The GP motocross series started off in Zolder, Belgium. After three years with Dorna it's back to two moto racing in the MX 1 (250), MX 2 (125) and MX 3 (grandpa) classes. Instead of 12 moto's, the season now has 32, a big improvement for the fans. 15700 people attended the opening round of the MX1 and MX2 categories. Not all that great but the weather forecast had been terrible all weekend and with the race being live on TV, a lot of fans stayed home on the couch with a cold beer in their hands.
The MX 2 class had qualifying races on Saturday. With 50 riders fighting for 30 spots on the gate on Sunday, the battle was on. The field was divided in two groups. First 12 riders per group would make it to Sunday's race and 6 riders were added to the 24 finalists through a final time practice. Chiodi and Bartolini failed to qualify which was a big disappointment in the Yamaha camp. Both seemed to be injured entering the race and they simply could not hold onto the handlebars on the rough track.
On the entry list was a Frenchman with the name of Thomas Allier. BMX-ers who are wondering if it's the same speedy NBL BMX champ who races for GT don't need to wonder no more, it's not him. Although having lots of skills, MX Thomas failed to qualify for the main event.
Marc de Reuver won the first qualifying race with ease. The KTM-Champ rode away from the competition on lap one already and set the fastest times in the MX2 class.
Qualifying race number two belonged to Kiwi Ben Townley who rides on a similar KTM 4-stroke as Champ/KTM/RedBull team mate De Reuver. A potent machine for sure.
Third and final Champ-KTM rider Tyla Rattray from South Africa had the fastest time on his 125SX in the last chance qualifying practice. Also Leok, Pourcel, Nagl, Nunn and Swordy needed to qualify through the fastest lap system.
Come race time it was Italian Antonio Cairoli who grabbed the holeshot followed by Marc de Reuver. The Dutchman took over the lead after a few turns and checked out despite a broken rear brake. Ben Townley had to come from behind but secured second place when the 35 minutes + 2 laps were over. Australian Andrew McFarlane is riding a YZ 4-stroke and incredibly well. He recently announced in an interview that he wanted to show the MX2 class what's up and a 3rd place is a good start. Former world champion James Dobb had to come from behind to finish 4th on his CR 250F but wasn't satisfied. Once you've been on the highest step of the podium anything other than victory doesn't taste good.
When the second moto came around it was Ben Townley who grabbed the early lead. Marc de Reuver was stuck in the pack and was in 7th place already when he hit Pascal Leuret who had become victim of the loose Belgian sand. De Reuver got back up in last place and rode to third in no time. It was very impressive. Less impressive were the 2 crashes that followed costing "Calimero" valuable time. At one point Marc was tracing cocky McFarlane and when they hit the tabletop together, McFarlane looked back to De Reuver and Marc replied with a nice middle finger. Good thing there were no AMA officials around to fine him for that.
It was factory Kawasaki's Stephen Sword who got second behind BT with Aiger Leok in 3rd and De Reuver beating McFarlane for 4th. It's going to be an exciting season with all these hot heads in one class who are not happy with anything less than first.
The Freestyle MX demo with Busty Wolter and Jimmy Verburgh was canceled due to the weather circumstances but the finish line table top (RC's favorite?) got plenty of whipping action from Townley, Avis, Cooper and Brian Jorgensen. With all the rain and hard wind it was a surprise that the big table didn't claim more victims than one (Patrick Roos).
The L&M girlies were either excited or cold when they held up the 15 second board before the MX1 start. Tiscali-Honda rider Michael Pichon clocked the fastest lap time in the MX1 class. This gave him first pick on the gate. Stefan Everts was right behind him to park his YZ right next to the Frenchman on the gate. However, it was a RM450F that made it to the first turn first. It wasn't Smets but youngster Kevin Strijbos. The Belgian lead the race for a while but as soon as he made a little mistake the #2 plate of Pichon passed him. When Pichon hit the deck it was team mate Jorgensen who grabbed the lead for a bit until 2003 125cc World Champion Steve Ramon showed up. The factory KTM rider effortlessly gassed his 450 through the ruts and won with a 10 second lead over Yamaha's Cedric Melotte. Where was Stefun Everts? He came in in 5th behind CR riders Pichon (3rd) and Jorgensen (4th). Mr. 875cc had crashed the week before and had only one goal in mind and that was to limit the damage in points at the GP of Flanders. Other current world champion Joel Smets had the same plan as he was injured as well. He finished 13th and scored more points than the hurt Gordon Crockard who was gutted to drop out at the last minute with a bum-knee. Multitek's Paul Cooper had a great start and finished 6th followed by Coppins and Norwegian Gundersen. Kevin Strijbos DNF'd with a stalled RM-F.
It was Strijbos again who grabbed the holeshot in the second moto. This time he was ready to finish the race. Paul Cooper started well in the first moto but crashed in the beginning of the last heat and rode around in cannonball style with his peak-less mat-black helmet. Other riders who did not look very stylish on the track were the Aprilia duo of Vico and Traversini. The twin cylinder Aprilia bike is not ready yet and they showed up with (stock) CR450F's with black plastic and no stickers. Let's hope they get their factory machines soon so they can score some top 10 results. Talking about bikes, Antoine Meo's factory Kawasaki had a very unusual rear shock system with the shock laying horizontal underneath the engine. It did not help him score any points but a new link system is born.
Back to the race. Pichon had also crashed and rode with flow on his way back to the front. The come back got stuck at 11th place. Meanwhile a very strong Cedric Melotte had taken over the lead. With his 2nd place in moto 1, the Belgian was on his way to his first MX1 GP victory. He won the MX3 GP of Namur last year but the strongest riders have gathered in the MX1 class in 04 to make it the hardest competition in years. "Melotski" was a surprising winner of the class but the pre-season speed had shown that he was ready for the GP's.
Kiwi Coppins (Cas Honda) got used to the 4 stroke just in time and finished a respectful 2nd place in front of result-hungry Kevin Strijbos in third, his first MX1 podium. With 25 points in the pocket from heat number one, Steve Ramon did not take any risks to waste his 4th place finish. The #72 of Stefan Everts crossed the finish line in 5th. With 34 more moto's to go, the 7-time world champion will probably move up a few places towards the end of the year.
One in the bag, 15 to go. The GP season has started.
Bart de Jong
MX 1 Race 1
1. Steve Ramon BEL FMB KTM
2. Cédric Melotte BEL FMB YAMAHA
3. Michaël Pichon FRA FFM HONDA
4. Brian Jorgensen DEN DMU HONDA
5. Stefan Everts BEL FMB YAMAHA
6. Paul Cooper GBR ACU Multitek HONDA
7. Joshua Coppins NZL MNZ HONDA
8. Kenneth Gundersen NOR NMF KTM
9. Tanel Leok EST MUL SUZUKI
10. Marko Kovalainen FIN SML HONDA
11. Javier Garcia VICO SPA RFME
12. James Noble GBR ACU RWJ Honda HONDA
13. Joël Smets BEL FMB SUZUKI
14. Ken De Dijcker BEL FMB Honda Sarholz Racing HONDA
15. Yoshitaka Atsuta JPN ACU HONDA
16. Antti Pyrhonen FIN SML Team Suzuki Kurz SUZUKI
17. Danny Theybers BEL FMB YAMAHA
18. Sven Breugelmans BEL FMB KTM
19. Josef Dobes CZE DMSB Team Suzuki Kurz SUZUKI
20. Mark Hucklebridge GBR ACU KTM
MX 1 Race 2
1. Cédric Melotte BEL FMB YAMAHA
2. Joshua Coppins NZL MNZ HONDA
3. Kevin Strijbos BEL KNMV SUZUKI
4. Steve Ramon BEL FMB KTM
5. Stefan Everts BEL FMB YAMAHA
6. Kenneth Gundersen NOR NMF KTM
7. Joël Smets BEL FMB SUZUKI
8. Marnicq Bervoets BEL FMB YAMAHA
9. James Noble GBR ACU RWJ Honda HONDA
10. Tanel Leok EST MUL SUZUKI
11. Michaël Pichon FRA FFM HONDA
12. Danny Theybers BEL FMB YAMAHA
13. Christian Burnham GBR ACU KTM
14. Brian Jorgensen DEN DMU HONDA
15. Christophe Martin FRA FFM MX Team PSM Casola YAMAHA
16. Mark Hucklebridge GBR ACU KTM
17. Sven Breugelmans BEL FMB KTM
18. Antti Pyrhonen FIN SML Team Suzuki Kurz SUZUKI
19. Yoshitaka Atsuta JPN ACU HONDA
20. Fabrizio Dini ITA FMI KTM Silver Action Team KTM
MX 2 Race 1
1. Mark De Reuver NED KNMV Champ KTM KTM
2. Ben Townley NZL MNZ Champ KTM KTM
3. Andrew Mc Farlane AUS MUL Dixon Racing YAMAHA
4. Jamie Dobb GBR ACU RWJ Honda HONDA
5. Stephen Sword GBR ACU KAWASAKI
6. Jonathan Barragan SPA RFME KTM
7. David Philippaerts ITA FMI KTM
8. Rui Goncalves POR FNM YAMAHA
9. Michaël Maschio FRA FFM KAWASAKI
10. Aigar Leok EST EMF KTM -Kosak-Racing KTM
11. Manuel Priem BEL FMB SUZUKI
12. Tom Church GBR ACU Molson Kawasaki KAWASAKI
13. Manuel Monni ITA FMI YAMAHA
14. Jeff Dement USA FMI HONDA
15. Pascal Leuret FRA FFM KTM
16. Carl Nunn GBR ACU RTT Honda HONDA
17. Anthony Boissière FRA FFM MX Team PSM Casola YAMAHA
18. Juan Barreda SPA RFME KTM
19. Luca Cherubini ITA FMI SUZUKI
MX 2 Race 2
1. Ben Townley NZL MNZ Champ KTM KTM
2. Stephen Sword GBR ACU KAWASAKI
3. Aigar Leok EST EMF KTM -Kosak-Racing KTM
4. Mark De Reuver NED KNMV Champ KTM KTM
5. Andrew Mc Farlane AUS MUL Dixon Racing YAMAHA
6. Tyla Rattray RSA MSA Champ KTM KTM
7. Michaël Maschio FRA FFM KAWASAKI
8. Claudio Federici ITA FMI YAMAHA
9. Anthony Boissière FRA FFM MX Team PSM Casola YAMAHA
10. Manuel Priem BEL FMB SUZUKI
11. Carl Nunn GBR ACU RTT Honda HONDA
12. Jamie Dobb GBR ACU RWJ Honda HONDA
13. Billy Mackenzie GBR ACU Dixon Racing YAMAHA
14. Pascal Leuret FRA FFM KTM
15. Antonio Cairoli ITA FMI YAMAHA
16. Sébastien Pourcel FRA FFM KAWASAKI
17. Manuel Monni ITA FMI YAMAHA
18. Rui Goncalves POR FNM YAMAHA
19. Aaron Bernardez SPA RFME HONDA
20. Marvin Van Daele BEL FMB SUZUKI