LIEROP (THE NETHERLANDS), 7 September 2008 - Excitement continued in the FIM Motocross World Championships as the series just saw its penultimate round completed in Lierop under mixed weather conditions and in front of 35.000 spectators.
Home rider Marc de Reuver won in front of the massive crowd as Ken de Dycker and Max Nagl rounded off the podium. David Philippaerts remained the series leader courtesy of two gutsy races as runner up Steve Ramon lost points on the Italian as he finished a bitter eighth.
Tyla Rattray took another GP win to increase his points lead over teammate and runner up Tommy Searle, second on today's podium. Nicolas Aubin rounded off the top three and moved up to third in the Championship.
MX1 CLASS
Martin Honda's sand specialist Marc de Reuver took his first ever GP victory on his favourite ground and no other place was better than his home round in Lierop. Winning heat one, De Reuver had a tough time in the final heat as Teka Suzuki WMX1's Ken de Dycker won to seal the second overall position. On the other hand De Reuver crashed twice but still won the overall courtesy of a strong recovery. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Max Nagl rounded off the podium ahead of Yamaha Monster Motocross' David Philippaerts and teammate Joshua Coppins. Steve Ramon had a tough time and could only manage to finish eighth overall.Billy Mackenzie sat out of the GP because a crash the previous day in practice caused him unbearable pain to the rib area.
MX1 MOTO 1
De Reuver took victory in heat one after displaying great sand riding skills; the Dutchman felt the pressure of a hungry De Dycker who crashed in the final laps while chasing De Reuver for first. Once De Dycker crashed Philippaerts found himself in second but Barragan, who crashed in the opening laps while chasing early leader Nagl from second, eventually moved past for the runner up spot ahead of Philippaerts. Coppins rode solid to take fourth ahead of Nagl, who crashed with 13 minutes to go. Ramon dropped to seventh after a good start while De Dycker ended eighth.
MX1 MOTO 2
An eventful final moto ended with De Dycker on top of the class ahead of Nagl and De Reuver. The latter put together two impressive recoveries; the first one after he crashed into Barragan, who had previously crashed, and the second one after he crashed when he was in the lead. For the first time in his career Priem led a moto but a mistake saw the Belgian drop down to ninth. Nagl confirmed his solid self by taking second and the same goes for Desalle, finishing fourth ahead of Philippaerts and Coppins. The latter gave victory a go when he stormed to De Dycker's tail in the final laps but a mistake and a crash hampered his final result. Ramon ended eighth ahead of Priem.
Marc De Reuver:
"Qualifying was good. I put in a fast lap, then De Dycker passed me and I felt like I could give a little bit more so I went out again and I did the perfect lap. I knew from how good the time was that it would be good enough for pole and I was right.
In the first moto I built up my pace through the race like I did in Lommel. I waited for the front guys to tire a little bit because they went wide open in the first few laps. I didn't have such a good rhythm in the beginning but it got better as the race progressed and I was able to work my way through all those guys and win quite easily.
In the second moto I wanted to get a good start so I didn't get stuck in all the traffic. I actually did get a really good start and I was running second until Barragan passed me quite aggressively. I just let him go because I was confident that I could control the race anyway but then he crashed quite hard in front of me and I ran into him and I crashed also.
I thought to myself 'this is not possible and I must win' so I did three or four very fast laps and then I rested for a little bit and then I pushed again to take the lead. Then I made a stupid mistake and I slid out right in front of the pit lane. When I got going again I was tired and all I could do was follow home the front guys to finish third. I'm very happy to win here in front of my home crowd - it's been an unbelievable day for me."