Press Release

Phillipaerts and Rattray Get Ready For Eagerly Awaited Championship's Finale

FAENZA (ITALY), 13 September 2008 – Rain came today on the Monte Coralli track at Faenza as the SIDI Grand Prix of Italy practice sessions took place.

Qualifying was dry and the MX1 pole went to Frenchman Sebastien Pourcel who collected the Lovemytime Pole Position Award overall win courtesy of this fifth season pole. Steve Ramon was second as MX1 series leader David Philippaerts ended thirteenth.

In the MX2 class Zach Osborne and Tyla Rattray took the qualifying heats to start from the two best gate positions tomorrow. Runner up to Rattray in the Championship Tommy Searle ended sixth in heat one after a crash.






David Philippaerts and Tyla Rattray have a solid chance to take home the MX1 and MX2 Titles tomorrow.

MX1

Among several riders holding the top spot in the MX1 qualifying GPKR’s Sebastien Pourcel was the quickest eventually and collected his fifth season Lovemytime Pole Position Award courtesy of a superb laptime. The Frenchman looked back at last year’s double heat win at Faenza and remarked his improved feeling with the fuel injection machine he uses exclusively since Ireland.

Teka Suzuki WMX1’s Steve Ramon took a solid second behind Pourcel. Tomorrow the Belgian will exploit all his chances of moving past Philippaerts as he is just 14 points behind.






Steve Ramon is second in the MX1 Championship and ended today’s qualifying in second as well.

The Italian of Yamaha Monster Motocross clocked the 13th quickest time but looked ready to battle for his maiden World Championship Title tomorrow.

AXO KTM Silver Action’s Jonathan Barragan was third fastest today ahead of Teka Suzuki WMX1’s Ken de Dycker who is the third rider holding a title chance together with Ramon and Philippaerts.

Other Yamaha Monster Motocross rider Joshua Coppins was a promising fifth ahead of Max Nagl as the duo is fighting for fourth in the Championship together with Barragan and Pourcel.

Marc de Reuver was seventh with Manuel Priem, Tanel Leok and Clement Desalle rounding off the top ten.


Top five: 1. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 1:37.918; 2. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:00.065; 3. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), +0:00.238; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Suzuki), +0:00.713; 5. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Yamaha), +0:00.887






Today’s pole went to Seb Pourcel.

MX2

Utag-Yamaha.com’s Zach Osborne took his second career qualifying heat win after his maiden one from Fairyhouse; the Irish GP was actually a disappointment for the young American whose bike stopped in moto two after victory in heat one.

Tomorrow Osborne will be on fire to chase his maiden GP win but will surely find Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tyla Rattray on his way in what will be a Cairoli-Rattray like battle. Ending his season at round 10 in South Africa the two time World Champion will be at Faenza all weekend and attended a press conference today to announce he might be back on the Yamaha Red Bull De Carli bike on the first week of November – he will move up to MX1 next year.

Rattray will fight for the MX2 Title being the Championship leader with a 33 point advantage over team mate Tommy Searle who crashed in qualifying heat one to finish sixth.

Ricci Racing Yamaha’s Nicolas Aubin and KTM HDI MX Team’s Anthony Boissiere rounded off the top three in heat one as Champ KTM’s Joel Roelants and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Rui Goncalves completed an all KTM top three in heat two.

Riding on the only 2 stroke machine on the field this weekend Husqvarna’s Antoine Meo took a solid 10th in heat two.


MX2 QUALIFYING RACE 1

Searle headed the pack into the first corner with Boissiere, Aubin and Osborne following the Brit for what was going to be a four way battle for victory. Boissiere took the lead but Osborne and Searle moved past him later on. Searle crashed while Osborne cruised to victory ahead of Aubin and Boissiere. Searle recovered to sixth. Boog was a solid fourth ahead of Seistola. After lapping with the front runners in the early stages Slovenian Klemen Gercar dropped down to tenth.


Top five: 1. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 24:19.363; ; 2. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:03.106; 3. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, KTM), +0:10.274; 4. Xavier Boog (FRA, Suzuki), +0:24.636; 5. Matti Seistola (FIN, Honda), +0:27.250






Zach Osborne won heat one.

MX2 QUALIFYING RACE 2

Rattray rode a very strong qualifying moto to take a dominant win, the tenth of the season. Roelants worked his way up to second after a final move on Goncalves, who was an eventual third. Home rider Lupino put in some solid laps at the beginning of the heat before dropping to an eventual seventh. Guarneri took fourth ahead of a strong Sword. 2 stroke Husqvarna rider Meo battled among the 4 stroke mounted motocrossers to bring home a promising 10th.


Top five: 1. Tyla Rattray (RSA, KTM), 24:25.520; ; 2. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:09.849; 3. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:11.744; 4. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +0:12.899; 5. Stephen Sword (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:19.594


NEWS OF THE DAY: TEAM ITALY LINE UP UNVEILED AHEAD OF RED BULL MXoN

Via FMI’s Marketing Director Alfredo Mastropasqua and Italy Team Manager Andrea Bartolini the line up of the Italian squad for the Red Bull MXoN at Donington Park on September 28 was presented today. MX1 rider David Philippaerts will race alongside MX2 rider Manuel Monni and Open class rider Alex Salvini. The squad has not been on the podium since their win of 2002 (Andrea Bartolini, Alessio Chiodi, Alex Puzar) as they will aim at a comeback at Donington.

The fans will be able to keep in touch with their home team through www.federmoto.tv and www.mxforum.it.






(from left to right) Alex Salvini, Manuel Monni, David Philippaerts and Andrea Bartolini.

MONTE CORALLI AND FAENZA

The Monte Coralli at Faenza is spread on a hill area of seven hectares. The course itself is 1550 metre long approximately as the minimum width has been extended to eight and a half metres. The ground has been enriched with sand and woodchips while the visibility from the spectators’ areas has been improved by reshaping the track which still features its classic downhill and uphill sections. In the final part of the race track a wave section has been added.

Faenza hosted its first World Championship event in 1979 (500cc class) and this SIDI Grand Prix of Città di Faenza will be the ninth World Championship round to be held. The only Italians winning at home in Faenza have been Corrado Maddii (125cc/1985) and Cristian Beggi (MX3/2006). 2007 established a milestone in the history of Motocross as Faenza saw the Pourcel brothers taking the GP victory in the MX1 (Sebastien) and MX2 (Christophe) classes both onboard Kawasaki machinery.






A view of the Monte Coralli track from the Red Bull Energy Station.

The whole region of Emilia Romagna enjoys a solid motorsports tradition and Faenza is one of its most beautiful cities hosting one of the Italy’s main motocross tracks. Faenza is in between Forlì and Imola, another city well known for its road racing facility. Bologna and sea resort Cervia are just 50 km away from Faenza and its splendid porcelain –in Italian “ceramiche” - arts and crafts, which have developed since the Renaissance period. In the city of Faenza there are currently 60 porcelain arts and crafts manufacturers as most of their traditional shops are part of the beautiful city centre scenery.


THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE

Sunday September 14: KTM Trophy Warm Up at 09:00 am; MX2 Warm-up at 9:30 am; MX1 Warm-up at 10:00 am; KTM Trophy Race 1 at 11:10 am; MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 at 12:10 am; MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 at 01:10 pm; KTM Trophy Race 2 at 02:10 pm; MX2 Grand Prix Race 2 at 03:03 pm; MX1 Grand Prix Race 2 at 04:03 pm (local time).


The Grand Prix will be broadcast live on:

• EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 CET

• MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): MX2 Race 2 at 15:00 CET

• SPORT ITALIA (Italy): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 CET

• VRT (Belgium): MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET

• GALAXIE SPORT (Czech Republic): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET

• ART (Pan Middle East): MX1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET

• SPORT TV (Slovenia): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET

• EUROSPORT WORLD (PAN ASIA): MX1 Race 1 at 11:00 GMT

• RED BULL TV (Austria): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET

• MEDIAZONE (Worldwide): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET

• TRANS 7 (Indonesia): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET

• SPORT TV (Portugal): MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET


The Grand Prix will be broadcast delayed on:

• EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe): Sunday September 14; MX1 Race 2 at 20:45. Monday September 15; MX2 Class at 17:00 CET

• MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): Sunday September 14; MX2 Race 1 at 14:00 and at 22:30; MX2 Race 2 at 23:30. Monday September 15; MX 2 Race 1 at 05:00 and Race 2 at 05:50. Tuesday September 16; MX1 Race 1 at 21:00 and Race 2 at 21:55. Wednesday September 17; MX2 Race 1 at 01:00 and Race 2 at 01:50; MX2 Race 1 at 14:00 and Race 2 at 15:50; MX1 Race 1 at 14:55 and Race 2 at 16:40 CET

• SPORT ITALIA (Italy): Sunday September 14; MX2 Race 2 at 16:30, MX1 Race 1 at 21:00 and Race 2 at 22:00 CET

• EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday September 14; MX1 Race 1 at 23:30. Monday September 15; MX1 Race 2 at 00:15 and at 06:15, Race 1 at 05:30; MX2 Class at 18:00. Tuesday September 16; MX2 Class at 00:00 and at 04:45; MX1 Race 2 at 04:00. Wednesday September 17; MX2 Class at 19:00 GMT

• AMERICA ONE SPORTS (USA): Second Tuesday after the GP; MX2 Race 2 at 21:00; MX1 Race 2 at 22:00 USA Eastern Time

• GAORA (Japan): MX2 Race 1 and Race 2; MX1 Race 1 and Race 2 N/A CET



LINKS
Youthstream
FIM
SIDI
FMI-Federazione Motociclistica Italiana
DBO
Monte Coralli and Motoclub Faenza
Faenza


Information, photos and results are online at www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the FIM Motocross World Championships.


MediaZone Moto is the leading global online broadcaster of Motocross and SuperMoto events. Fans worldwide can watch the thrills from this and every race of the 2008 FIM Motocross & SuperMoto World Championships LIVE and On Demand exclusively at www.MediaZoneMoto.com.


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.


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