Press Release

Pourcel Family Duo Reigns In Faenze

  FAENZA, 15 July 2007- An extremely well organized and crowd packed  Monte Coralli 
> circuit -with 29000 weekend spectators - hosted its first Motocross Grand Prix today
> since 1993.
> It was a great comeback, with four extremely battled moto’s that ended with a
> Pourcel one-two; Sebastien won the MX1 GP for the first time in his career, as
> Christophe clinched the overall win in the MX2 class.
> All riders struggled with a demanding heat, showing their strength and preparation
> once again.
>
> MX1
> An unbelievable Sebastien Pourcel of GPKR dominated the Italian Grand Prix by
> clinching two consecutive victories. The Frenchman rode smart and pulled away with the
> lead after two decent starts, beating Yamaha Motocross’ Josh Coppins, who finished
> second on the podium. Mike Brown of CAS Honda completed the podium ahead of Billy
> Mackenzie and poleman Jonathan Barragan.
>
Sebastien Pourcel dominated this Grand Prix
>
> MX1 GRAND PRIX RACE 1
> After taking the holeshot, Mike Brown tried to pull away with the lead but a very
> smart Sebastien Pourcel was following him from very close, waiting for an open door to
> pass.
> Once he got the chance, Pourcel squeezed himself and his machine to arrive first to
> the chequered flag; after a bad start Josh Coppins had to recover from the bottom of
> the top fifteen. The solid Kiwi rode an incredible heat to finish second, less than
> four seconds behind the winner.
> Ken de Dycker battled with team mate Brown until he reached the second place, but was
> finally passed by Coppins and settled for an important third place.
> Brown brought the bike home in fourth after having lead the early laps, and Jonathan
> Barragan rounded off the top five.
> Cedric Melotte of Aprilia Off Road had a storming start to the heat, riding in third
> place for a couple of laps, but finally retired. He was not 100%, as he has been ill
> for the last couple of days. He did not take part in moto two.
>
> MX1 GRAND PRIX RACE 2
> A super David Philippaerts took a great start and lead the pack into the first turn;
> Sebastien Pourcel started once again in second place and followed the Italian until he
> was ready to pass. Once he moved up to first, Pourcel ran away with the lead to secure
> his first place; Coppins was actually coming up fast after a decent start, but could
> not close the gap by the time he moved up to second.
> Philippaerts was running after Pourcel when he landed and hurt his already injured
> shoulder -from a race of last weekend. Coppins moved past him, but the Italian
> eventually dropped down to fifteenth.
> Billy Mackenzie finished third behind Coppins, after having fought with a very
> motivated Mike Brown. The American brought the bike home with another fourth place,
> ahead of Jonathan Barragan.
> De Dycker ended a difficult final moto with a tenth place.
>
Coppins fought for a second place reward
>
> MX2
> The battle between GPKR’s Christophe Pourcel and Yamaha De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli
> ended with the Frenchman’s revenge, with Pourcel beating the Italian on home soil.
> Cairoli scored as many points as Pourcel with a first and a second place, but finished
> second on the podium ahead of a solid Tyla Rattray of KTM Red Bull Racing. The South
> African sand specialist struggled on the hard pack Italian track, but was ahead of
> both Pascal Leuret and Rui Goncalves.
>
The podium of the MX2 class
>
> MX2 GRAND PRIX RACE 1
> Tony Cairoli started like a freight train, but did not get rid of Christophe Pourcel;
> the Frenchman moved to the lead right away, and tried to ran away from rival Cairoli.
> Cairoli did not follow and looked like settling for the runner up spot, but the
> Championship leader came back up to close a gap of about four seconds.
> Cairoli made it to first at half race distance, and rode alone to the chequered flag
> while Pourcel settled down in second place.
> Tyla Rattray was once again consistent and recovered from the bottom of the top ten to
> the third place; Tyla was put massive pressure by Nicolas Aubin, who never lost the
> contact with the South African.
> Rattray left no open doors and made no mistakes, giving Aubin no chance to pass and
> leaving him behind in fourth. Pascal Leuret rounded off the top five ahead of a
> surprising Marvin Musquin; the European Championship contender had a great start and
> lapped in third for the first seven laps.
>
Tony Cairoli won one heat, as much as GP winner Pourcel
>
> MX2 GRAND PRIX RACE 2
> For the final heat, Pourcel put himself together and headed the pack into the first
> turn; on the other hand Cairoli had a difficult start, and was forced to recover
> positions while his rival pulled away with an impressive pace.
> Once Cairoli made it to second by passing Rattray, he tried to close the ten second
> gap from the defending Champion, but the mission was impossible.
> Cairoli settled down for second behind winner Pourcel, as Rattray soldiered on in
> third until he reached the chequered flag.
> Pascal Leuret fought for the whole heat to secure his fourth place ahead of Tommy
> Searle; the British was on a mission, as he had to make up for the first moto, where
> he crashed and finished eleventh.
> Another rider coming from the European Championship, Gautier Paulin, started the final
> heat really well; he completed three circulations in third place, but finally dropped
> down to thirteenth. His physical condition was not 100%, as he tangled up with
> another rider and crashed in the opening moto.
>
The battle was tough but Christophe Pourcel won it
>
> IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS
> Joshua Coppins has now 107 points more than runner up Steve Ramon, who had a difficult
> weekend in Italy. Sebastien Pourcel stormed from sixth to third after today’s haul
> of 50 points, as David Philippaerts dropped down to fourth. Jonathan Barragan rounds
> off the top five.
>
> There is still the same gap of 102 points between series leader Tony Cairoli and
> runner up Christophe Pourcel, as both conquered the same amount of points today.
> Rattray reinforced his third position ahead of Searle and Leuret. Stephen Sword marked
> his GP’s comeback by clinching his first four Championship points.
>
> NEWS OF THE DAY : WINGS FOR LIFE AUCTION
> This morning at Monte Coralli’s paddock a special charity auction for Wings for Life
> took place; the amount of money that was collected by selling Motocross gear of Stefan
> Everts, Christophe Pourcel, Tyla Rattray, Antonio Cairoli, Ricky Carmichael and James
> Stewart will be given to Wings for Life at the next Grand Prix in Loket. More of such
> auctions will be held at some of the forthcoming Grand Prix’s.
>
Cairoli helped with selling the riders’ pieces
>
> WHAT’S NEXT
> Such a hot Grand Prix requires at least one week of vacation, and this is exactly what
> the FIM Motocross World Championship will do. The forthcoming Grand Prix of Czech
> Republic will be held at Loket, on July 29.
>
> Info on the event can be found in the Official Guide of the FIM Motocross World
> Championship. To download it directly click here.
>
>
> The FIM Motocross Grand Prix Città di Faenza will be:
>
> Broadcast delayed on:
> EUROSPORT 2 : Sunday July 15, MX1 Race 2 at 22:00 CET; Monday July 16, MX2 class at
> 17:00 CET
> SPORT ITALIA : Sunday July 15, MX1 Race 1 at 18:00 and Race 2 at 19:00 CET
> VRT : Sunday July 15, MX1 Race 1 at N/A (check http://www.vrt.be)
> EUROSPORT WORLD : Sunday July 15, MX1 Race 2 at 23:30 GMT; Monday July 16, MX1 Race 2
> at 20:00 and MX2 class at 21:00 GMT; Tuesday July 17, MX1 Race 2 at 4:00 and MX2 class
> at 5:00 GMT
> AMERICA ONE: second Tuesday after the GP, MX2 Race 2 and MX1 Race 2, N/A (check
> http://www.americaone.com)
> GAORA: MX2 Race 1 and Race 2, MX1 Race 1 and Race 2, N/A (check http://www.gaora.co.jp)
>
>
> LINKS
> FIM
> FMI-Federazione Motociclistica Italiana
> FIM Motocross Grand Prix of Faenza – Città delle Ceramiche
> Faenza
>
> Information and results on http://www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the
> FIM Motocross World Championships.
>
> Fans worldwide can watch this and every race of the 2007 FIM Motocross & Supermoto
> World Championships live and on-demand exclusively on The Moto Channel on MediaZone
> (moto.MediaZone.com). MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specialized in
> sports, entertainment and international programming.
>
> Youthstream is the company that manages the exclusive television, marketing and
> promotional world wide rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM
> Motocross of Nations, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of
> Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship
> and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.
> www.MotocrossMX1.com

>
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