SEVLIEVO, 17 June 2007- A very hot temperature and a very dry track made everyone forget of yesterday's rain, and of last year's incredibly wet race.The Gorna Rositza circuit was conquered by Yamaha's winning duo Joshua Coppins -MX1- and Antonio Cairoli -MX2- who both increased their Championship lead.
MX1
Joshua Coppins of Yamaha Motocross won his fifth Grand Prix of the year, and is currently on a season high. It is almost impossible to beat the Kiwi, but Jonathan Barragan of KTM Red Bull made it in the first moto. He crashed in the final heat, but still he conquered the second step of the podium, ahead of Suzuki's Steve Ramon. Poleman Sebastien Pourcel of GPKR rode to a solid fourth place, earning two more points than KTM Red Bull's David Philippaerts, fifth.
MX1 GRAND PRIX RACE 1
David Philippaerts had a storming start, but his team mate Jonathan Barragan found an open door soon and moved up to the lead. The Spaniard -who had picked up a shoulder injury after Valkenswaard- lead the entire moto, taking advantage of the early fights for second place.Steve Ramon was on the KTM's tail, but was passed by Josh Coppins and Sebastien Pourcel. With Barragan escaping from his rivals, Coppins put the heat on Philippaerts, and finally battled with the Italian for the second place. Once Josh passed, David made a mistake and crashed. The Italian rejoined the race in fifth place and just brought the bike home, while Coppins settled for the runner up spot, surrendering to a very fast Barragan.Pourcel came close to Coppins but dared too much and slipped, losing contact with Coppins but making it to the chequered flag with third. The Frenchman kept a very dangerous Steve Ramon behind; the Belgian took no risks and secured the fourth place ahead of Philippaerts.
Billy Mackenzie had a tough moto, as he crashed at the opening lap and did not finish the race.
MX1 GRAND PRIX RACE 2
Philippaerts collected another great start, but it was not enough to get rid of Coppins and Mike Brown, who jumped up to the lead at the exit of the first corner.Brown kept Coppins behind in second for a couple of laps, then the Kiwi moved up to first to finally own the chequered flag and the GP win.Ramon had a duel with Coppins for second place, with the two passing each other twice, but let the Kiwi go to try another assault later on. Unfortunately, for Ramon, by the time he passed Brown, Coppins was too far away and the Belgian settled down in second place.Both David Philippaerts and Sebastien Pourcel came close to Brown's rear end; the Italian was the first to make the move on Brown, then Pourcel also overtook the American. Brown tried to stop Pourcel, but crashed and rejoined the race in ninth place.Pourcel smelt the podium and tried to attack Philippaerts, but the rock-solid Italian never made mistakes, giving the Frenchman no chances to overtake.With Pourcel grasping the fourth place, Jonathan Barragan had another incredible moto; he crashed in the opening lap, and then worked his way up from twentieth to fifth.
MX2
Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli had another memorable weekend, grasping his sixth double victory of the season here in Sevlievo, where the Italian had never won before. Poleman Christophe Pourcel of GPKR tried to stop the rival but missed the podium by only one point. KTM Red Bull's team mates Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle both made it to the podium, with a second and a third place respectively, after two solid motos. Honda Martin's Pascal Leuret completed the top five.
MX2 GRAND PRIX RACE 1
With Antonio Cairoli crossing Christophe Pourcel's line on the start straight, Tommy Searle took the holeshot but Cairoli snatched the lead from him by the end of the first lap.Cairoli did a race on his own, while Pourcel reached the runner up spot at lap five. The Frenchman wanted to close in on the Italian, but the real danger was coming from behind: Tommy Searle, Tyla Rattray and Pascal Leuret all passed the defending Champion in one single lap.That was an incredible tenth lap, with Rattray being on the back of Pourcel, but both ran wide to let Searle move up to second. While Rattray and Pourcel were fighting, Leuret found another open door and passed both rivals, who responded by moving back in front of Leuret again. Before the end of the lap, Pourcel dropped down to fifth behind Rattray and Leuret, and finally finished the race with a sixth place, after he was passed by Davide Guarneri.