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Round: 9 - Grand Prix of France
Circuit: St Jean d'Angely
Date: 26 June 2005
Crowd: 28000
Temp: 36ºC
Weather: Very Hot
Even more so after the recent overhaul the sun baked St. Jean d'Angely circuit proved to be a real test of rider and machine. As if the combination of a soft top surface laced with rocks underneath and heavy rain showers during the night were not enough of a challenge, the menacing climbs and fearful drop offs pushed all competitors to the limit.
Repeating his Italian GP victory New-Zealand's Ben Townley (KTM) proved the strongest claiming both heat wins. Fellow countryman Josh Coppins was second, Pichon completed the podium. Stefan Everts had a weekend of mixed feelings, not coming to terms with the track during Saturday's qualifying session and finishing second and seventh on Sunday. Brian Jorgensen had an off-weekend as well, the Dane only scored a fifteenth place finish. Stefan Everts remains leader in the MX 1 class with 375 points, ahead of Coppins with 316 points and Townley with 304 points. Jorgensen is still eighth.
Race one saw the previous GP's overall winner Ben Townley riding to another win. It was however another kiwi, Josh Coppins who claimed the holeshot, closely followed by Everts, Smets and local favourite Michaël Pichon. With Pichon quickly climbing up to second, a new battle between the French star and Everts seemed possible. For thirteen laps the positions remained deadlocked but Pichon could not close the gap sufficiently on Everts to make a successful pass. Townley on the other hand was putting in the fastest laps of the day and climbed up from sixth after the opening lap to overtake Pichon for second on lap 14. Townley started building the pressure on Everts and finally passed him with three laps to go. Everts crossed the finish line 7.094 seconds behind Townley, followed by Josh Coppins, Mickael Pichon in fourth and Steve Ramon (KTM) in fifth.
Over 28.000 spectators saw an hungry Townley dicing for the holeshot and the MX2 world champion made no mistake in race two leading from start to finish. Everts climbed up to second on the second lap, but the eight-fold world champion cased a table top jump and bent his handlebars in the crash. Stefan had to come in to get his handlebars fixed, but the legend did not give up and fought hard to recover from 28th to take seventh and the fourteen points who came with it. Coppins came home second, ahead of Pichon, Barragan and France's Pascal Leuret.
The tenth round of the championship takes place at Uddevalla, in Sweden next weekend.
Stefan Everts (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - fourth overall "I was completely empty of the end of the first race. When Townley came by I just had to let him go. I was not in my best shape here, but fair play to Townley he was the fastest and had some good lines. In between races I received intravenous food and I felt a little better for the start of the second race. Normally I would have managed two second places today, but it just happened that I cased this jump. Several times it had been a near crash, but now I could not save it. My position was pretty bad, but I never thought about giving up and I just kept going. Seventh is not brilliant but all points are important and my leading position in the championship is still intact."
Brian Jorgensen (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - 17th overall "I had two bad starts, but I just had myself to blame as my reaction from the gate was too slow. I got hit sideways from a jump and had quite a big crash in the first race, to preserve my energy for the second race and because I was in a very bad position I decided it was better to pull out. All weekend long I had been struggling to find the right set up for the engine and suspension and the second race did not go as I would loved to either. In the exact same place as my crash in the first race two riders crashed in front of me and I could not avoid them. I finished 15th in the end. With the Swedish GP next week I will take the opportunity to visit my family in Denmark and relax a little."
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