ERNEE (FRANCE)-There was not better scenery than Ernée and no better weather than the sun of today for the final round of the 2006 Motocross season; the lucky ones who witnessed the event were 16.537 spectators who covered the natural theatre of the Raymond Demy Circuit.
The day started with the presentation of Stevan Everts’ new bike livery and clothing; the Yamaha YZ450FM was covered with a chequered flag design reporting all 100 GP wins that Everts caught. And his clothing was totally white with some golden parts, highlighting the “Golden Boy” of Motocross racing his last Grand Prix on the French soil.
But MX2 was almost as important as the King’s goodbye with Christophe Pourcel and Antonio Cairoli showing they were the ones deserving the Title in 2006.
In the first moto Cairoli lead from the first lap and completed the first mission: winning first moto.
At the end of the first heat his gap from Pourcel was 25 points because Christophe made to finish second; he was third at the beginning of the race but David Philippaerts, who was second ahead of the French, had a crash and handed the place to Christophe.
David was quick to get back on the bike and finished with third place, moving past Rattray in the standings: David and Tyla were fighting for third but the gap between the two was much shorter then the one between first and second.
Fresh British Champion Carl Nunn raced steadily in fourth place with Belgian Patrick Caps arriving fifth.
Tyla Rattray was seventh with his team De Reuver being right behind in eighth.
Cairoli and Pourcel fighting for the Title until the last round
The double challenge continued in the second moto that was even more spectacular than the first one; Cairoli and Pourcel had all eyes on them and set up the most wonderful battle of the season, passing each other 5 times. Christophe crashed and restarted the race from fifth. At that time Cairoli was too far for second Marc de Reuver: 2005 World Champion arrived to the chequered flag for first, won the Grand Prix but it was not enough to prevent Pourcel from getting the Title. Christophe ended the season with fourth, right behind Philippaerts, and won the first World Title of his career in front of home crowd getting crazy for their Champ.
Carl Nunn was fifth and Tyla Rattray sixth; the South African lost the battle for third in the Championship and it was Philippaerts securing the bronze place.
The first three riders of the Championship were also on the podium today
MX1 last race of 2006 followed the usual trend with Stefan Everts winning both motos. The Belgian wanted to end his career and made the fans remember him as the “winningest” rider of all times.
101 GP wins is the record that Everts will leave in the books and
After Mickael Pichon’s crash at the start with the Frenchman breaking his nose, Jonathan Barragan tried to stop Stefan in the first moto but finished second and other youngster Kevin Strijbos was third: by the time he got the place, he was too far from the leading duo.
Tanel Leok put 20 good laps together and was fourth under the chequered flag; there was De Dycker right behind him. The CAS Honda Belgian was ahead of team mate Coppins, who crashed 3 times, and countryman Ramon, seventh.
At the end of the day British Champion Ken de Dycker could not make to snatch third place in the Championship from Ramon and brought the fourth one home, after he finished the second moto in eighth place.
Ramon secured his third place thanks to a sixth place finish in the second moto that was won by Stefan Everts.
Josh Coppins was more than 8 seconds behind the Belgian once he arrived to the chequered flag in second place and Tanel Leok found a good race pace, passing Strijbos in the ninth lap; Tanel brought third place home and was also second on the podium.
Suzuki factory rider Strijbos completed the overall top three and jumped on the third step of the podium thanks to a fourth place finish in the second moto where he was almost 2 seconds ahead of Barragan, fifth.
MX3 World Champion Yves Demaria put an end to his appearance in MX1 with two DNF.
Stefan Everts and the crowd who could enjoy his last time on track
It was a long Sunday, filled with Pourcel and Everts’ celebrations. One enjoying the MX2 World Title in front of his home crowd and the other one leaving his mark in Motocross after a 18-year-long career full of successes. One being 18 years old and the other one turning 34 the 25th of November.
Today in
This was the last chequered flag for Stefan Everts
The season is completed and now it is time to head to