FAENZA (ITALY), 14 September 2008 - The SIDI Grand Prix of Citta di Faenza put a finish to the MX1 and MX2 World Championships throughout an extremely emotional event.
The 30,000 home fans celebrated David Philippaerts' MX1 World Title at the end of a hard fought Grand Prix characterized by mixed weather conditions. Max Nagl won his first Grand Prix courtesy of a double heat win. Ken de Dycker and Jonathan Barragan rounded off the podium. Steve Ramon and De Dycker ended second and third respectively in the MX1 Championship.
In the MX2 class it was another crowd explosion when Tyla Rattray wrapped up his first MX2 title after the first moto. Rattray even mounted on the GP podium in second place behind overall winner Tommy Searle. The latter ended second in the Championship with Nicolas Aubin rounding off the top three.
MX1 CLASS
It was an intense day in Italy for Max Nagl and David Philippaerts; Nagl, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider, took his maiden start to finish first in heat one and went on to take another win in heat two ending with his first GP win under his belt.
On the other hand David Philippaerts of Yamaha Monster Motocross rode two strong heats and even though he could not make the top three overall he was crowned MX1 World Champion in front of his home crowd. Philippaerts became the first ever Italian to win an MX1 Title as the last Italian to have won a title in the top class was Alex Puzar in 1990 (250cc).
After taking second in heat one Teka Suzuki WMX1's Ken de Dycker moved up to second in the Championship but could not hold teammate Steve Ramon's challenge in heat two as he dropped back to third behind Ramon. Though De Dycker brought home a podium courtesy of a strong recovery in heat two.
AXO KTM Silver Action's Jonathan Barragan brought the factory bike home in third courtesy of two fourth places in the heats.
Ramon was fourth overall ahead of Philippaerts.
Sebastien Pourcel had a tough day. In heat one some green net tangled up in his back wheel and forced him off for three laps. In heat two he crashed several times.
MX1 Moto1
Nagl dominated heat one from the start to the checkered flag. Pourcel was following in second until a mistake forced the Frenchman off the track with green net tangling in his rear wheel. De Dycker and Philippaerts gained one position each and found themselves in second and third respectively. Previously the duo went through the pack in an impressive recovery from the bottom of the top ten. Barragan worked his way up to fourth ahead of Mackenzie as both exploited a mistake of De Reuver. Ramon was eleventh after a crash.
MX1 Moto2
Once again Nagl dominated all 22 laps of the final heat. Ramon moved past Coppins for second and kept the place until the checkered flag, moving back to second in the Championship. On the other hand De Dycker had a bad start to recover to an eventual fifth. Philippaerts started well but dropped down to an eventual ninth to wrap up the MX1 title. Coppins was third ahead of Barragan who made a mistake before the end of the opening lap stalling the bike in a rut.
De Reuver retired as he hurt his right foot while Pourcel crashed several times.
Max Nagl:
"I trained so much for this weekend, Stefan (Everts, team manager and multi world champion) gave me some advice on the lines. I have won one race during the season but I can't believe today I won both for my first GP win. I will be back next year and I will be fighting for a top three position in the title."
Ken De Dycker :
"If somebody had told me at the start of the season that I'd finish third in the championship I wouldn't have believed them It's been a long and hard championship season and I'm really pleased with my final position. The first race was good for me. I was riding well and I came from a long way back to finish second. The second moto wasn't so good, I got another bad start and I could see Steve ahead of me but I think that made me a little nervous because I wanted to catch him so much - it just didn't work out for me. I'm really happy that Suzuki won the manufacturers' title - it really means a lot to Suzuki, the team and also the riders. I think it goes a long way to prove just how good the Suzuki RM-Z450 is as a bike. I've learned a lot this year and for sure next year there will be things that I'll do differently. That's really important that I learn from my mistakes and I can gain motivation from the fact that I know I can still improve."
David Philippaerts MX1 WORLD CHAMPION :
"It has been a long, long year and now I am so happy. Steve ( Ramon) and Ken ( De Dycker) were really fast all week and kept the pressure on. I wanted to take decent points at every GP and I only really believed that the title was in my grasp during that second moto today. I had looked at Steve's season in 2007 and I knew that consistency was the key to the title. I am so pleased for the team, Yamaha, Michele Rinaldi and my sponsors. I also want to say a big thank you to my girlfriend Alice. I am happy and it was so emotional to win the championship here in Italy and in front of those fans. I do not know what else I can say!"