Two months after the Japan GP, the convoy of the FIM MX World Championship headed to Sun City for the South Africa GP, the second overseas round of the 2005 season. The second edition of the South African GP was a success with a turn out of over 18,000 fans showing up in the hot sunshite for Round 11 of the MXGP series. The newly renovated terrain of the supercross-style track offered a technical test for the GP riders, but many fell victim to the slippery hardpack sections.
MX1 ClassJoshua Coppins won the GP of South Africa with a double victory—the second in a row for the New Zealander. Coppins pushed had to push hard for the win in Moto1, during which he struggled with Stefan Everts. The battle for first started off three ways between Coppins, Everts and Factory KTM rider Ben Townley. But Townley crashed hard just before the finish line jump, rejoining the race in fourth place and leaving the lead battle between Everts and Coppins. They swapped positions several times before the Honda/Cas rider got it and held it to the finish.Second overall went to eight-time World Champion Stefan Everts with a 2-2 finish. But Everts was very upset with his final results. The Yamaha/Rinaldi rider was about to be the winner of the GP, but lost it on the last lap of Moto2 with a rookie mistake. He was in control of the second moto and on his way to a 2-1 ovarall win (and 85th career victory), but during the last lap, in celebration of his imminent victory he let go of the bars while jumping to greet the audience. Then he lost his balance during the landing, fell and damaged the front brake. Meanwhile Coppins was getting closer, and—even to his own disbelief—overtook Everts (he turned back three times trying to understand what had happened).
In the end, Everts wound up handing the GP victory to Coppins on a silver platter. Everts was furious with his error and his series lead now slims to 39 points. Factory KTM rider Steve Ramon took third overall with his 3-3 finish for the day, earning the Belgian his first podium of the season.Mickael Pichon was not present at the South African GP. Rumors say there are problems between the French rider and his team. Insiders say that the departure of Ben Townley for the US circuit will leave an open Factory KTM ride for Pichon in 2006. We will see...Josh Coppins: "I was pretty lucky! Of course it's always good to win but I never expected to win like that. It's better to win because you're the best. I was the best in the first Moto but got a lot of cramps in the second Moto. I want to show Stefan that I want to race for the Championship. Even though he has a big lead, we've seen him make mistakes—more this year than ever before—and we saw this in the last lap. This is the time to push and make as many points as possible. This has been the best race of my career."Stefan Everts: "I am really unhappy with this. I had a stupid crash on the last lap and had a problem with the front brake. I had Josh beaten and I deserved the victory today. In the first moto I had more problems with the lappers—they seem to be a hassle at every GP—but Josh rode really well. I hope that I can win in Belgium because I wanted it really bad here."Steve Ramon: "My start was good in the first moto but I went wide in the sand and lost a place and then mis-judged the tabletop and a few more people got past me. I could not find a good rhythm for the first ten minutes and saw that Stefan and Josh were long gone. The second race was similar. My start was better, but again it took me time to find the speed and the good lines.
| | MX1 Moto1 1. J. Coppins Honda 2. S. Everts Yamaha 3. S. Ramon KTM 4. B. Townley KTM 5. J. Smets Suzuki 6. P. Cooper Honda 7. J. Barragan KTM 8. J. Noble Honda MX1 Moto 2 1. J. Coppins Honda 2. S. Everts Yamaha 3. S. Ramon KTM 4. J. Barragan KTM 5. P. Leuret Honda 6. J. Smets Suzuki 7. T. Leok Kawasaki 8. B. Jorgensen Yamaha Championship After Round 11 of 17 1. Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 455 2. Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 416 3. Ben Townley KTM NZL 368 4. Joel Smets Suzuki BEL 349 5. Steve Ramon KTM BEL 304 6. Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 299 7. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 211 8. James Noble Honda GBR 210
MX2 ClassThe Italian David Philippaerts was the strongest force once more in the MX2 class and took his second career victory and second win of the season. Bike It Yamaha rider Billy Mackenzie finished second overall with a pair of threes and Antonio "young goblin" Cairoli finished in third overall with a 9-2 finish for the day.MX2 Moto1The Australian Yamaha/Ricci rider Andrew McFarlane holeshot. During the first lap the Yamaha /Rinaldi rider Cedric Melotte and Yamaha/DeCarli rider Antonio Cairoli collided while inside the top five, sending both riders to the ground. Cairoli was able to come back more effectively to salvage a ninth-place finish, but Melotte hurt his already weak wrist. MX2 class World Championship leader Andrew McFarlane also fell victim of the track and crashed out of the lead on lap three.Veteran and three-time World Champion Alessio Chiodi took control but was passed by the young Frenchman Anthony Boissiere. Factory KTM rider David Philippaerts, despite a bad start, took the lead on lap thirteen. But Boissiere never gave up and again fronted the pack five laps later to win the Moto—the second career Moto win for the Yamaha rider. Scotland's Billy Mackenzie slid comfortably into third place.MX2 Moto2Italian Davide Guarniere holeshot the second Moto. Only ninth at the start of the second moto, Philippaerts rallied strongly again and made his presence felt by the seventh lap. Despite the assaults of Antonio Cairoli he controlled the second heat and celebrated the GP win. He has now accumulated 132 points from a possible 150 in the last three Grand Prix.Moto1 winner Boissiere crashed on the first lap, effectively taking him out of the running. He rallied back to fifteenth place to take sixth overall. Australian Andrew McFarlane started poorly but pulled through to safeguard his Championship lead (he only conceded one point to his direct antagonist Antonio Cairoli). The Yamaha/Rinaldi rider Melotte was out of the running due to his poor start, and compounded by his injured wrist. Another third place moto finish for Billy Mackenzie gave him first podium since Japan with second position overall.David Philippaerts: "The first moto was pretty difficult as I got a bad start and came back from ninth to first. I passed Boissiere who was leading the race, but he watched my lines and found finally a spot to pass me. I had a better start in the second heat and it was not easy to control Cairoli—he likes the indoor-style tracks. I'm usually not so strong in these conditions, but I won in France and now here, so maybe I also like these tracks now! It's my fifth podium in a row with the KTM 250F; my goal is to get the best results each weekend and to improve my ranking in the championship."Billy Mackenzie: "They did a good job keeping the track damp. In the first race Chiodi closed me out at the start and I was pretty lucky because quite a few people went down and it put me into a good position. I was pushing against Boissierre and Philippaerts but they were quite far ahead; I was hoping they would take each other out or make some mistakes! Third was good however and it was nice to get a solid result. In the second race I got a much better start and I moved over on the inside so that I wouldn't get closed off. On the second lap I had spun out and lost positions to Chiodi and Cairoli. I came around in about sixth and basically rode a hard race. Cairoli and I were having a close battle and I was just watching my lines and trying to pass the backmarkers as cleanly as I could. I think Cairoli was getting impatient and he made a mistake which let me through. From there on I fended off Cairoli and had a moment near the end when I hit neutral approaching a jump but managed to flick a gear and totally cased the tabletop. After that I knew I had second overall so I took it easy."
| | MX2 Moto1 1. A. Boissiere 2. D. Philippaert 3. B. MacKenzie 4. A. Chiodi 5. D. Guarneri 6. A. McFarlane 7. G. Swanepoel 8. C. PourcelMX2 Moto2 1. D. Philippaerts 2. A. Cairoli 3. B. MacKenzie 4. A. McFarlane 5. A. Chiodi 6. C. Pourcel 7. G. Swanepoel 8. R. GoncalvesChampionship After Round 11 of 17 1. Andrew McFarlane Yamaha AUS 378 2. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 354 3. Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 344 4. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 305 5. Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 284 6. Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 262 7. Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 228 8. Carl Nunn KTM GBR 212
