FIM MX World Championship GP of Czech Republic (Loket) - Round 13

After the muddy round at Nismes, it was yet another GP marked by, torrential rain showers and cold, wet and wintry conditions at the Czech Republic GP (Loket), round 13 of the FIM World Motocross Championship Series.

The hillside Loket track, 120 km west of Prague, was hard packed until heavy rain on Friday left the top surface very slippery. Good starts were the key to success, but more rain throughout the weekend failed to improve track conditions.

MX1 Class

Thanks to a 4-1 score for the day, Suzuki factory rider Kevin Strijbos scored his first ever Grand Prix victory. The 19-year-old showed no signs of his recent injury troubles when he captured fourth in the first moto, and the victory in the moto2. The young Belgian won the third heat of his career and collected the overall—the first ever MX1 for Suzuki and their RM-Z450. The championship leader Stefan Everts took second place at the GP of CZ Republic with 1-4 finish, and the Kiwi Joshua Coppins rounded out the podium with a 3-2 finish. Strijbos finished equal in points to Stefan Everts but sampled his first view from the top step of the podium thanks to his second moto standing.

Moto1
The first corner of the Loket track characterized the entire GP; many riders fell victim to the extremely muddy and slippery conditions.

In other MX1 news, Mickael Pichon said in Saturday's press conference that he would finish the 2005 season and complete one more year before retirement. The two-time World Champion even hinted that he might consider an MX2 ride for 2006.

The Yamaha factory rider Brian Jorgensen holeshot followed by Stefan Everts and Mickael Pichon. Everts was able to overtake his teammate Jorgensen when he made a mistake in the muddy section. In the same lap, Pichon also overtook the Danish rider who was struggling with arm-pump. In an aggressive attempt to remain in a podium position, Jorgensen got too aggressive and spun out, falling back to ninth by the race's end.

Everts crossed the line first followed by Pichon. Josh Coppins had a really good performance. The Honda Cas rider crashed in teh first corner, but in a wild recovery, he worked his way back up to finish the moto in third place. Kevin Strijbos finish in fourth position.

Moto2
It was another start, and another big crash in the infamous first corner, this time involving Everts, Pichon, Ramon and Smets amongst other riders. Strijbos grabbed the holeshot followed by Coppins, the two riders ran with the advantage and battled most of the race. On the second lap the Honda rider passed Strijbos, but after a few more laps, a flying rock broke Coppins' roll-off system. Unable to clear his muddy goggles, Coppins had trouble picking his lines. He inevitably made a mistake and Strijbos was able to re-passed him.

Everts and Pichon began to make up time after the crash. Everts pushed and fought hard to make a miraculous recovery. His forty-minute charge rewarded him with fourth place as he dove past Ken de Dycker (Honda) on the last lap, but the French rider wasn't as fortunate. Pichon worked his way back to 14th place over two thirds of the race, but a damaged throttle cable (it was sticking open) caused him to pull off with a DNF.

Kevin Strijbos won the moto and complete his first career MX1 success. Josh Coppins took a hard-earned second place and KTM's Ben Townley rounded out the podium.

MX2 Class

Antonio Cairoli took his fifth victory of the season with a 1-2 finish. At the Saturday afternoon press conference, the Sicilian also confirmed that he will stay with the Claudio De Carli Team for another two years and remain in Europe to race the MXGP series. The young French rider Cristophe Pourcel confirmed his speed and ability taking second overall with a 5-1, the Kawasaki rider only in his sophmore year of the GP series.

Championship leader Andrew McFarlane suffered a hard crash during Saturday's practice and qualification. The Yamaha Ricci rider didn't find a good rhythm with the circuit and, "Sharky" only finished third overall with 4-4. The Australian now has just one point of advantage in the championship over Cairoli.

As usual, Cairoli holeshot and led the entire first moto, controlling the race all the way from start to finish. Second place went to Dutchman Marc De Reuver who has made a strong comeback to the GP circuit as it was his second moto of the season. Despite the good performance, the factory KTM rider could not ultimately land the overall podium. A shaky start in the second moto left him 13th. Carl Nunn finished third in the first moto but found the damper conditions of the second moto slightly more tricky and dropped to 7th place. Fourth Andrew McFarlane.

Christophe Pourcel holeshot the second moto followed by Cairoli. the Sicilian kid pushed hard, but the young French was simply too fast and determined. Pourcel took a well deserved win in the moto; second place and the overall victory went to Cairoli. The Italian David Philippaerts blasted out from 26th to grab 3rd place with his factory KTM. Marc De Reuver and Carl Nunn struggled to recover from their bad starts, finishing the moto 13th and 7th respectively. A carbon copy of the first moto awaited Andrew McFarlane. The Ricci Racing rider score another fourth place finish, guaranteeing him the last podium spot behind Cairoli and Pourcel.

Antonio Cairoli: "The start of the first moto was good because I could make a gap very quickly over the next rider; it was fairly easy to control the race and win. I had another good start in the second moto but I ran a little wide in the first turn and Pourcel passed me. I could see that he was very fast and that we were using the same lines. He was quicker and deserved the moto win but I knew the overall was mine. The most important thing was to finish in front of Andrew today."

Christophe Pourcel: "In the first race I got a good start and finished fifth. Second race I got the holeshot and with Cairoli, we got away. I am happy with my race and weekend."

Andrew McFarlane: "Yesterday was pretty tough for me and I was struggling but I got two good starts today and found some good lines which allowed me to get on the podium again. It was a decent result because I did not have such a good feeling with the surface but the points were important for the championship. Antonio has come closer but there are four more Grand Prix and a lot of points to be won."