MX500

Stefan Everts took his factory Yamaha four-stroke to his 7th win in nine races to move into an even more commanding position in the world 500cc MX championship. More impressively, the 28-year-old Belgian has now equalled the record of 50 career GP wins, held by his compatriot Joel Robert, a record set five months before Stefan was born. It was the perfect day for the Yamaha factory team with team-mate Marniq Bervoets riding to a supremely confident second place finish, a full 24 seconds comfortably clear of Smets (KTM).

"Ever since I started racing, I had my eyes set on Joel's records, and today I have equalled it. I am so grateful to everybody who stood behind me through the last two troubled years - my sponsors, my family, my girlfriend, my trainer, and not least Yamaha who took a big risk when they signed me after my injuries." The race proved surprisingly easy for Everts as he took his first holeshot of the year: "Everything went right. My timing at the gate was perfect, and I got such good momentum. I knew that the other riders would be coming fast from the outside, but I rode aggressively to keep back McFarlane."

Everts immediately opened up a good lead, but inevitably suffered a little with nerves with the record so close: "I was a little strained for 25 minutes, particularly when Marnicq started to close a little, but I looked for my timing again and was surprisingly relaxed during the last few laps."

Marnicq Bervoets undoubtedly had his best ride of the year to complete a 1-2 success for the official Yamaha team: "I had so many problems earlier this year, but since my operation I am on the right track, and I am now racing where I should be. After setting pole yesterday I thought perhaps I even had the chance to win, but I only started 4th and had to spend a few laps fighting my way through to second. Stefan kept the pace very high, and I think the track today, after all of the rain overnight, suited him. I finally gave up the chase after making two mistakes in one lap, but I now have the confidence to fight for the win every week until the end of the season."

Team rookie Andrew McFarlane slipped back from his initial second to fifth in the course of the race, but can be more than satisfied with his performance on this, his first visit to the longest, most demanding track on the circuit: "Well, that's proved that France was no fluke and that I really do have my starts dialled now. I tried to stay with Stefan early on, but he was just too fast for me. I would have like to keep the rest back, but it was more sensible to ride my pace. All of the riders who beat me have been here before, and it's not an easy track to learn."

500cc Results: 1. Stefan Everts (B) Yamaha; 2. Marnicq Bervoets (B) Yamaha; 3. Joël Smets (B) Husaberg; 4. Francisco Garcia Vico (E) KTM; 5. Andrew McFarlane (AUS) Yamaha; 6. Erwin Machtlinger (A) Honda; 7. Shayne King (NZ) KTM; 8. Avo Leok (EST) KTM; 9. Chris Burnham (GB) Honda; 10. James Noble (GB) KTM; 11. Miska Aaltonen (SF) Yamaha; 12. Fabrizio Dini (I) Yamaha; 13. Andrea Bartolini (I) Husqvarna; 14. Damien King (NZ) KTM; 15. James Marsh (GB) Yamaha.

500cc Championship: 1. Everts, 215; 2. Smets, 173; 3. Bervoets, 137; 4. Garcia Vico, 82; 5.McFarlane, 68; 6. Johnny Lindhe (S) Husqvarna, 51; 7. Shayne King, 49; 8.Leok, 45; 9. Cédric Melotte (B) VOR, 39; 10. Burnham, 37.

- MX250 -

Mickael Pichon took an amazing seventh win of the season to extend his championship lead to an amazing 83 points after the ninth round at Namur today. The Frenchman took the lead after five laps and then stretched his lead to finish the Grand Prix over 12 seconds ahead of World GP rookie Chad Reed of Australia.

Pichon now has an incredible total of 215 points out of a possible 225 and another good result at Roggenburg, Switzerland next week will see him taking the World Championship with four rounds to go.

Mickael Pichon 1st - "I am very pleased with the today’s result. I followed Chad Reed in the first few laps, Chad is a very technical rider and takes good lines around the track so I was happy to bide my time in second place and try not to push myself too hard. After a while I saw Read made a couple of mistakes and so I was able to overtake. I could then concentrate on getting some good laps in and increasing my lead. I know I’ve got a pretty good lead in the Championship but I am just going to take each race one at a time and aim to get points at each meeting."

Reed had suffered from numerous problems during qualifying and was 22nd fastest.  "I have never been able to put those fast laps during qualifying, I was pretty mad with myself but I did my best, but in the past week I have been practicing with Andrew McFarlane and it has certainly improved my starts." admitted Reed.

As the 30 strong line up hit the first turn, it was to cause bitter frustration for Kawasaki’s Mickael Maschio, he was brought down and had to start from last position – bad luck has dogged him throughout the season. Reed meanwhile was out front and trying to pull away from Pichon.

Reed was confident that this could be his first win of the season "Pichon is leading the series and I thought he would not want to risk throwing everything away trying to pass me. I knew that I was riding very well but after five or six laps I made a few small mistakes which allowed him to pass me."

Reed’s talent has shone through at the three most demanding races of the season. "If I can run with him like this then I know I can beat him, but he has won so many races he is so mentally strong he will always be very difficult to beat even when he is not prepared to risk it all and give it 100%."

Racing in second position for ten laps, Reed held onto his position and was only 12 seconds behind Pichon when they crossed the line for the last time.

Reed now moves into 5th position in the world standings and is only a single point behind Kiwi Josh Coppins in 4th. With 3rd position held by Italian Claudio Federici, Reed has his eyes set firmly on a top three number at the end of 2001. "I had a poor start to the season but now I am taking podium finishes, I certainly intend to make up for that during the final few races too. I have adapted well to Europe and the team who always give 100% are always behind me I am looking forward to the next few races."

250cc Results: 1. Mickaël Pichon (F) Suzuki; 2. Chad Reed (AUS) Kawasaki; 3. Pit Beirer (D) Yamaha; 4. Claudio Federici (I) Yamaha; 5. Joshua Coppins (NZ) Suzuki; 6. Gordon Crockard (GB) Honda; 7. Frédéric Bolley (F) Honda; 8. Colin Dugmore (SA) KTM; 9. Jussi-Pekka Vehviläinen (SF) Honda; 10. Marko Kovalainen (SF) Yamaha; 11. Justin Morris (GB) Honda; 12. Juha Salminen (SF) KTM; 13. Espen Blikstad (S) Suzuki; 14. Joaquim Rodrigues (P) Honda; 15. Danny Theybers (B) KTM.

250cc Championship: 1. Pichon, 215; 2. Crockard, 132; 3. Federici, 99; 4. Coppins, 94; 5. Reed, 92; 6. Beirer, 92; 7. Bolley, 85; 8. Vehviläinen, 59; 9. Yves Demaria (F) Yamaha, 54; 10. Theybers, 49.

- MX125 -

125cc Results: 1. James Dobb (GB) KTM; 2. Steve Ramon (B) Kawasaki; 3. Alessandro Puzar (I) Husqvarna; 4. Mark de Reuver (NL) Yamaha; 5. Luigi Seguy (F) Yamaha; 6. Kenneth Gundersen (N) KTM; 7. Brian Jörgensen (DK) Yamaha; 8. Alessio Chiodi (I) Yamaha; 9. Marco Dorsch (D) KTM; 10. Julien Bill (CH) KTM; 11. Alessandro Belometti (I) Yamaha; 12. Patrick Caps (B) Yamaha; 13. Kevin Strijbos (B) Yamaha; 14. Antoine Letellier (F) KTM; 15. Philippe Dupasquier (CH) Kawasaki.

125cc Championship: 1. Dobb, 190; 2. Ramon, 112; 3. Erik Eggens (NL) KTM, 101; 4. Seguy, 84; 5. Gundersen, 82; 6. Chiodi, 77; 7. Belometti, 60; 8. De Reuver, 58; 9. Sven Breugelmans (B) Yamaha, 56; 10. Stephen Sword (GB) Husqvarna, 55.

Next GP: Roggenburg (Switzerland) on August 12th.