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/128327
Rou nd 7
MOTOCROSS
~
FIM Wor ld MXI /MX2 Motocros s Championship
I
and Mickael Maschio roun ding out the t o p
five respectively.
The second rnoto was again a delight
for t he ho m e cr owd, As Swo rd led, he
didn't make a mistake, and w ith Tow nley
o n his back wheel he began to pull o ff brilliant lap times. Townley, though, never
gave up and pushed the Kawasaki rider to
m ake a m istake . With Townley taking t he
lead on lap four, it was then up t o his CAS
KTM teammate, Rattray, to make t he
attack on Tow nley. And for the last part of
the race t he two C HAM P KTM riders
pus hed each o ther to the lim it , with
Townley eve ntua lly getting the upper
hand and the win ,
" In the fir st race I was beh ind Sword,"
Townley said. "He then made a mistake,
and I got the lead. I had N ar ita and Rattray
behind me, but I could control the race . In
My
the second race I had a really good battle
with Sword : T he crowd really went wil d.
I could hear them cheering and knew they
were fo r Sword, so t hat mot ivat ed me. It
was probably one o f the best races I' ve
had. I was so motivated to beat him o n
home soil."
Second place Rattray knew he was
never goi ng to get the overall, but he did
push Townley a little in both motos.
Rattray, who won t he Spanish GP a cou ple of months ago, will head to the fut ure
rounds with his confidence at an all-time
high.
"First race I didn't get a bad start, top
five or so," Rattray said. " I then passed
Narita and got to Ben [Iownley], but I
made a mistake, and he got away from me.
It 's really hard to make up time on this
track. In the second race Sword came right
OWN RACE
72 Stefan Everts (3.3 ,3rd)
MX I
Seven -time World Mot ocross Cham pion Stefan Everts missed the podium fo r the first time
since the opening round in Zolder. o nly the second ti me in more t han a year. It just wasn 't
his day. " I just didn't feel good all weekend," Evert s said. " I could push hard enough to win;
I was just too slow. After the first mo to I knew a podium was all that was possible. I did
good for the championship. so I'm not wo rr ied. I had a bad day. and I have to accept that.
Cedr ic crashed during the week, and he didn't score so well here in England. He's my
biggest rival in the points, so I still moved away fro m him, Josh [Coppins) and Mickael
[Pichon1were just too quick for me: '
19 St e phen Swo rd (3-3,3rd)
MX2
For the second-placed rider in the MX2 series points. the British Grand Prix brought some
problems, Altho ugh he did have the support of the crowd and a great race with Townley in
the second rno to, the overall victory was a long way off. "I thought I could win the first
one, but then I stalled the bike," Sword said. " Then in the second I didn't get a rhythm, and
Tow nley and Ratt ray got away from me. My goal at the beginning of the year - I said I
wanted podiums. T he crowd was fantastic and is always going to be; it would have been
nice to win.
369 AI