World MX GP 2001
Round 3 – Broadford
MX 500
Stefan Everts survived a protest to win his second 500 MX GP of the year after an enthralling contest at the dramatic hillside circuit of Broadford, 50 miles north of Melbourne, Australia on the weekend of April 15, 2001.
The race was a great triumph for the Yamaha Motocross Team, with newcomer Andrew McFarlane finishing second on home territory and Marnicq Bervoets only narrowly failing to make it a 1-2-3 for the team. Everts extended his 500 championship lead to 18 points.
Everts’ anxious moments had started three laps from the end when his exhaust broke: “I was so worried,” he admitted after crossing the line first. “I was riding better than I have done all season when I took the lead for the second time, I was able to relax and pull away. The exhaust thing was such a freak occurrence, it just happened as I landed off a jump; I don’t know why and now I must wait to see if I have won.”
Everts had started the race in 5th place and was quickly able to slip past defending champion Smets and launch his charge on his Australian team-mate Andrew McFarlane: “Andrew was riding well, but when I got to second I made a big push to get in front as quickly as possible.” This he did by leaping past the local star on a high jump: “I was still riding tense though. Twice I had a big moment on the bumpy downhill, and finally I fell down. Fortunately I was able to get back in front again pretty quickly and from there I could control the race. My win is the culmination of three days of hard work. I was not happy with my riding on Friday and we did a lot of work on the bike on Saturday. On Sunday I had to work on my mind, and now everything is coming together.”
The protest against the noise level of Everts’ damaged bike was eventually rejected by the international officials, and he retained his deserved victory.
Andrew McFarlane was also over the moon to complete a 1-2 for Michele Rinaldi’s Yamaha team, after twice leading the world field in his home GP: “I led here last year too, but that was a one-off ride in the championship. Now I am a series regular, and this was my best performance to date. I didn’t have a good time on Friday when the track was not so rough and had a bad choice of gate, but I set my mind to coming across the field in the first turn and I made it. I had already set the fastest time yesterday when the track started to get bumpy, so I was confident I could get a good result if I got a decent start; I always ride best when the track is bumpy. But Stefan was just that little bit too fast for me, but I was comfortable in second. Even when I stalled the motor a few laps from the end I was soon able to make my second place safe again.”
Marnicq Bervoets almost made it a 1-2-3 for the team, coming up just a few seconds short, but he was not happy with his form: “I am just not riding well, and it is showing in my results. I have really bad problems with arm pump at the moment. But on the last lap I took a lot of risks to keep 4th from Smets – I did that for the team because those points could be important for any of us in this year’s battle with him.”
500cc: 1. Stefan Everts (B) Yamaha; 2. Andrew McFarlane (AUS) Yamaha; 3. Jonny Lindhe (S) Husqvarna; 4. Marnicq Bervoets (B) Yamaha; 5. Joël Smets (B) KTM; 6. Bernd Eckenbach (D) KTM; 7. Cédric Melotte (B) VOR; 8. Francisco Garcia Vico (E) KTM; 9. Christian Burnham (GB) Honda; 10. Craig Anderson (AUS) KTM; 11. Gert-Jan van Doorn (NL) VOR; 12. Marcel van Drunen (NL) Husaberg; 13. Mats Nilsson (S) Husaber3B 14. Damien King (NZ) KTM; 15. Miska Aaltonen (SF) Yamaha.
Standings after 3 GPs: 1. Everts, 70; 2. Smets, 52; 3. Bervoets, 42; 4. Lindhe, 31; 5. McFarlane, 30; 6. Garcia Vico, 23; 7. Melotte and Andrea Bartolini (I) Husqvarna, 20; 9. Willie van Wessel (NL) Husaberg, 15; 10. Van Drunen and Avo Leok (EST), KTM, 13.
MX250
Team Corona Suzuki’s Mickael Pichon climbed to the top of the podium at Broadford, claiming his third successive Grand Prix victory in the third round of the 2001 World Motocross Championship.
Pichon was in top form for the Australian round of the World Series. Fastest in both qualification sessions, he looked ever confident after his recent wins in Spain and Holland. After gaining the lead on the second lap, Pichon rode effortlessly for the rest of the race before taking the chequered flag.
Team-mate Josh Coppins suffered a minor problem during the early stages of the race, but the Kiwi didn’t let that interfere with his title hopes and rode a determined race to come back to fifth position, to leave Broadford only one-point behind third place in the championship standings.
Mickael Pichon – 1st – “My results speak for themselves. The season is still a long one but I am very pleased to have a 33 point advantage. I felt good during the race. We have the bike sorted, I have lots of speed and when I can take the pole position it always makes it easier for the race. I don’t really like this track but I have trained hard on dirt like this so I am prepared for it. If I can win on tracks I don’t like, I’m confident that when we get back to European circuits, I can really start to work hard and claim my first world title for Suzuki.”
It was also an excellent day for the official Yamaha 250 riders, with superb results from Claudio Federici who finished in 2nd place and Yves Demaria who finished 3rd. Paul Cooper came home 8th, Darryl King 10th and Pit Beirer 11th place. The race winner was Frenchman Mikael Pichon, scoring his second victory of the season.
Team Yamaha Axo rider Federici had qualified well in 4th place despite finding the track hard going and crashing hard on his face on Saturday. Sunday however produced an almost perfect race: “I had an okay start, by lap one I was inside the top five, but my condition was not good from the crash on Saturday, which was a shame as the bike was working really well. I had to really fight to get the points and for that I am relieved.”
Yves Demaria of Team Skittles Yamaha Radiorama had predicted a good result: “Third is good but I was expecting to win on this track – it suited me, it’s rough and you have to get a good start and remain in a good rhythm.”
Josh Coppins – 5th – “It’s my goal to take as many points as possible. I am now in fourth position in the championship and with second position only 5 points away, I am still hopeful. I am feeling strong and confident so I am looking forward to the next race in Belgium. It’s near to my home there, so it’s almost like a home GP for me, I want to do well there.”
It was an eventful race for team-mate Pit Beirer of who was unable to capitalise on his 2nd place qualification: “I had felt so good going into this race but I crashed twice, I should have been on the podium today, they were just silly mistakes.”
Irishman Gordon Crockard was the best placed Honda rider in the 250cc Australian GP, held at Broadford. Crockard finished fourth in the race. Honda’s reigning 250 World Champion Frederic Bolley ended the day pointless having retired from the event at the halfway stage. Bolley didn’t fare well in qualifying and also made a bad start to his race. The Frenchman was down in 15th place after one lap. He climbed to eighth place by lap but retired a lap later. A disappointed Bolley left the circuit without comment on his demise.
Crockard was in the same position as Bolley following qualifying. But the Irishman got his head down from the start and picked off his rivals one by one to move into fourth place at the finish. “I am happy with fourth place after my not too good start. I had hoped to do the same as I did in Holland two weeks ago, when I ran with Pichon from the start. But with this fourth place I have held my second place in the points standings.” Said CAS Honda Bake ‘n’ Bite rider Crockard.
The Irishman’s team mate, Finn Jussi-Pekka Vehvilainen, had another good day finishing in ninth place, his third top ten finish in a row. Vehvilainen said. “That’s the kind of performance I should give all year as I will try to be in the top ten at the end of the year.”
250cc: 1. Mickaël Pichon (F) Suzuki; 2. Claudio Federici (I) Yamaha; 3. Yves Demaria (F) Yamaha; 4. Gordon Crockard (GB) Honda; 5. Joshua Coppins (NZ) Suzuki; 6. Chad Reed (AUS) Kawasaki; 7. Danny Theybers (B) KTM; 8. Paul Cooper (GB) Yamaha; 9. Jussi-Pekka Vehviläinen (SF) Honda; 10. Darryl King (NZ) Yamaha; 11. Pit Beirer (D) Yamaha; 12. Marko Kovalainen (SF) Yamaha; 13. Justin Morris (GB) Suzuki; 14. Mark Hucklebridge (GB) Kawasaki; 15. Collin Dugmore (SA) KTM.
Standings after 3 GPs: 1. Pichon, 75; 2. Crockard, 42; 3. Federici, 38; 4. Coppins, 37; 5. Beirer, 33; 6. Cooper, 32; 7. Vehviläinen, 25; 8. Theybers, 24; 9. Demaria, 22; 10. Reed, 18; 11. Frédéric Bolley (F) Honda, 16.
MX125
The 125 GP went to James Dobb (KTM), his second win of the season. Dobb beat home Italians Alessandro Belometti and former World Champion Alessio Chiodi (both Yamaha). Dobb’s win takes him 31 points clear of second-placed Chiodi.
Luigi Seguy was not far behind, trailing Brian Jorgensen and Patrick Caps to complete another Yamaha-dominated top-ten result. The number one spot went to Britain’s James Dobb, who extended his lead in the championship standings to 31 points.
Strong throughout the weekend, Belometti took advantage of overnight improvements in the track’s condition: “I had an okay start, something like 7th place, then I was able to find some good lines. The track is much better today, and I could pass much better. It’s my first podium visit for two years, and I now know I can make it there much more often.”
Teammate Alessio Chiodi had found qualifying more challenging, reflecting: “The bike is strong, however the track is very rough, it’s difficult to find good lines and on some corners it’s only one line.” But the ex-champ was found more to be happier about after an excellent race result: “For me it was a good race, my start was not so good, although I got through to the top five quickly. Many riders were racing hard and I was able to get passed Erik Eggens and then Ramon crashed, which slowed me. From there I tried to catch Belometti, but he was just too far ahead.” JT Racing’s Seguy commented: “It was a lonely race, I had a slow start, in about 10th place, then I stayed in 9th for many laps, got passed Jorgensen, Eggens and Sword. I could not do any better with the start I had, but I am not too disappointed, I did my best.”
Racing for Team Yamaha UK, Jörgensen showed disappointment with his form: “I got arm pump very quickly and struggled for the complete race, it was not a good race for me and to be honest I really had trouble holding the bike again, the ground was very hard, which made my arms even worse.”
American Scott Sheak, Honda’s best man in the opening two rounds of the series, could manage no better than 14th and drops out of the top ten in the points standings.
Young German rider Marco Dorsch surprised all with his superb ride to fourth place. Dorsch, who had been refused a start at the Dutch GP, held second place for a long time but in the closing stages was passed by the more experienced Italians.
125cc: 1. James Dobb (GB) KTM; 2. Alessandro Belometti (I) Yamaha; 3. Alessio Chiodi (I) Yamaha; 4. Marco Dorsch (D) Honda; 5. Luigi Seguy (F) Yamaha; 6. Stephen Sword (GB) Husqvarna; 7. Erik Eggens (NL) KTM; 8. Brian Jorgensen (DK) Yamaha; 9. Patrick Caps (B) Yamaha; 10. Steve Ramon (B) Kawasaki; 11. Christian Stevanini (I) Husqvarna; 12. Sven Breugelmans (B) Yamaha; 13. Alessandro Puzar (I) Kawasaki; 14. Scott Sheak (USA) Honda; 15. Billy Mackenzie (GB) Yamaha.
Standings after 3 GPs: 1. Dobb, 70; 2. Chiodi, 39; 3. Eggens, 34; 4. Ramon, 32; 5. Seguy, 31; 6. Belometti, 30; 7. Thomas Traversini (I) KTM, 20; 8. Caps, 18; 9. Jorgensen, 17; 10. Breugelmans, Stevanini and Mark de Reuver (NL) Yamaha, 16.
