Race Results for the FIM MX World Championship in Bellpuig Spain - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

After pouring rain, which dampened the first GP of the 2006 season in Zolder (Belgium), beautiful sunshine accompanied the second GP in Bellpuig (Spain.) Due to the sunshine, the organisers of the event wet the track prior to the race to keep the dust down. As a result, the surface of the track was slimy and insidious in some parts, and full of mud and furrows in others. The track conditions explain the falls and slides that characterised the MX1 and MX2 competition.MX2 CLASS:
This second GP marks the second victory for Tyla Rattray. Even though he didn't win any of the heats here in Spain, he's managed to demonstrate, yet again, great determination, and obtained the victory of the GP of Catalunya (Spain) thanks to a 5th and 2nd place.Everything was going well for the South-African in the first heat, who was amongst the fastest at the starting line, but he lost the front of his KTM at the second turn and fell. He quickly got back up and onto his bike for an exhausting recovery.He was at the 12th position in the first lap but managed to get up to the 5th for the end of the first heat.He had another good start at the beginning of the second heat, but after contact against with Kenneth Gundersen, he slipped into third place. After overtaking his team mate, Marc De Reuver, he tried to get closer to the leader Antonio Cairoli. Failing to take the lead, Rattray settled for second place. With a third and a fifth, Marc De Reuver Thanks to a 3rd and a 5th position, Marck DeReuver obtained an absolute 2nd place.MX2 MOTO 1
The young French Christophe Pourcel was the fastest at the starting line, but the Kawasaki pilot's dream vanished just before ending the first lap, when Pourcel slipped and was undertaken by both Alessio Chiodi and Kenneth Gundersen.The two Yamaha Ricci team mates battled for two laps, then Gundersen succeeded in overtaking the three-time world champion Chiodi and took the lead. As mentioned Rattray fell and had to jump back on his works KTM. The present world champion, Antonio Cairoli, after having won the qualifying heat on Saturday, was predicted as "the man to beat".All predictions soon faded away: an unhappy start, and a slip, which caused his Yamaha to get stuck between a wooden pole and the green fence, stopped the Sicilian riding for the De Carli team. After spending time to free his bike, he was a lap behind and decided to retire from the race.An excellent performance by the KTM official Dutch rider, Marc De Reuver, yielded a third. Kenneth Gundersen won the Moto 1, after two years of setbacks from accidents and injuries.MX2 MOTO 2
Cairoli, not too happy about retiring from the first race, started off with a holeshot as soon as the gate comes down. He was followed by the two leading KTM riders: De Reuver and Rattray. Cairoli quickened the pace to gain an advantage on the two team-mates when Rattray overtook De Reuver and gained the second position. A fast and engaging duel with Cairoli ensued as riders hoped the Italian would make mistakes, which didn't happen. Cairoli ultimately won, followed by Rattray.DeReuver is instead the one who makes a mistake when due to a simple slip loses some position and his third place moves into Billy Mackenzie's hands.Luck turns its back on Gundersen who after winning the first moto, fell in the first lap of the second heat and inspite of his long recovery didn't get further than the 19th place.Tyla Rattray:
"It was crazy the amount of water they put down for the race. When I came around the second corner, I lost the front end and slid down the track like a road racer. I picked the bike up quickly and saw a few guys go down in the second corner. I knew I had to put in a few hard laps in the beginning because the group would start to spread out and it is harder to pass riders. I expected the second race to be a lot better, as long as I could get through the first lap OK. I got a good jump out of the gate but then I bumped with Kenneth, and only came around the first turn in third. I passed De Reuver to tried and stay with Cairoli. He was trying to get away and stretch his lead, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I was pushing as hard as he was, and although the pace dropped a little bit towards the end, I still could not find a way to get close to overtake. That makes nine GP wins and I'd really like to go for number ten in Portugal."Marc de Reuver:
"I was third in the first heat and that was the best I could do because I made some mistakes and I had to push to stay ahead of Pourcel. It was quite exciting towards the end as four riders were within five seconds of each other. I started well again in the second heat but I wasn't riding as smooth and had a small crash. I still took fifth, and it was good enough for another podium, and also important for the Championship because I am still second. I am being consistent and I have finished top five in every heat so far."Antonio Cairoli:
"I crashed after five laps and I could not start again quickly because the bike was caught in the green fence. I lost one lap there, and also many points. I was faster than De Reuver and Rattray but pulled out after the crash because I was so far behind. For the second heat I really wanted to win and started very well. The battle between Tyla and I was nice and it was good to come back and win. I am happy with my condition and the speed."Kenneth Gundersen:
"The first race was perfect. I had a good start, passed Chiodi and controlled it the whole way. It was a great feeling to finish first again. In the second race De Reuver cut my line at the start and I was down somewhere between 15th and 20th but then I crashed on the first lap and twisted my knee. After that I rode just to try and get as many points as I can. It is the same knee that I injured last year but it is not a big problem."MX2 Class

|||| |---|---|---| |MOTO 1 1. K. Gundersen 2. A. Chiodi 3. M. De Reuver 4. C. Pourcel 5. T. Rattray 6. S. Pourcel 7. C. Nunn 8. B. MacKenzie 9. L. Seguy 10. D. Philippaerts|MOTO 2 1. A. Cairoli 2.T. Rattray 3.B. MacKenzie 4.R. Goncalves 5.M. De Reuver 6.D. Philippaerts 7.C. Pourcel 8.D. Guarneri 9.L. Seguy 10. A. Chiodi|After 2 round of 15 1. Tyla Rattray (RSA) 83 KTM 2. Marc De Reuver (NED) 74 KTM 3. Christophe Pourcel (FRA) 64 Kaw 4. Kenneth Gundersen (SWE) 64 Yam 5. David Philippaerts (ITA) 59 KTM 6. ntonio Cairoli (ITA) 53 Yam 7. Alessio Chiodi (ITA) 48 Yam 8. Carl Nunn (GBR) 47 KTM 9. Billy MacKenzie (GBR) 45 Yam 10. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA) 44 Kaw| MX1 CLASS
The nine-time world champion won the GP, thanks to a third and a first place. With this latest victory, Stefan Everts, who rides for the Yamaha-Rinaldi team, achieves 89 GP won in his overall career.All of the fans who were expecting a duel between Everts and Sebastien Tortelli, like the one we witnessed two weeks ago in Zolder (Belgium) were a bit disappointed.Tortelli had an awful day that marked by various falls, which relegated him to the 7th and the 5th places. Despite Tortelli's bad day, winning wasn't easy for Everts: young guns such as the Estonia Tanel Leok and Kevin Strijbos turned out to be decent opponents who put him under pressure in the first heat.MX1MOTO1
The works YZ450FM of Everts had the holeshot at the beginning of the first heat, followed by Leok's works Kawasaki, followed by the Spanish rider Jonathan Barragan, Kevin Strijbos and Tortelli.Leok put pressure on Everts in the third lap in an attemped to take the lead in the fifth lap, but Everts doesn't give the lead up, and the chase continues until the 8th lap when Everts loses control of his front wheel and slips thus losing the lead. Strijbos, Barragan, Leok, and Tortelli capitalized on the slip and overtook Everts.Everts didn't lose hope—in fact in his long career he's learned that even one point is extremely important to win the Championship—and so he throws himself into recovery mode and managed to overtake Tortelli, who in the meantime falls off and tries to get back on his bike. Two laps from the end he overtakes Barragan and finishes the race in 3rd position. Ultimately Srijbos came in first, followed by Leok.MX1 MOTO2
Everts is yet again the fastest at the starting line, but Leok, Brian Jorgensen and Cedric Melotte are right behind him. Tortelli dangerously skidded as he was entering the second turn but managed not to fall off straight away. Unfortunately for the factory KTM rider, he fell at the next turn in a mispah involving other riders.He righted his KTM and tries to recover, despite his 23rd position in the first lap. A two-time world champion, he knows the hardships of racing and thus began his recovery.Luck turned its back on Strijbos, the winner of the first heat, who fell twice and had to settle for the 19th place.Everts had the lead while a brilliant Leok gained a second place in front of Steve Ramon who got third. Unfortunately for Tortelli, his recovery ended with a 5th place finish.Everts continues to keep the lead in the Championship with 92 points; the second place is in Leok's hands with 82 points and Tortelli is 3rd with 77 pointsStefan Everts:
"Every time I wear my white kit in the first moto I am riding tense! I felt more relaxed before the race than I did in Zolder and then had a good start so it seemed to be going well, but I found that I wasn't comfortable out there. I made a stupid mistake but could then come back to third after a hard fight with Barragan; it was hard to pass him because there were not many lines on the track. Third was good because I knew it gave me more chance of taking the overall. The second moto was much better and the Yamaha worked really well this weekend. I was very satisfied with our performance and we didn't change anything apart from altering the gearing in practice. We tried another tyre also but I ended up using the same model."Tanel Leok:
"The weekend got off to a good start, I felt very happy and confident on the bike, it was set up great, both on the power output and the suspension, I think that showed when I grabbed my second pole of the season. It's always nice to have first pick on the gate, you can work on the ground and make your preparations to your gate without worrying that someone will take it. The start is pretty fair here so no real worries about a bad first turn. I think I was fourth off the gate in race one but soon moved up to second behind Everts.He had some ground on me but I pulled him in and started buzzing around behind him, I was carrying plenty of speed and on lap eight he made a mistake and handed the lead to me. I was very happy, I had an open track in front of me but two laps later I came into a tight left-hand turn before the double step-up where I got injured last year and washed out the front wheel. I went down handing the lead to Kevin Strijbos. I lost some of my momentum and rhythm but rode strong to hold onto second ahead of Everts who was putting in a big effort to make up ground."Sebastien Tortelli:
"I did not ride this week because I was not 100% and a few mistakes arrived today. It was a hard race. I was missing a little time on the bike and it is always useful to ride during the week before coming to the GP. So I struggled to find my groove and I wasn't riding the way I wanted to. I had a good charge in the second moto because I did not like how the first race turned out."Kevin Strijbos:
"Talk about two different races! The first one was good. I could follow in third easily and was not making any mistakes. Everts and then Leok crashed and I had the lead. I had to push a little bit towards the end but I felt good. My start was not that bad in the second moto and I made a few positions on the first few corners and was around seventh.I went into a turn and somebody was on the inside and I was forced to go over the ruts. The bike slipped and I went down. The handlebars were slightly bent and the clutch lever was wrapped under the bar; I knew then that the overall win had gone. I restarted dead-last and after that my riding was ok until I made a mistake on the same corner and hit someone. The handlebars were stuck in the hay bale by the side of the track and by the time I got the bike free, all my work had been wasted and I had to go again. It was difficult then because I was getting tired and had lost my rhythm. I was just trying to survive. Overall I am disappointed with today because that second moto cost me a lot of points, but I'm sure the others will also have someMX1 Class