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/128345
n fro nt of aro und 30,000 spectators, Stefan Everts finished w ith I-I results and carne away from o ne of the to ughest Motocross of Nations in rec e nt history w ith yet another Belgian team victory. Under ove rcast skies in Holland, Everts showed the way for his fellow Belgians around the demanding Lierop Circuit to reco rd bot h his fifth team w in and his fifth individ ual victory in the event. The Belgian team remained calm despite an early surge from t he New Zealand team . Bad luck, though , robbed New Zealand any chance of victory, as Ben Tow nley blew up his KTM machine while holding down fifth positio n in his second heat of the day. Townley and teammate Josh Coppins had finished third and sixth, respectively in the opening mota of the , day, putting Team NZ in the lead after one mota. With Townley out of the second mota and the Belgian riders showi ng consistent res ults in third and seventh, the defending champions wer e sitting pretty to take the title back to Belgium again. For Everts it was a long, tough week. "You know, I felt weak after what happened in South Africa," Everts said. "I then cras hed again while practicing in t he week and spent the whole day Thursday in bed sleeping. I broke a small bone in my face in the practice crash and really thought I might not be able to race the des Nat io ns." With a black eye from his crash and his confidence at an all-time low, Everts pulled tog ether his typ ical Motocross of Nat ions result. Even with the no nappearance. of a U.S. team, th e victory was still sweet for t he Belgians. "You know, they missed something rea lly good," Everts said. "This was a really good race . To me the Motocross of Nations w illalways be t he mos t important race of the year. It's very special to win it again for the fifth time . If they [the American te am] w ant to race a motocross track , then t hey should have come here . It was a lot of fun to race on . I love racing and I enjoyed today so much, t hat is w hat is importa nt to me , racing." While Everts' results contr ibuted a lot to the Belgian victory, t he performance of yo ung Kevin Strijbos certainly helped pave the way for a Belgian team win. Strijbos, who was making his Nations debu t, went 2-6 and battled hard with Mickael Pichon in the MX2/MX3 race , holding the lead fo r some time before the two-time Wo rld Motocross Champion took control. For Strijbos it was an impo rtant day. I Ke vin Strij bos (3 ), a long with Steve Ramon, held up their ends to give Belgiu m its se co nd co nsecutive Natio n s win. "It fee ls so good, " Strijbos said. "I've seen the Belgian team win this event be fore, back in the I990s, w hen Smets, Everts and Bervoets were the to p riders. To win w ith Stefan today is so exciting for me , I am now a part of Belgian history. I knew I did n't need to race with the top guys in t he last mota, just make sure I finished and my sixt h place was good e no ugh." The t hird member of the winn ing team was Steve Ramon. The KTM facto ry rider dropped do w n to the MX2 class, having ridde n the Grand Prix season in t he MX I class. Having tas ted success at last year's Mo toc ross of Nations, it was very much a mo tivated Ramon w ho arrived in Lierop . He posted 7-1 3 results and, w hile he did n't show the same speed as in the 2003 eve nt , he did en ough to help his team take the trophy. "It was fun riding the MX2 class," Ramon said. " I felt I did okay. This track was so tough, really one of the toughest I have ever ridden. The w hole circ uit was abou t using your legs, and my legs are so tired now. I couldn't get out of the start, and that cost me , but we got the win, and t hat is why we cam e he re." The Dutch team showed great fighting spirit w ith Marc de Reuver picking up 2-2 results and really giving Everts and Pichon a hard time over the weekend. In t he qualifiaction race on Saturday, de Reuver pushed Everts to the limit, and then again in the Sunday's o pening mota. Eric Eggens, who has been out all season with a back injury, finished with 9- 1I re sults, and the team's third rider, Bas Verhoeven, cam e home w ith B-15 resul ts - not bad fo r a rider who has hardly been to a GP t his year. De Reuver, like Everts , was not experiencing the best week of his career, yet he showed gre at courage to ride the event of his life. "I was so sick last week in South Africa that I didn't know what to expect," de Reuver said. "I recovered pretty well during the w eek , and I decided to race on a 250 two-stroke afte r a me eting with Pit Beirer. The track was unbe lievable; I know t hat it's sand , but th ere were so many lines, so many ruts. I had a lot of bad luck th is yea r and came here to do aweso me races, and I think w e gave to the crowd wh at t hey ex pect even if it's a shame that I crashed both t imes in t he last five minutes! " Th e French te am squeezed onto the podium after two ~ Briefly... Giuseppe Luongo pointed out that the event is stilltake n seriously by American s. Having signed up Fox clothing as the event sponsor, the leader of Youthstream was excited for the sport . "Y know when you have Fox as ou the title sponsor, you know the American people are interes ted in the race," Luongo said. "I wo uld hope the American riders can come to the olympics of their sport in 2005. We would welcome them with open arms." Also in Lierop was Mike Bro wn, fin ishing up his contract plans with the CAS Honda team. Brown will race the MX2 class in the 2005 World Motocross Championship. Brown will, in fact, race a Supercross in England in two weeks time for CASand will return for another Supercross in Ireland on November 26. The former AMA 125cc Motocross Champion was spending the week after the Nations practicingin England and looking for a home. Three of the Grand Prix youngsters - Antonio Cairoli, Sebastien Pourcel and Gareth Swanepoel - showed they are serious about m oving to America in 2006 by putting their names down for several Supercross races in the coming months . All three will do the Bercy Supercross. This year's Berey Supercross, set fo r November 12- 14, is looking to be a great event . Included in the lineup will be Mickael Pichon, Sebast ien Tortelli, Mike and Jeff Alessi, Mike Brown, Antonio Calroli . Sebastien Pourcel, Tyla Rattray and Eric Sorby. A number of other hot 125cc riders will also appear on the program , as will Freestyle riders Ronnie Faisst , Ronnie Renner and Edgar Torronteras . The only regular riders fro m the AMAseries who competed in Lierop were Canadians Jean Sebastie n Roy and Blair Morgan . Roy finished with 13-21 results and Blair6-16. The KTM factory riders all wore black armbands at the Nations in memory of Richard Sa ine!, who was killed in a rallya week earlier. Saine! was a former Dakar Rally winner and also a factory KTM rider for many years. (See In the Wind.) It appea rs that Stefan Everts will receive only a fine for his off-t rack debacle at the Grand Prix of South Africa on September 26. Everts, who was involved in a crash with Mickael Pichon and later threw his gloves at Pichon and then tried to block pass the French rider, will meet with the FIM later in the year and, from all accounts , he will be fined and then left alone to cont inue his career. Some peop le in the paddock were concerned that Everts would be banned for as long as a year. Everts had been involved in a I O -minute rider strike just prior to the ope ning mota of the Grand Prix of South Africa, and it was understood that Y outhstream , the group that runs the Grand Prix series, was not happy with his part in the strike. Everts will race a beach race in England on October 30 and then possiblyrace inJapan in November. The Belgian willthen take the winter off to prepare for the 200S season, one that many say will be his last season. "I have to thinkabout it, if I decide to race again after 2005," Everts said. "If I am not enjoyingracing and I'm getting beaten too much, Iwillstop. I have had a great career and look forward to stoppingwhen I am stillnear the top of my game." Other Ame rican rider s who are interested in joining the Grand PrixSeries in 200S are Sean Hamblin and Brandon Jessema n. Both are in talks with European teams, and Hamblin willdo a Supercross race in Ireland in November, with the possible chance of also talkingwith teams in Europe. YCL E NEWS • OaOBER 13, 200 4 33