Everts Dominates MX1 with a Double Victory, McFarlane Wins MX2 Again

Stefan Everts dominated the seventh round of the FIM MX1 Class Motocross World Championship that took place on the sandy, technical track of Matchams Park for the British Grand Prix. Australian Andrew McFarlane took yet another win in the MX2 Class and has now grabbed hold of the Championship lead.

MX1 Class

Eight time World Champion Stefan Everts made an excellent performance as he dominated both Moto1 and 2, riding flawlessly, the way that only Everts knows how. During Moto1 the Yamaha/L&M/Rinaldi rider took the holeshot and no one managed to catch him. In Moto2, Everts had to work a little harder. He had one rider to overtake, Joshua Coppins, before running away with the lead, once again riding fluidly despite the treacherous and sandy track.

Thanks to this double victory, Everts gained 40 points on his direct opponent, French rider Mickael Pichon who suffered a very bad day. In Moto1 he was tangled in a first turn crash with Ben Townley and Joel Smets. The Honda/Telefonica/Martin rider regrouped and tried to recover, but crashed three more times before the race was over. He was only able to salvage a 13th place finish. Moto2 wasn't much better than the first; Pichon wound up 8th.

Very good performance for Joshua "Lizard" Coppins as well: he was the second overall thanks to his 4th and 2nd positions. The Honda/Cas rider started well in the first moto, but during the 4th lap he had to take off his glasses which were too dirty and without them, riding on a sandy track becomes almost impossible. He wisely decided to be content with a satisfactory 4th place. Things definitely went better for Coppins in Moto2 where he landed second place.

Young New Zelander Ben Townley rode a remarkable race: As already said, he fell at the beginning of Moto1. Townley started dead last and dashed off in pursuit of the pack. He made ground lap by lap and was remarkably still able to land on the podium, finishing in third place. In Moto2, the factory KTM rider was running second just behind Everts when a fall brought him back to fifth place.

Stefan Everts "Today was physically very hard even if I had a fairly easy race. I had two good starts which meant I could control the races and find the best lines on the track. I have been looking for this double win for a long time. I have to keep going and try not to make many mistakes like in Teutschethal; as long as I am on the podium consistently then this is good enough."

Josh Coppins "I wasn't so happy with the first moto because I lost my goggles on lap four and got a lot of sand and dirt in my eyes which made things difficult. It's a little scary when you can't see on this track! But the second moto was good. I was surprised at my speed in the sand because I haven't trained that much in that sort of terrain this season. I've now moved up to third in the Championship, which is good because I was sick of getting fourths all the time! I was a little frustrated after the first race; I think it was my eighth fourth position."

Ben Townley "The track was really demanding today. The uphills, downhills and soft ground made it really tough and a lot of holes formed which made it even more difficult. I recovered well in the first moto but used a lot of energy coming back to third place. Going into the second moto I knew it was going to be tough so I tried to ride consistent. It was tough for me today."

MX2 Class

MX2 was undoubtedly the spectacle of the day. Antonio Cairoli unfortunately lost the MX2 Championship lead after bad luck struck in both motos. He got a bad start in Moto1, and while he attempted to recover, making his charge through the pack, the Yamaha/DeCarli rider had a mid-air collision with fellow Italian rider Davide Guarneri. Cairoli went down and hurt his right wrist and DNF. In Moto2, his hurting wrist and another crash relegated the young Sicilian to 13th place.

The Moto1 victory went to home rider Carl Nunn. He tried to repeat his performance in Moto2, but fell during the fourth lap. The valuable time it took to re-start his factory KTM again cost him a top ten finish; in the end he was only 14th. Australian Andrew McFarlane won the GP overall win thanks to a 2-1 finish. The Yamaha/Ricci rider is officially the first Australian to win four Grand Prix rounds, and also the first Aussie to lead the FIM MX World Championship Series.

A pair of threes scored second overall for another Italian, David Philippaerts, who raced his second event aboard the Factory 250 four-stroke KTM (of injured KTM rider Tyla Rattray). Third place went to 16-year-old French rider Christopher Pourcel aboard a Kawasaki. Pourcel picked up 10-2 results and rode brilliantly in Moto2 of the MX2 class. Both Philippaerts and Pourcel scored their first ever podium

Bad luck rained on former World Champion Alessio Chiodi. The Italian finished fourth in Moto1, but ultimately didn't score any points in Moto2 after a crash caused him to DNF. Factory Yamaha/L&M/Rinaldi's rider Cedric Melotte also DNF the second moto after he misjudged a jump and flat-landed, reportedly hurting his already injured wrist.

Andrew McFarlane "Today everything went really well, and for the first time in my career I am leading a World Championship. The track was really difficult, I made two good start and it helped me to get my third GP win of the season. I'm leading the Championship but the season is really long, I just want to take it one race at a time. As everyone knows—and we saw again today—anything can happen in motocross racing."

David Philippaerts "The season didn't start that well for me, but now I am achieving things that I dreamed of as a boy. I hope I can continue this form. I feel much better with the four-stroke and today I was able to show what I can do. I still need to get used to the 250; the bike has a lot of speed and I need to learn how to use the power. McFarlane and Pourcel were better than me. I only made the podium today because I wanted it so bad. I'd like to thank KTM for all the faith they've put into me."