. Smets +0:33
5. Ramon (KTM/Bel) +0:37

Moto 3 :
1. Everts
2. Garcia-Vico
3. Smets +0:14
4. Aigar +0:19
5. Ramon +0:30

FINAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Everts 63
2. Garcia-Vico 62
3. Smets 60
4. Pichon 47
5. Ramon 47