Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ro u n d 2 MOTOCROSS M o r. 28 , 2 004 ~ FIM World MXI /MX2 Motorcross Championship MvOwN 3 RACE Joel Smets 9-4 (MX I) A knee injury continued to hinder Joel Smets as he rode to a fifth overallfinish. "First moto I rode tentative because the idleon the bike was allover the place ," Smets said. "Sometimes the bike would idle hardand then soft. I had a smallcrash, and the engine stalled twice. The first time Icouldn't start it, Iwas like last by the time the bike got going. Icaught up to ninth place, which was okay. In the second moto, Iwas going good, I had great speed, but Igot caught behindJavier VICO Garcia, and he rides good in Spain. He wouldn't let me past. and I knew my speed was much better. I could only pass him on the start straight,and he knew that and pushed reallyhard to keep me behind him. Icould see Coppins getting away and knew my speed was as good as his.I macIe too many mistakesbehind Garcia, but that's racing. With my injured knee , the wet oonditions in the first two rounds have not helped me; it's hard to get my confidence backwhen you can hardly put your foot down, and in mud you have to do that a lot. Iwas hoping (or top fIVe here and finished fifth, so that is okay. Iwant podiums in the next round and then fight(or a win inthree weeks in Hollandat the end of April. I don't think the others are much faster than me. I'm sixth in the champjonship, and I know Ican get faster with this bike. It IooIcs like it's goingto be Eve versus the rest." rts 2 Mickael Pichon DNF-7 (MXI) A series favorite, Mickael Pichon continues to struggle on the Martin Honciateam . "Igot caught in the mud in the first race and couldn't do anything, just had to come into the pits," Pichon said. "The second race, I hada badstart and just struggledcorningthrough. It's been a badGrand Prix(or me, but it's only early I . have time to come back." 11 Steve Ramon 7-9 (MX I) KrM's St""" Ramon, who won a moto last week, did not Ode to his fullpotential in Spaln. "My riding here was not good," Ramon said. "Y have to look at the track today. My starts were not good , and Iwas able ou to come through. Sonne other guys had trouble today, so I macIe some points on some o( them . It was hard to pass. I finished 7-9; stillI scored points. Itcould have been much better: " 30 BenTownley I-DNF (MX2) After winning the second moto , BenTownleysuff ered a disappointing DNF in the second moto . "Good start in the second race," Townley said. "I put too much pressure on mysel( to get to the front and tried to pass Maschio in the whoops and crashed . Igot up and came back to fifth. Icouldn't get past Mcfarlane; he is so hardto pass. Anyway, then I hadsome technicalproblems. Iwas in fifth, and I'm only a (ew points away (rom the points lead. I need a bike that finishes every race though. I showed a littleimmaturityin that first lap. I've Ieamed (rom that, but then againit wouldn't have manened. I still wouldn't have finished . Next week in Portugal I'm goingto kill them : ' 19 Stephen Sword 3-5 (MX2) The surprise leader after two rounds is the Scot:sman , Stephen Sword. Never to make a podium in his short GP career, he's had two so far in the series and is lookinglike the dark horse in the series. '" was seriously thinking about not ridingdue to an ankleinjury Sword said. "I had a lot of paln. Iwanted to just Ode ," a steaclyrace in the first moto. In the second race my start was good , but Idrifted out of the firsttum and got caught in the mud and lost some places. Toget back to fifth place was great. Leading the champjonship , that's a dream (or me. Iwas able to keep mygoggJes on (or both races. The track dried out (or the second race, but we only had one line to race on." 17 I was into the first corner great and just rode great, really happy with how it went. I stayed clean, and everyone else had trouble w ith the mud ." As (or second-placed Rattray, he w as ha ppy for anothe r co nsistent performance. "The ra ce was so muddy," Ratt ray said . " I just w ante d to survive . Be n rode great, but I would have liked to have given him a ru n. I want to w in as much as he does. He go t away, and I couldn't pull him in. I also crashed and hurt my stomach a little : ' Sixteen -year-old Cairoli pulled t he ho les hot in th e second moto. Townley went down in th e w hoops trying to pass Maschio , an d then, o n lap nine , the series lea der was on his way back to t he pa ddock with a sick m otorcycle . 22 A PRIL 7, 200 4 • CYCLE NE WS Marc De Reuver 4-DNF (MX2) The Dutchman was very disappointed with his4-DNF day. '" rode terrible in the first moto, reallyshit," De Reuver said. "I was riding great in the second mota. Iwould have won easily, and it was a rnornent l had a sure 25 points [when his bike broke]. I'm disappointed. It's not the way I wanted to end this weekend, and Iwas pretty angry. I just have to push hard to get these points back. It's only early in the season: ' 7 Cedric Melotte 10-10 (MX I ) The starts were not kind to last week's winner Cedric Melone. "The first heat was diflkult," Melone said. "Icrashed on the second conner,and I had two bikes on me. I had to wait until the other bikes were off me. Ithen had to wait untilthe riders made mistakes. Youhad to push your way through. Everts came around to lap me, and I(oIlowed him (or some time, and that helped me, and Iwas able to work my way back into the top 10. Then in the second race, Igot caught in the start blocks and was last out of the start. Again Iworked my way through the field. Mamkq Bervoets took my front wheel , and Icrashed again. I was in bigtrouble in my head, and again top 10. At least Igot some points. We saw today manyriders that did not finish, so (or me Iwas okay:' 40th Annive rsa r y

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