Tanel Leok
Fairyhouse Race Course hosted a Grand Prix of the Republic of Ireland today in front of 16000 spectators who enjoyed the sunny weather.
Tanel Leok won his first ever MX1 GP over Ken de Dycker and Steve Ramon, who is still second in the Championship with a five point gap from leader David Philippaerts.
In the MX2 class Tyla Rattray won over Tommy Searle and Steven Frossard as first heat winner Zach Osborne had mechanical problems in the final heat.
Zach Osbourne
MX1 Class
Kawasaki Racing's Tanel Leok finally celebrated his first GP victory by winning the final moto after taking the runner up spot in heat one. Teka Suzuki WMX1 team mates Ken de Dycker and Steve Ramon rounded off the podium ahead of fourth placed David Philippaerts of Yamaha Monster Motocross as they made some ground on the Championship leader. De Dycker won the opening moto and got onto the podium with third in the final heat where Ramon ended runner up.
The latter took fifth in heat one as a late pass by Philippaerts saw him drop by one position. Leading some laps in both heats CAS Honda's Billy Mackenzie took fifth overall as Jonathan Barragan had a bad day and ended 10th - a first moto tangle hampered his overall result. Josh Coppins was also involved in that tangle and he eventually dnf'd in the final moto due to another crash.
Tanel Leok
MX1 Moto 1
Philippaerts holeshotted the first corner but could not keep up with the pace of the front runners and dropped down to fifth. In the meantime Mackenzie took the lead but first De Dycker and then Leok moved past him, with the Estonian exploiting one mistake by Mackenzie. The latter took third thanks to a successful defence from a late charge of Philippaerts, who had moved past Ramon for fourth. Ramon ended fifth ahead of Pourcel. The latter was involved in a first corner tangle together with Barragan, Coppins and Aranda.
MX1 Moto 2
Mackenzie led again in the opening laps but he made a mistake and dropped down by two places with Leok taking first and Philippaerts second. The Estonian rode his own race to take victory while Philippaerts was passed both by Ramon and De Dycker to end an eventual fourth ahead of Mackenzie. Pourcel brought the fuel injection bike home in ninth due to a first lap crash while Barragan ended 12th because of several crashes. The final moto was quite unfortunate for Coppins who sat out of the race due to a first lap tangle that damaged the front end of his machine.
Tanel Leok:
"It feels great to have won the overall. I'm not sure how to put it into words - it's unbelievable. I actually didn't like the track that much, actually it was the wood that was sat on top of the track that I didn't like. At times it was really quite painful - it would get inside your clothing and chafe, itch and scratch. It was also annoying when you were behind someone - the sawdust just made it unpleasant.
Zach Osbourne
In the first race I was third then I dropped back a spot before moving back up to second. I caught De Dycker quite easily after that but it was hard to make a pass because when you were pushing hard it was easy to make mistakes - he made some and I'd catch him then I'd make some and he'd pull away. It was like there was one or two seconds gap all the time and I just couldn't get any closer. In the second moto I came out of turn one in second place then I made a mistake and Philippaerts passed me but I passed him right back. After that it was just Billy and I out front making quite a good pace until he made a mistake and crashed. After that I had a big enough lead just to control the gap between myself and Ramon. I was feeling quite nervous and I was trying not to make mistakes but I couldn't find a good rhythm - I was just taking it a little bit easy until I crossed the finish line."
Ken De Dycker:
"The first race was good even though I didn't have such a good start, I found it easy to come through and when I was in the lead I found it easy to control the race from there. I was so relaxed and my lines were working well - it was a very enjoyable ride.
I got a bad start in the second moto and I struggled early on because the lines were so different than in the first moto and I couldn't find a good pace so I started to get angry with myself. This cost me some energy I think and I was also making a lot of mistakes which cost me time. I was happy to finally finish third though and second overall on the day is good too."
Tanel Leok
Steve Ramon:
"The start was not so good in the first race and I found it quite difficult to pass, I spent a long time sat behind Billy and it was tiring me out as I had to try different lines and to push hard to try and get past. I started to get a little bit of arm pump and Philippaerts was able to close in on me and eventually pass me and I wasn't happy with that but I knew that I had tried my hardest.
Before the second race we changed some settings on the bike and put it back to how I usually have it and things were much better for me. The second moto start was good and my riding was also much better than in the first moto. I found some good lines out there and I could put pressure on Philippaerts - he used some different lines to try and hold me back but I was able to pass him quite easily. Straight away I pulled a little gap on him and that was good. In fact the whole second moto was good for me - okay Tanel was fast in that race but I beat David and the gap between myself and him is down to five points now. The last two GPs will be tough but I'll do the best I can to recapture my world title!"