Frenchman Christophe Pourcel won in Teutschenthal the first Grand Prix of his young career with a double win in the MX2 class, while Stefan Everts got his 91th win. New Zealander Katherine Prumm won the first round of the FIM Women’s World Cup during a successful Grand Prix of Germany, followed by a huge crowd under perfect conditions in Teutschenthal for a sunny event.
Sick and second in Portugal two weeks ago, Christophe Pourcel is the first rider to get a double win this season in the MX2 class. The young kid from Chateauneuf les Martigues was the fastest on this track, and got twice the holeshot on this fast track. It was a hudge advantage for him as he was able to secure a strong leadership early in each race. Dutch Marc De Reuver collected two second places and a second position overall, followed by his team-mate Tyla Rattray. The World Championship leader had a difficult weekend; he started twice mid pack, stalled his engine in the first race and had a little crash in the second one when he tried to pass De Reuver. Luckily for him, Italian Alessio Chiodi broke his engine in the second race and offered to Tyla on the last step of the podium. “I knew that the start would be more important than ever here, and twice I got the holeshot. We worked for this yesterday with my brother, and I did my best to get the holeshot over Chiodi as I know that it’s always difficult to pass him. I felt easy on my bike, found some good lines and pushed hard in the first circulations to make a gap with my rivals. It was a perfect weekend for me, but unfortunately my brother Sébastien had technical problems in both races,” said the young Frenchman who will turn eighteen this summer. Mackenzie finished fourth, followed by Antonio Cairoli who crashed heavily in the morning and banged his neck.
Stefan Everts collected also two holeshot in the MX1 class, and led both races. But it was not an easy GP for the Belgian star, who had to battle with Kevin Strijbos in the first race and Tanel Leok in the second one. He had to built this double win, as none of his young rivals give up during the first part of the race. “I’m like a diesel, I need time to find my good rythm! I had to give the best I could in both races, I think that’s good to me that I still have strong competitors as I need to have pressure and then I can ride my best. Every week they are coming better and also stronger physically, they are trying to beat me and I have to keep on working hard during the week,” said the leader of the series. Second and third Strijbos and Leok got a podium position, followed by De Dycker and Ramon who crashed at the first start. British Stephen Sword crashed during the warm up; he broke his right ankle and had surgery in the afternoon.