EVERTS PREPARES FOR TITLE CELEBRATION
29 August 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Round: 14 - Grand Prix of Europe (Germany)Circuit: Gaildorf

Round 14 of the world motocross championship visited the picturesque circuit of Gaildorf this weekend, and once again the battle between series leader Stefan Everts (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) and Michaël Pichon (Honda) raged. Everts won the first race and was second in race two. Pichon was second in race one, but took the overall win because he won the determining second race. Yamaha L&M Motocross Team Stefan Everts is now only seven points away from his eighth world title going into the penultimate round at Ballykelly, North-Ireland.

In Saturday’s qualifying Pichon set a blisteringly fast lap, one and a half seconds ahead of Everts and as the gate dropped for race one the Frenchman proved that he’d lost none of Saturday’s speed and aggression. Michaël took the holeshot, closely followed by Everts, Antoine Meo (Kawasaki) and Billy Mackenzie (Yamaha UK Race Team), but a mistake and crash on lap four allowed Everts into the lead. Pichon remounted and within a lap had pushed back into second spot. Antoine Meo (Kawasaki) held onto third spot and a charging Josh Coppins (Honda) lurked ominously in forth. At the finish flag Everts took the win followed by Pichon in second, Coppins in third and Antoine Meo (Kawasaki) riding in fourth. Yamaha L&M Motocross Team rider Cédric Melotte showed good speed, but was forced to retire after he broke his handlebars early in the race.

A poor start in race two meant that Everts had an enormous task on his hands if he was to catch the on-form Frenchman. As the pack came around on lap one, Steve Ramon (KTM) held onto second place and Everts had pushed hard into third. By lap two Everts had passed Ramon and once again the Honda of Coppins hung in fourth place waiting to cash in on any mistake by Ramon. Pichon made no mistake though in race two and took a convincing win, followed over the finish line by Everts, Josh Coppins in third, Luigi Seguy (Yamaha) scored a strong fourth on one of his favourite tracks. Billy Mackenzie came home sixth on his YZ450F behind Steve Ramon. Pichon took the overall win, followed by Everts in second, and Josh Coppins in third.

The 15th round of the championship takes place at Ballykelly, Ireland two weeks.

Stefan Everts (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) – second position “Although I had a large points advantage before this weekend’s race I really didn’t think that I’d win the championship today because I needed a rider in between me and Michaël to make that happen and there was no one that could do that. I’ve had some really bad starts this year but I don’t know what the problem is. We’ve been trying to change our settings on the bike but it’s not yet working out so well. In the second race today I struggled to control the power and lost traction when driving off the start gate. Then after one lap Michaël had already developed a big gap and I knew it would be tough to catch him. I tried to ride a consistent race and half way through I got really tired. I put in a lot of effort in the first race to win and in the second race I had to pay for that. The track was difficult this weekend but I still enjoyed my riding.”

Cédric Melotte (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) – 26th position “Unfortunately in the first race my handlebars broke on the second lap and this forced my retirement from the race. In the second race I moved up from 16th place on lap one to 11th by lap five and I was happy with my speed but I made a silly mistake one lap later and lost the front wheel in a corner which forced a crash. I rejoined the race but I’d lost a lot of energy and felt sick so I slowed down and regained my rhythm. Today I’m actually quite happy with my performance and I’m now looking towards making a complete recovery for next year’s race season.”

Billy Mackenzie (Yamaha UK Race Team) – seventh position
“I got off to an awesome start in race one and slotted into fourth place. All the leaders set about a really good pace and I managed to keep with them. I then passed Antoine Meo and after that I could see Stefan Everts in front of me and I was really keen to try and pass him but he was riding the track at its full potential and I wasn’t. I stepped up the pace and made a few mistakes, then Meo passed me and my arms pumped up and I dropped back eventually finishing the race in 12th place. I got a really good start in race two, but then another rider made an aggressive move on me and bent my front brake lever. I was really lucky to stay on the bike and I tried hard to settle into a relaxed pace and if anyone got close to me I’d up the pace again to keep them off. I had Steve Ramon in my sights for the whole race and I was hoping that he’d make a mistake. I was riding really smoothly but I didn’t want to risk anything and spoil my finish, so I took it easy and got a sixth place finish.”


Race classification MX1

Round: 14 - Grand Prix of Europe (Germany)
Circuit: Gaildorf
Circuit Length: 1830
Lap Record: 1'' 49.925 (Stefan Everts, 2003)

Race: 21 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 40'' 7.990
2 M. Pichon Honda FRA +8.384
3 J. Coppins Honda NZL +51.675
4 A. Meo Kawasaki FRA +1'' 4.304
5 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1'' 6.015
6 T. Leok Suzuki EST +1'' 24.117
7 J. Dobes Suzuki CZE +1'' 27.017
8 K. De Dijcker Honda BEL +1'' 32.822
9 M. Bervoets Yamaha BEL +1'' 39.712
10 J. Noble Honda GBR +1'' 44.232
11 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1'' 54.262
12 B. Mackenzie Yamaha GBR +1 lap(s)
13 L. Freibergs Honda LVA +1 lap(s)
14 M. Kovalainen Honda FIN +1 lap(s)
15 F. Dini KTM ITA +1 lap(s)
16 A. Pyrhonen Suzuki FIN +1 lap(s)
17 F. Izoird Suzuki FRA +1 lap(s)
18 M. Hucklebridge KTM GBR +1 lap(s)
19 E. Oddenino TM ITA +1 lap(s)
20 D. Schroter Honda GER +1 lap(s)

Race 2: 21 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 M. Pichon Honda FRA 40'' 54.036
2 S. Everts Yamaha BEL +28.688
3 J. Coppins Honda NZL +39.644
4 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +54.033
5 S. Ramon KTM BEL +1'' 4.073
6 B. Mackenzie Yamaha GBR +1'' 7.289
7 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1'' 13.236
8 J. Dobes Suzuki CZE +1'' 18.313
9 J. Noble Honda GBR +1'' 22.599
10 L. Freibergs Honda LVA +1'' 24.651
11 Y. Atsuta Honda JPN +1'' 50.118
12 A. Pyrhonen Suzuki FIN +2'' 6.870
13 M. Kovalainen Honda FIN +1 lap(s)
14 G. Crockard Honda IRL +1 lap(s)
15 E. Oddenino TM ITA +1 lap(s)
16 T. Leok Suzuki EST +1 lap(s)
17 F. Dini KTM ITA +1 lap(s)
18 C. Dugmore Honda RSA +1 lap(s)
19 A. Böller Honda GER +1 lap(s)
20 M. Hucklebridge KTM GBR +1 lap(s)

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 M. Pichon Honda FRA 1'' 52.454

Championship standings MX1
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 619
2 Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 526
3 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 481
4 Steve Ramon KTM BEL 410
5 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 390
6 Tanel Leok Suzuki EST 318
7 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 294
8 Cédric Melotte Yamaha BEL 291
9 Ken De Dijcker Honda BEL 224
10 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 206
11 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 191
12 Lauris Freibergs Honda LVA 176
13 Joel Smets Suzuki BEL 175
14 Christian Burnham KTM GBR 175
15 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 154
16 James Noble Honda GBR 151
17 Kenneth Gundersen KTM NOR 133
18 Marnicq Bervoets Yamaha BEL 131
19 Antti Olavi Pyrhonen Suzuki FIN 112
20 Javier Garcia Vico Aprilia ESP 111


Manufacturers standings MX1
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Yamaha 325
2 Honda 317
3 Suzuki 246
4 KTM 226
5 TM 32
6 Kawasaki 20

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