Motocross World Championship, Agueda, Portugal

[Andy]

FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship

Round 3 of 15 - Sunday April 22nd 2007

Grand Prix of Portugal, Agueda

Crowd: 18,000 (weekend figure)

Weather: Hot, sunny

Saturday - Sunshine, clouds later on, 22 C

Sunday - Sunshine, blue skies, 25 C

Leuret makes MX2 podium landmark

Pascal Leuret gave the CRF250R its first silverware, as well as

celebrating his maiden MX2 podium appearance, by taking third

position overall at a hot and sunny Agueda circuit scene of the Grand

Prix of Portugal; the third round of fifteen in the 2007 FIM

Motocross World Championship.

The Frenchman, who left the NGS crew last week, posted results of 7th

and 3rd and even led the second moto to earn his debut walk on the

rostrum. After several years contesting the MX1 category 26 year old

Leuret earned his spurs in the frantic pace of the MX2 class that on

this occasion was won for the third event in a row by Antonio Cairoli

with Briton's Tommy Searle taking second place.

The undulating circuit, distinctive for its red soil, absorbed the

water well from passing thunderstorms on Friday and pleasant

conditions graced Saturday's practice and qualification. The layout

was not particularly difficult in technical terms but offered a

decent and physically demanding racing course for participants of the

MX1 and MX2 classes.

Sunshine coated the venue on a hot day of racing. Kevin Strijbos

claimed his second career success ahead of Josh Coppins as the duo

owned an MX1 moto each, taking second position in the other; the

Belgian toasted victory courtesy of his superior speed in Moto2.

Honda's best performer was Mike Brown with 6th overall. The American

scored 9th and 7th position finishes and again looked sprightly off

the start line, even briefly leading the first race until the effects

of arm-pump caused him to slip back. The veteran is adapting himself

to GP pace and also the intricacies of the CRF450R and getting

stronger every round.

Team-mate Ken de Dycker had a subdued day that was not helped by a

first lap crash in the second moto. The Belgian's best result was 7th

in the first race but in truth he did not seem completely comfortable

on the quick Portuguese layout. He could take comfort in the fact

that the team's tweaks to the suspension set-up meant that he was

able to circulate at a higher speed for longer without suffering arm

trouble. He was 12th in Moto2 for ninth in the classification.

Multitek's James Noble was close to a memorable day. The Briton

started the first moto within the top six before dropping back into

the lower reaches of the top ten to catch his rhythm. The 26 year old

then continued a decent spread of lap-times right up until the flag

to capture 5th position and equal his best ever race finish (taken at

Namur and Teutschenthal 2005). Sadly his hopes of a first podium were

dashed after a collision with Thomas Allier in race two and he also

stalled his machine to end the day with 16th earning himself 10th overall.

Martin Honda's Antoine Meo is still struggling with an injury to his

left knee. The luckless Frenchman needed to have almost one litre of

fluid drained from the joint in the days before travelling to

Portugal. Meo attempted both motos but his participation was cut

short in the first outing when he was hit by De Dycker and had to

retire with a broken throttle. The second saw him claim 17th spot and

he now lies 21st in the standings.

The MX1 standings show that De Dycker holds fifth and Brown is also

in the top ten with 9th place.

Martin Honda's Ryan Mills qualified for his first ever MX2 World

Championship event but finished outside of the points in both motos

after mis-timing a jump caused the American to finish the day with

raw, bloody hands.

Matti Seistola was tenth overall for SRS Racing. In the MX2 standings

Cairoli has a mammoth 44 point lead over Christophe Pourcel who

crashed out in Moto2. Leuret holds fourth, which is another career best.

The fourth round of the 2007 series will take place in two weeks

time, the first weekend of May, at the Mantova circuit for the Grand

Prix of Italy..

Pascal Leuret: "I am happy, this is my first ever podium and it is

good for me but a little strange because I am on my own. I worked

hard this week to sort out the bike and also take care of my physical

condition. This is the best I could have hoped for. I stopped with

the team because of many problems. I know what I want. The 450 is a

good stock machine but the 250 needs some more special parts. I was

already fifth in the Championship after the first two GPs but I knew

I could make better results; the bike was good but not perfect. I

wanted another solution and when you are not happy you need to

change. Maybe it is not so professional but I have one goal and went my way."

Ken de Dycker, CAS Honda: "The first moto was OK. I was in the middle

of the pack and looking to come through but Ramon crashed in front of

me and I rode into him. I got going again but after three or four

laps I hit Meo and we both crashed. My speed was good after that, I

am happy because I did not have pain in my arms anymore and the bike

was working better in terms of the handling and the suspension now. I

had a pretty good start in the second moto but I could not avoid

riding into Josh and the bike stopped. I started again and things

were OK for the rest of the race but it was not easy to pass because

the track was rough and quite dangerous in places."

Mike Brown, CAS Honda: "It is getting better. I need to work on my

sprints because I am getting the starts and I just need to get those

quicker laps made at the beginning. Overall the weekend was better

than we have had so far. I got good starts in both motos but in the

second I was not going to try and over-ride myself and get arm-pump.

I wanted to settle in and go with the other guys."

Antoine Meo, Martin Honda: "In the first moto I had a really bad

start but came back to 15th then De Dycker really hit me hard and

sent me flying. He broke the throttle and also the brake. In the

second moto I got another bad start but rode OK to come back to 10th.

I wanted to push too much and had some pain with my knee and 17th was

the best I could do. My speed was OK today but I will have to drain

the knee again now and try to get back into a good condition in time

for Italy."

Ryan Mills, Martin Honda: "I got a good start in my first moto,

around 12th, but because I haven't been riding much I got really big

blisters coming into the race and the skin started ripping off in

that moto. I kept going as fast as I could. In the second moto I got

half way through before I over-jumped one of the jumps and lost grip

on the bars, taking more chunks out of my hand. I was 22nd and

thought it would be better for me to heal up and come back strong for Mantova."

James Noble, Multitek Honda: "The first moto was good. I got a pretty

decent start and was around 6th or 7th but slipped off on the

step-up. I was down in 9th but got back to 7th and got lucky when two

riders crashed in front of me, but I was happy with 5th. In the

second moto I had a really good jump out of the gate. Strijbos and

Josh were going at it but I managed to move around them. I was

hovering around 4th or 5th but then the lad on the Kawasaki took me

on the inside and forced me off the track. I came right back on and

passed him going up the step-off. He was railing the berm and came

across me and hit me mid-air. I crashed pretty hard and bruised the

left side of my body. I got the bike started but stalled it three

laps later. After that, and being in 23rd position, I went as hard as

I could. Obviously I am a bit disappointed but I showed that I can

run with them. Things are coming together for me but I just have to

get those two moto results now."

Results Motocross

MX1 Race 1 (20 laps = 30 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Coppins, Joshua / NZL / Yamaha / 39:18.003

2 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 39:29.018

3 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 39:32.136

4 / Leok, Tanel / EST / Kawasaki / 39:35.343

5 / Noble, James / GBR / Honda / 39:58.777

6 / Priem, Manuel / BEL / TM / 40:05.161

7 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 40:13.080

8 / Nemeth, Kornel / HUN / Suzuki / 40:18.743

9 / Brown, Mike / USA / Honda / 40:23.025

10 / Pourcel, Sebastien / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:28.099

11 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 40:31.653

12 / van Daele, Marvin / BEL / Honda / 40:33.314

13 / Barragan, Jonathan / ESP / KTM / 41:01.075

14 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / Yamaha / 41:10.311

15 / Desalle, Clement / BEL / Suzuki / 41:16.516

Fastest Lap: STRIJBOS Kevin in 1:50.759 on lap 3

MX1 Race 2 (20 laps = 30 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 39:43.882

2 / Coppins, Joshua / NZL / Yamaha / 40:03.996

3 / Pourcel, Sebastien / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:16.033

4 / Priem, Manuel / BEL / TM / 40:22.707

5 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 40:29.124

6 / Allier, Thomas / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:32.607

7 / Brown, Mike / USA / Honda / 40:36.047

8 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 40:40.281

9 / Mackenzie, Billy / GBR / Kawasaki / 40:41.468

10 / Nemeth, Kornel / HUN / Suzuki / 40:42.726

11 / van Daele, Marvin / BEL / Honda / 40:47.402

12 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 41:08.251

13 / Leok, Aigar / EST / Yamaha / 41:13.766

14 / Barragan, Jonathan / ESP / KTM / 41:20.312

15 / Renet, Pierre A. / FRA / Honda / 41:22.959

Fastest Lap: COPPINS Joshua in 1:52.018 on lap 3

MX1 World Motocross Championship Standings

Pos Rider Total

1 Coppins, J. 144, 2 Strijbos, K. 125, 3 Barragan, J. 89, 4 Ramon,

Steve 86, 5 de Dycker, Ken 84,

6 Pourcel, S. 67, 7 Nagl, M. 63, 8 Philippaerts, D. 62, 9 Brown, Mike

62, 10 Priem, Manuel 61,

11 Leok, Tanel 61, 12 Noble, James 61, 13 de Reuver, M. 60, 14

Nemeth, Kornel 51,

15 Mackenzie, B. 46.

MX2 Race 1 (20 laps = 30 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 39:42.522

2 / Pourcel, Christophe / FRA / Kawasaki / 39:46.428

3 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / KTM / 40:17.467

4 / Swanepoel, Gareth / RSA / Kawasaki / 40:18.753

5 / Rattray, Tyla / RSA / KTM / 40:19.837

6 / Bonini, Matteo / ITA / Yamaha / 40:20.961

7 / Leuret, Pascal / FRA / Honda / 40:24.697

8 / Boissiere, Anthony / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:26.820

9 / Seistola, Matti / FIN / Honda / 40:38.115

10 / Monni, Manuel / ITA / Yamaha / 40:48.310

11 / Frossard, Steven / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:54.080

12 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 40:58.018

13 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / Yamaha / 41:00.246

14 / Boog, Xavier / FRA / Yamaha / 41:02.406

15 / Church, Tom / GBR / Kawasaki / 41:03.612

Fastest Lap: POURCEL Christophe in 1:51.572 on lap 4

MX2 Race 2 (20 laps = 30 Km)

Pos / Rider / Nat. / Bike / Time

1 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 40:28.619

2 / Aubin, Nicolas / FRA / Yamaha / 40:33.796

3 / Leuret, Pascal / FRA / Honda / 40:39.723

4 / Boissiere, Anthony / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:44.339

5 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 40:49.864

6 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / KTM / 40:57.692

7 / Simpson, Shaun / GBR / Kawasaki / 41:01.260

8 / Swanepoel, Gareth / RSA / Kawasaki / 41:11.038

9 / Frossard, Steven / FRA / Kawasaki / 41:14.526

10 / Bonini, Matteo / ITA / Yamaha / 41:21.043

11 / Seistola, Matti / FIN / Honda / 41:25.802

12 / Boog, Xavier / FRA / Yamaha / 41:28.101

13 / Church, Tom / GBR / Kawasaki / 41:34.719

14 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / Yamaha / 41:39.663

15 / Avis, Wyatt / RSA / KTM / 41:47.047

Fastest Lap: POURCEL Christophe in 1:52.318 on lap 2

MX2 World Motocross Championship Standings

Pos Rider Total

1 Cairoli, A. 147, 2 Pourcel, C. 103, 3 Rattray, Tyla 98, 4 Leuret,

Pascal 87, 5 Searle, Tommy 79,

6 Gundersen, K. 75, 7 Swanepoel, G. 72, 8 Aubin, Nicolas 69, 9

Seistola, M. 61, 10 Boissiere, A. 57,

11 Eggens, Erik 54, 12 Schiffer, M. 49, 13 Frossard, S. 47, 14 Monni,

Manuel 45, 15 Boog, Xavier 41.