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MX1 : Everts forced to settle for fifth in England
Round: 15 - Grand Prix of England
Circuit: Isle of Wight
Date: 28 August 2005
Crowd: 25000
Temp: 24ºC
Weather: Sunny
Stefan Everts could rise no higher than fifth this afternoon at a hot and sunny Gore-Basin circuit on the Isle of Wight for the Grand Prix of England, the fifteenth round of the FIM 2005 World Championship. The Belgian has however drawn closer to a ninth title with just two rounds remaining in the MX1 series.
Even though he surrendered eight points to Coppins to make a new lead of forty-five, a ninth World Championship is now realistically within reach for Everts with only a hundred points left to win and trips to Holland next week (Lierop) and Northern Ireland (Desertmartin) in a fortnight's time.
Finally some decent summer weather greeted the Grand Prix paddock after a month of three races dampened by rain and affected by heavy muddy conditions. 25,000 spectators turned out to watch the World Championship campaign enter its final stages. The track, scenic, spectacular -with a lot of jumps- and challenging, is popular with the fans and also the riders. The soft dirt quickly became rough and technical with several lines on offer around the course allowing some interesting racing as the gaps between the riders fluctuated.
Everts, who clocked the fourth quickest lap in timed practice, confessed that he did not feel in-tune with the circuit over the weekend and although he started within the top ten during both motos was unable to challenge the Steve Ramon and Ben Townley who broke free in each respective race. The 32-year old took part in an electric five rider dice for fourth position in the first moto and lost time to the front three when he struggled to find a way past team-mate Brian Jorgensen. Everts' fifth place was almost improved on during the second moto when he moved into third but a mistake coming out of the whoops meant that he became entangled in a battle with Pichon and Coppins and could not pip a fading Ramon for fourth approaching the chequered flag.
Brian Jorgensen was not pleased with his Saturday effort of nineteenth fastest but started brightly in the first moto and was part of the same thrilling battle for fourth position, finally taking sixth behind Everts. In the second race three crashes saw the Dane end up outside of the points.
The Yamaha L&M Motocross team have won six Grand Prix (from fifteen) and eleven motos (from thirty) so far this season.
Stefan Everts (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - fifth overall "Today was not my best day. I had a real battle with the track. In the first moto I had trouble passing my team-mate, after that I had a few good laps but finally took fifth. In the second moto I was third for a while but Coppins had started to push and I made a big mistake in the whoops and went off the track. From that moment I turned the gas back and stayed in fifth. When Ramon was slowing down at the end I tried to catch him but it was too late."
Brian Jorgensen (Yamaha L&M Motocross Team) - 13th overall "In the first race I made a pretty good start but wasn't quick enough to follow Ben or Steve and when Stefan was behind he was also a bit faster. There was no point being stupid and trying to keep with them when I couldn't. When Stefan passed me I wanted to look at his, and the other's, lines and I settled into a rhythm. Ben found some extra speed and pulled away but I could stay with Stefan for sixth and I was happy with that because the fight for positions was really nice. In the second race I did not get a good start and was really far back. I was trying to catch up and I struggled because I was in a lot of traffic and it was really difficult to pass in some places. It was tricky to experiment with lines when people are right behind you. I made three mistakes and they led to three crashes."
Race classification MX1
Round: 15 - Grand Prix of England
Circuit: Isle of Wight
