Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128203
Qatar MX Cup STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARIO MARINI MESAJEED, QATAR, FEB. 7 & 10 ollowing its positive 2002 debut, top-level motocross returned to the heart of the Middle East in the first half of February for the 2003 Qatar MX Cup, which is quickly becoming a traditional international MX opener. Surrounded by spectacular scenery at the extreme eastern edge of the Qatari Desert and' touched by the Arabian Sea, the Sealine Circuit, created by promoter Georges Jobe on a famous giant sand dune, offered a really interesting and hard-fought competition. Moreover, the entry list of this edition was again of a high caliber and was topped by four-time World Champion Joel Smets on his works 540cc KTM four-stroke. With him F 32 MARCH 5, 2003' eye • e came a strong selection of the best GP riders and the fastest woman on the planet, Stefy Bau. If the overall result saw Smets replaying his performance of a year ago, we have to also admit that, for the Belgian, it wasn't as easy getting through six motos for the win, as he was challenged until the very last lap by the young Dutch sensation Marc De Reuver. In addition, experienced Javier Garcia Vico from Spain and former GP star Johan Boonen from Belgium took part in the battle up front. The race turned out to be really exciting because, after his clean domination on day one, Smets had more work on the second day in order to get the second Qatari crown and the ample money prize. The fast nevvSi Belgian was already experienced on the Qatari sand, pulling out an impressive ride on the inaugural day and putting three solid mota wins under his belt. Only one of the three wins came from a clean holeshot, as he jumped out of the gate second in mota one, about 10th in mota two and eventually first in the final heat of day one. Thanks to the last start, he put a huge margin on the others to win, despite engine problems that slowed him dramatically on the last two laps. KTM didn't expect to experience such a problem and didn't send all of the parts, so when Smets discovered what the failure was, his participation on the second day of the Qatar MX Cup became questionable if the necessary parts didn't get sent in time Joel Smets (center!. Marc De Reuver (lett) and Johan Boonen (right) celebrate on the podium in Qatar. from Europe. There was no time to get the parts from the factory, but luckily KTM's. technicians pulled a rabbit out of their hat to fix the motor so Smets could complete his mission. But that didn't happen without some additional suspense, as Marc De Reuver found himself in top form, and Smets' engine again started having troubles just a few laps into the final moto. Spaniard Garcia Vi co became a close contender for the top positions with the two North Europeans. Yeah, day two of the '03 Qatar MX Cup was really exciting and battled on a circuit that, for the pleasure of most of the contenders, had