EVERTS TAKES PODIUM DESPITE BAD STARTS
03 July 2005 - Yamaha Racing

World Champion Stefan Everts was able to climb the lowest step of the podium after passing Steve Ramon for fourth position on the last lap of the second moto at Uddevalla this afternoon.

The Grand Prix of Sweden, the tenth round of the 2005 FIM MX1 World Championship, took place in front of 21,000 spectators and under warm and sunny conditions.

Everts still enjoys a healthy lead in the Championship standings even though a comprehensive double by Josh Coppins (Honda) this afternoon sliced fourteen points away from his advantage. Ben Townley took his fourth consecutive podium with the runner-up spot. Jorgensen has only been able to post eight points in the last two GPs and has tumbled to tenth.

Everts suffered a brace of his poorest starts this season and was deep in mid-pack when he rounded the first turn in both motos. During race1 he ended the opening lap in seventh and quickly pulled through to fourth by lap four, however he wasn''t able to close down the gap to Jonathan Barragan (KTM) in third, who was having the best race of his young career so far. Brian Jorgensen had been running in fifth behind his team-mate until a bike stall dropped him to ninth, the YZ450FM stuttered again the following lap and he was relegated all the way to twentieth. From that standing the Dane could only improve by one position.

Everts, who confessed that he wasn''t a fan of the fast Uddevalla inclines, actually fell while in deep traffic negotiating the ''S'' section after the opening turn in moto2. The Belgian produced an excellent performance on a circuit that did not lend itself to easy overtaking by pulling back from eighteenth on the first lap to dramatically push past Ramon with less than one circulation remaining. Brian Jorgensen completed a disappointing ''semi'' home Grand Prix when he crashed twice in moto2. The second incident, a collision with Luigi Seguy, forced his retirement.

The World Championships now enjoys a brief pause and with few national competitions occurring next weekend it is the first authentic break for the Grand Prix stars. Preparations will begin earlier than usual however as the eleventh round of seventeen will take place at Sun City in South Africa on July 16th-17th.

Stefan Everts (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - third overall
''I blew it with my starts today and that has been my problem this year. My riding has been good enough but I was tense in the first race and not relaxed. I crashed at the start of the second one but I was catching up and the speed was much better. Physically I felt very good. Josh is gaining a lot of points at the moment and this is not a good situation. I am having a difficult time but there always seems to be one of these every year and I am sure I will turn things around sooner or later and get back on top. I will use the week and half break to go riding and try and do a bit better in South Africa.''

Brian Jorgensen (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - 23rd overall
''I would love to have answer for what is going wrong at the moment. This was a terrible weekend for me regarding everything. This is the closest to a home GP that I have and it was not how I wanted it to be. I''m not a guy who makes excuses but it did not go to plan today. We have been doing a lot of testing between the GPs to set-up the bike to my particular style of riding and we haven''t been able to find a good path. I was maybe a little bit unlucky today but luck comes with confidence and good riding and these elements are not coming together for me at the moment. The engine stalled twice today and the first time I thought that maybe I braked a little too hard but then it cut out again and I lost positions. In the break we changed the carb and a few things and it was better for the second moto. I was not riding well and put myself into some bad situations, because I can start well but when you are deep in the pack it can be tricky and risky. I went down the first time and then unfortunately I collided with Seguy. The throttle was stuck and the handlebars were bent. Now I want to go to my home in Denmark, take some rest, re-set and find some strength to pick things up in South Africa.''


Race classification MX1

Round: 10 - Grand Prix of Sweden
Circuit: Uddevalla
Circuit Length: 1750
Lap Record: 2'' 2.045 (Joel Smets, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 2'' 2.045 (Joel Smets, 2003)

Race: 20 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 J. Coppins Honda NZL 40'' 13.675
2 B. Townley KTM NZL +0.436
3 J. Barragan KTM ESP +33.124
4 S. Everts Yamaha BEL +44.225
5 S. Ramon KTM BEL +50.974
6 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +58.268
7 K. De Dijcker Honda BEL +1'' 4.355
8 J. Noble Honda GBR +1'' 6.464
9 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1'' 8.462
10 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1'' 9.930
11 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1'' 11.104
12 Y. Atsuta Suzuki JPN +1'' 12.479
13 N. Kornel Suzuki HUN +1'' 13.232
14 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1'' 14.664
15 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1'' 18.172
16 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1'' 22.799
17 P. Cooper Honda GBR +1'' 26.242
18 A. Safronov KTM RUS +1'' 40.938
19 B. Jorgensen Yamaha DNK +1'' 54.417
20 M. Hucklebridge Honda GBR +1'' 55.227

Race 2: 20 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 J. Coppins Honda NZL 40'' 40.278
2 J. Smets Suzuki BEL +7.246
3 B. Townley KTM NZL +10.466
4 S. Everts Yamaha BEL +11.312
5 S. Ramon KTM BEL +19.794
6 J. Noble Honda GBR +56.531
7 P. Leuret Honda FRA +58.025
8 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +59.455
9 Y. Atsuta Suzuki JPN +59.808
10 N. Kornel Suzuki HUN +1'' 11.320
11 J. Barragan KTM ESP +1'' 23.368
12 K. De Dijcker Honda BEL +1'' 29.914
13 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1'' 33.435
14 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +1'' 45.797
15 A. Safronov KTM RUS +1'' 49.840
16 M. Hucklebridge Honda GBR +1'' 57.244
17 J. Dobes Kawasaki CZE +1'' 59.308
18 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +2'' 0.592
19 K. Nielsen Honda +2'' 1.730
20 J. Eliasson Honda SWE +2'' 3.715

Championship standings MX1
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 411
2 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 366
3 Ben Townley KTM NZL 346
4 Joel Smets Suzuki BEL 318
5 Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 299
6 Steve Ramon KTM BEL 264
7 James Noble Honda GBR 188
8 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 185
9 Ken De Dijcker Honda BEL 171
10 Brian Jorgensen Yamaha DNK 166
11 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 165
12 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 161
13 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 154
14 Antti Olavi Pyrhonen TM FIN 140
15 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 136
16 Yoshitaka Atsuta Suzuki JPN 135
17 Nemeth Kornel Suzuki HUN 114
18 Paul Cooper Honda GBR 113
19 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 74
20 Mark Hucklebridge Honda GBR 73
25 Claudio Federici Yamaha ITA 39


Manufacturers standings MX1
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Yamaha 219
2 Honda 214
3 KTM 202
4 Suzuki 174
5 Kawasaki 81
6 TM 67
7 Husqvarna 23


MX2 : Dominant win for Cairoli

Round: 10 - Grand Prix of Sweden
Circuit: Uddevalla
Date: 3 July 2005
Crowd: 21000
Temp: 26ºC
Weather: Changeable

Antonio Cairoli (Team Yamaha De Carli) sampled a perfect tonic after his disqualification last week in France by winning both motos in comprehensive fashion at Uddevalla today for the Grand Prix of Sweden, round ten of seventeen in the FIM MX2 World Championship. Cairoli has moved up to second in the standings thanks to his 50 point haul and now lies a ''moto'' (25 points) behind McFarlane (Ricci Racing). He has won eight motos compared to McFarlane''s two and the Swedish round represented the eighth win from ten for Yamaha in the class.

The first moto was a complete shut-out by Cairoli as the Sicilian hole-shotted and proceeded to break away from Andrew McFarlane and Carl Nunn in front of 21,000 fans. The early laps saw a lot of intense action outside of the top three with some fraught overtaking moves on the long elongated hairpins. Billy Mackenzie was a strong presence and the Scot forced his way to third unfortunately colliding with Alessio Chiodi while vying for fourth. ''Chicco'' hit the ground and struggled to restart, eventually retiring after losing too much time to the disappearing pack. Mackenzie would also crash later on in the moto.

As Cairoli and McFarlane embarked on lonely but largely straightforward races (only McFarlane had a scare when he almost ran into the advertising boards guarding the fence on the first corner) Cedric Melotte, Mickael Maschio and Davide Guarneri contended the rest of the positions and ended up finishing in that order. The jostling between Melotte and Maschio at one stage formed the most entertaining section of a largely processional race.

The second moto was virtually a re-enactment of the first with Cairoli and McFarlane breaking away. The 19-year old suffered some pain with his hand because of the rougher track but was able to control the cushion over his Yamaha rival. Carl Nunn and David Philippaerts fought for third after David Guarneri crashed at the end of the first lap. Cedric Melotte was well down the order and would just break into the top ten, taking fifth overall. Maschio was fourth and looking to hound Nunn but was hit by a flying Philippaerts and went down. The Frenchman spent an age restarting the Yamaha and eventually retired. Alessio Chiodi suffered with his rhythm after his minimal participation in moto 1 but finished sixth behind Christophe Pourcel.

The eleventh round of the World Championships will take place in Sun City, South Africa on July 16th-17th.

Antonio Cairoli (Team Yamaha De Carli) - overall winner
''For sure this GP is the best of the year for me. I did not have that much confidence coming here because I did not race at all last weekend. My hand is still bothering me after Matchams Park and I couldn''t do any decent training this week. The track was not that difficult because there are not many jumps and I could win here easily. I started both races in first place and I could control McFarlane. I had a lot of motivation for today after last week and I really wanted to win.''

Andrew McFarlane (Ricci Racing) - second overall
''I am never happy unless I win but to take two second places here today is good for the Championship. I fought hard and it was a difficult race because Antonio rode well; when he gets a start like that it is hard for me! I did not make many mistakes and rode consistent lap-times in both motos and I was pleased with that. The track was tricky and had many square-edged bumps but it made for good racing. It is a long championship and the season has just entered the second half. What is important is to stay fit and injury free and try to take good points at each GP.''

Alessio Chiodi (Ricci Racing) - twelfth overall
''Billy came at me from the back and hit me really late into the corner. We were using two different lines and came together. He hit me hard and I crashed. I tried to restart the bike but it would not go, the clutch was also smashed. It was difficult for me in the second moto because the track was not the best and I did not have a good feeling from that first race. I am not happy today.''

Cédric Melotte (L&M Yamaha Team) -fifth overall
''The races were quite tough. I felt empty after France and made a blood test that showed some levels were low. I was not expecting to ride well this weekend but I think I saved some important points. I was so tired coming here so I am quite satisfied to finish both motos but the result is not good. I now need to make some more checks with the doctor.''

Race classification MX2

Round: 10 - Grand Prix of Sweden
Circuit: Uddevalla
Circuit Length: 1750
Lap Record: 2'' 7.107 (Marc de Reuver, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 2'' 7.107 (Marc de Reuver, 2003)

Race: 20 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA 41'' 5.807
2 A. McFarlane Yamaha AUS +7.149
3 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +12.697
4 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +17.897
5 M. Maschio Yamaha FRA +20.268
6 D. Guarneri Yamaha ITA +21.055
7 C. Nunn KTM GBR +28.824
8 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +39.843
9 T. Church Kawasaki GBR +47.966
10 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +50.064
11 A. Leok KTM EST +55.664
12 W. Avis Honda RSA +59.360
13 M. Seistola Honda FIN +1'' 0.833
14 R. Goncalves Yamaha POR +1'' 1.271
15 M. Bonini Honda ITA +1'' 16.873
16 J. Kulhavy KTM SVK +1'' 20.280
17 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +1'' 23.679
18 M. Norlen Suzuki SWE +1'' 25.708
19 J. Dougan Honda GBR +1'' 28.701
20 J. Pirinen Honda FIN +1'' 30.090

Race 2: 19 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'' 8.681
2 A. McFarlane Yamaha AUS +2.963
3 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +20.184
4 C. Nunn KTM GBR +25.323
5 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +33.019
6 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +39.467
7 M. Nagl KTM GER +43.327
8 W. Avis Honda RSA +52.102
9 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1'' 2.754
10 R. Goncalves Yamaha POR +1'' 6.555
11 A. Leok KTM EST +1'' 14.807
12 A. Boissiere Yamaha FRA +1'' 18.189
13 M. Bonini Honda ITA +1'' 22.360
14 M. Seistola Honda FIN +1'' 24.696
15 T. Church Kawasaki GBR +1'' 29.845
16 J. Dougan Honda GBR +1'' 33.688
17 J. Kulhavy KTM SVK +1'' 48.595
18 M. Norlen Suzuki SWE +1'' 50.650
19 J. Pirinen Honda FIN +1'' 52.110
20 S. Simpson Honda GBR +2'' 6.996

Championship standings MX2
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Andrew McFarlane Yamaha AUS 345
2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 320
3 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 310
4 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 267
5 Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 262
6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 258
7 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 198
8 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 188
9 Mickael Maschio Yamaha FRA 185
10 Rui Goncalves Yamaha POR 183
11 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 171
12 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 163
13 Patrick Caps Honda BEL 153
14 Anthony Boissiere Yamaha FRA 134
15 Matteo Bonini Honda ITA 122
16 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 122
17 Aigar Leok KTM EST 105
18 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 104
19 Manuel Monni KTM ITA 99
20 Erik Eggens Honda NED 94


Manufacturers standings MX2
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Yamaha 244
2 Kawasaki 180
3 KTM 175
4 Honda 128
5 Suzuki 5

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