EVERTS WINS A RECORD EIGHTH WORLD TITLE
12 September 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Yamaha L&M Motocross Team rider Stefan Everts, 31, turned his dream to lift an eighth motocross world title into reality at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland.

Everts finished his fight for the title with a near perfect day''s racing, taking second place in race one and a win in the final moto. The eighth world championship title for the Belgian is a formidable achievement and further underlines his dominance of the sport and reinforces his position of the most successful grand prix motocross rider ever. Everts 2004 MX1 World title is his fourth straight championship on the blue YZ fourstroke bikes, after joining Yamaha in 2001.

Race one saw Everts take an early lead, closely followed by team-mate Cédric Melotte, Michaël Pichon (Honda) and British rider Wayne Smith (KTM). Pichon pushed hard in the early stages of the race, climbing into second place by lap two and began to gain on Everts. The Frenchman made his move one lap later and sneaked past on the inside line, but Everts was not defeated and kept the pressure on repassing his Honda rival in lap six. The scene was set for a dramatic showdown of the two world champions, but finally lapped riders would decide the outcome. Everts struggled to maintain his rhythm coming through the traffic and Pichon capitalised on this making a pass on lap sixteen and went onto take the race win. Third place went to Josh Coppins (Honda), Cédric Melotte was fourth and Steve Ramon (KTM) took fifth.

After winning his eighth world title after the first race by taking second place in the moto, Everts was determined to make amends and win the second race. As the gate dropped he hit the first turn in the leading bunch and pushed his YZ450FM into the lead as the pack came around on lap one. Everts delivered a perfect score card in moto two and this time Pichon had little answer for the multiple World Champion''s speed and consistency. Everts took a well deserved win, his career total now stands at unrivalled 78 GP wins, with Pichon in second place. Third place went to Estonian rider Tanel Leok (Suzuki), followed by Josh Coppins and Kevin Strijbos (Suzuki) in fifth. Billy Mackenzie (Yamaha UK Race Team) was a solid sixth.

The 16th and final round of the championship takes place at Sun City, South Africa, in two weeks.

Stefan Everts (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - overall winner
''It was the same old story in race one today with the lapped riders. They just don''t move over. Luigi Seguy and Billy Mackenzie were in front of me for a few corners and that pretty much blew my victory because Pichon came by me when I got blocked by them. It''s a pity because I really tried to win the race. I made another really good start in race two and I knew that I had to push really hard to break away from Pichon and maintain my lead. Towards the end of the race I was a little stronger than Pichon and I think this made the difference that allowed me to take the win. Of course I''m very happy to win my eighth world title here today. The race seasons are always very long and a lot of things can happen to spoil your chances of success. I''ve been very consistent although the year wasn''t without problems for me, but I made it through to win and I''m very happy for myself, my team, Yamaha, the sponsors, family and of course my fans.''

Cédric Melotte (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - sixth position overall ''I was really pleased to lead the race into the first corner and I felt really strong for the first five laps but then felt that my condition wasn''t so good and the track was really rough and I began to slow. I happy though to finish race one in fourth place. I was tired before the start of the second race and after just two laps I felt very dizzy and quite exhausted so I just tried to stay on the bike and pick up a few points. Overall I''m very happy with my result today and I''m now looking forward to racing in South Africa in two weeks time.''

Billy Mackenzie (Yamaha UK Race Team) - seventh overall
''I rode consistently in race one, but I did not have a great start. I managed to finish in 12th place which was ok because it was hard to pass here. Then in the second race I got a good start and pushed up to fourth place on lap one. I felt really good but I lost my rhythm after a small mistake. I had some nice battles with Strijbos and Crockard and I finished the race in sixth place. In the end I''m quite happy with seventh overall and it shows I can do some nice things on the 450 bike.''

Race classification MX1

Round: 15 - Grand Prix of Ireland
Circuit: Ballykelly
Lap Record: 1'' 58.888 (Stefan Everts, 2004)

Race: 19 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 M. Pichon Honda FRA 39'' 56.994
2 S. Everts Yamaha BEL +4.730
3 J. Coppins Honda NZL +54.581
4 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1'' 17.044
5 S. Ramon KTM BEL +1'' 22.981
6 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1'' 27.939
7 K. De Dijcker Honda BEL +1 lap(s)
8 M. Bervoets Yamaha BEL +1 lap(s)
9 D. Theybers Yamaha BEL +1 lap(s)
10 L. Freibergs Honda LVA +1 lap(s)
11 M. Kovalainen Honda FIN +1 lap(s)
12 B. Mackenzie Yamaha GBR +1 lap(s)
13 J. Dobes Suzuki CZE +1 lap(s)
14 J. Noble Honda GBR +1 lap(s)
15 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1 lap(s)
16 A. Lyons Kawasaki IRL +1 lap(s)
17 Y. Atsuta Honda JPN +1 lap(s)
18 E. Oddenino TM ITA +1 lap(s)
19 D. Segers Yamaha BEL +1 lap(s)
20 R. McKeown Honda GBR +1 lap(s)

Race 2: 20 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 41'' 13.281
2 M. Pichon Honda FRA +12.284
3 T. Leok Suzuki EST +40.498
4 J. Coppins Honda NZL +48.579
5 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1'' 12.280
6 B. Mackenzie Yamaha GBR +1'' 15.957
7 G. Crockard Honda IRL +1'' 22.249
8 S. Ramon KTM BEL +1'' 45.948
9 L. Freibergs Honda LVA +1'' 50.730
10 D. Theybers Yamaha BEL +2'' 0.474
11 C. Burnham KTM GBR +2'' 9.693
12 K. De Dijcker Honda BEL +1 lap(s)
13 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1 lap(s)
14 J. Noble Honda GBR +1 lap(s)
15 M. Kovalainen Honda FIN +1 lap(s)
16 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1 lap(s)
17 A. Pyrhonen Suzuki FIN +1 lap(s)
18 Y. Atsuta Honda JPN +1 lap(s)
19 A. Lyons Kawasaki IRL +1 lap(s)
20 R. McKeown Honda GBR +1 lap(s)

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 1'' 58.888

Championship standings MX1
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 666
2 Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 573
3 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 519
4 Steve Ramon KTM BEL 439
5 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 421
6 Tanel Leok Suzuki EST 338
7 Cédric Melotte Yamaha BEL 317
8 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 294
9 Ken De Dijcker Honda BEL 247
10 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 217
11 Lauris Freibergs Honda LVA 199
12 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 198
13 Christian Burnham KTM GBR 185
14 Joel Smets Suzuki BEL 175
15 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 170
16 James Noble Honda GBR 165
17 Marnicq Bervoets Yamaha BEL 144
18 Danny Theybers Yamaha BEL 134
19 Kenneth Gundersen KTM NOR 133
20 Antti Olavi Pyrhonen Suzuki FIN 116

Manufacturers standings MX1
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Yamaha 350
2 Honda 339
3 Suzuki 264
4 KTM 242
5 TM 32
6 Kawasaki 20

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