Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Ben Town ley wos ecstatic after his victory tha t gave him his first World championship. n the ear ly stages of the World Motocross championships, Stefan Everts in the MX I class and Be n Townley in th e MX2 class were in a league of their own . Grand Prix victo ries came easily, and by the middle of the 2004 series both riders had pulled huge leads in the points race. But as the two riders began the last leg, something changed for th e both of them . Townley suffered mechan ical problems and began to make mistakes, w hile Everts also faltered , crashing in four consecutive GP's. To top it off, Evert's rival Mickael Pichon put together five Grand Prix wins out of six. Go ing into the Grand Prix of Ireland, despite all the pro ble ms, Everts and Town ley looked rock so lid to w in their respective World Championships. Their I early season domi nation had given them too much of an advantage to lose the titles, and although they still looked a little brittle, that was all about to change. In front of around IS,OOO spectators and in muddy conditions, Stefan Everts captured the win and also clinched his eighth World Motocross championship. The Belgian legend was back to his best, finishing a so lid second behind Mickael Pichon in the opening moto, and then, with the pressure off, Everts rode w ith amazing precision to win moto two. With his month-old baby Liam in his arms, Everts stood atop the podium in Ire land and rejoiced his amazing record. It was Everts ' 79th Gra nd Prix victory. "I was really disappointed after the first race, " Everts said. "I led most of it, and finally Mickael passed me at the end. I was World Champion, but I still wanted that moto w in. I was able to be happy after the second race because I won the GP, and it's nice to be World Champion in this way. This time I had two really go od starts, for the first time this season, and in the second heat I knew I had to push really hard at the beginning. When Mickael came second my plan was to keep the same gap , and at the end I was maybe stronger physically and won the GP. It has been a busy weekend; we'll now have a big party on Monday in Be lgium to ce lebrate my tit le. It has not been my best year, but I'm satisfied to get the t itle again, especially for the people w o rking arou nd me : my team, my sponsors and also my fans." While Everts could boast about his alltime wins record, young New Zealander Ben Townley began his call to greatness with his first-ever World title, picking up the MX2 World title after winning the opening moto. Townley, who had two weeks earl ier crashed in his attempt to score enough po ints to wrap up the championship at the Grand Prix of Germany, didn't make any mista kes this time aro und, going I-I for the GP overall and edging enough points away from second-placed Tyla Rattray to clinch the title. With his family in attendance , the 19-year-old looked just as brilliant as he had in the early part of the season, leaving his rivals in his w ake as he swept around the tr icky Ballykelly circu it. "That last lap took so long," Townley smiled . "I didn't fee l nervous coming into the race, I just wanted to know what it was, like to be Wo rld Cham pion. I was just excited about seeing how that felt. My father was the first person to me w hen I crossed the line; I didn't plan it that way, ;Briefly... I One interesting fact about this weekend's Grand Pr ix of Ireland was that it was held on a Saturday, the reason being that sporting events are not run on Sundaysin Ireland due to religious reasons . There is stilltalk inside the Grand Prix paddock that teams are not keen on signing the new contract with Youthstream for the 2005 season. Giuseppe Luongo has mentioned that he is not interested in talkingwith the team 's spokes group, which is called MXTAG, and willonly speak directly with the riders and team managers. "I am willingto talk with the riders and team managers," Luongosaid, "but I am not interested in talking with MXTAG; we don't deal with them at all." Several team managers have mentioned that they will not be signing the new contract, and while most of the smaller teams have signed contracts , it seems unlikely that the bigger teams will signwithin the next couple of months. Youthstream had put a deadline of August 31 to sign the contacts or the teams would be in danger of being excluded from the 2005 series. Several changes have been made to the Motocross of Na tions teams. Of course the first change is the American team not being included in the entry list. Australialost Andrew McFarlane, who is injured and will be replaced by rider Paul Broomfield, who has not raced in the Aussie series. The Italian team willbe Antonio Cairoli, Fabrizio Dini and Daniele Bricca. Three of Italy's best riders - Alessio Chiodi, Andrea Bartoliniand Claudio Federici - will not ride for their country due to their dislikefor the Italian Federat ion. Belgium willfield Stefan Everts, Kevin Strijbos and Steve Ramon. The Belgians are the heavy favorites. New Zealand also has an outside chance of victory, with Ben Townley, Josh Coppins and Daryl Hurley. American Mike Brown has had contact with several ofthe Grand Prix teams this year. It is understood that Brown has had talks with the RTI Honda team in England. It is not known ifBrown willrace the Grand Prix series in 2005, though. Harry Everts, the father of Ste fan, won his second of four World Motocross championships 25 years ago, and he also did it in Ireland. The former Suzuki factory rider rernern - bers it well. "I was telling Stefan on Saturday about my win in 1979," Ev erts said. "He was just a little boy, and I beat Watanabe, my Suzuki teammate . We nearly didn't race the second moto the dust was so bad." www.cyc lenews.com C YC LE N EW S • SEPTEMBER 22, 2004 23