Former World Champion Sébastien Tortelli confirmed, in the opening round of the 2006 FIM Motocross World Championship, that he would be the main contender for Stefan Everts, who won the Grand Prix of Flanders but is tight in the points with the Frenchman. Despite new showers in the morning the race conditions were pretty good in Zolder, and most of the riders appreciate the work done by the race staff to offer them the best circuit. Rough, rutty and really demanding the track offered two nice races in the MX2 class, but there was less suspense in the MX1 class. 
Sébastien Tortelli and Stefan Everts shared the wins today in Zolder, and both were so fast that none of their rivals were able to follow them. The Frenchman dominates the opening moto, and after a small crash Everts was unable to challenge his rival for the win. “After this mistake I came back quickly on the track and didn’t lost position, but I couldn’t find again a good rhythm,” explained Everts. The Belgian legend took his revenge in the following race; he took the lead in the first lap and rode consistently, while Tortelli had another great start and challenged him during half of the race.
But later the KTM rider crashed with a lapper and lost too much time. “I was only three seconds behind Stefan when I crashed and lost a lot of time to re-start the bike, but I’m pretty happy with my results. We proved today that our team has work hard to solve the problems we had in the pre-season, and it was great to battle again with Stefan, with so many fans cheering us,” said Tortelli who seems to be the strongest opponent. Joshua Coppins didn’t entered the grand prix with a damaged shoulder, and Mickael Pichon retired early. 
“Mickael took cold two weeks ago in Valence and tried to ride, but he has too much fever – 40°C – and crashed in the first race. He can’t focused on the lines and that could be dangerous so he has no real choices,” explained his manager. Estonian Tanel Leok claimed his first podium aboard the 450 Kawasaki, followed by Belgians Steve Ramon, Kevin Strijbos and Ken De Dycker. 
The racing was more exciting in the MX2 class, with six different leaders! Third of the first heat South African Tyla Rattray won the second moto and the overall classification. “I was third in the first race, but suddenly I had no more front brake! It was not really easy but I finished third and went to the second race with a strong motivation,” said Rattray. Second place was for Marc De Reuver (fourth and second) followed by Kenneth Gundersen (second and sixth), 
David Philippaerts (first and thirteen) and Christophe Pourcel (seventh and fourth). Seventh overall (fifteen and second) was for reigning World Champion Antonio Cairoli, who crashed in the first heat. MX 1 Race1 (21 laps = 31.584 Km) 1 / Tortelli, Sébastien / FRA / KTM / 39:22.213 2 / Everts, Stefan / BEL / Yamaha / 39:33.276 3 / Leok, Tanel / EST / Kawasaki / 40:28.207 4 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 40:55.706 5 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 41:17.003 6 / Barragan, Jonathan / SPA / KTM / 39:24.217
7 / Leuret, Pascal / FRA / Honda / 39:41.745 8 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 39:50.290 9 / Melotte, Cedric / BEL / Yamaha / 39:54.329 10 / Sword, Stephen / GBR / Kawasaki / 39:56.499 11 / Garcia Vico, Francisco / SPA / Honda / 40:19.485 12 / Verhoeven, Bas / NED / Kawasaki / 40:22.743
13 / Pyrhonen, Antti / FIN / TM / 40:26.933 14 / Avis, Wyatt / RSA / KTM / 40:29.695 15 / Theybers, Danny / BEL / Suzuki / 40:30.470 Fastest Lap: TORTELLI Sebastien in 1:43.734 on lap 1 
MX 1 Race2 (22 laps = 33.088 Km) 1 / Everts, Stefan / BEL / Yamaha / 40:09.339 2 / Tortelli, Sébastien / FRA / KTM / 40:47.978 3 / Strijbos, Kevin / BEL / Suzuki / 41:24.912 4 / Leok, Tanel / EST / Kawasaki / 41:33.138 5 / Ramon, Steve / BEL / Suzuki / 41:39.686 6 / Sword, Stephen / GBR / Kawasaki / 41:48.913 7 / de Dycker, Ken / BEL / Honda / 40:11.968 8 / Melotte, Cedric / BEL / Yamaha / 40:20.424 9 / Barragan, Jonathan / SPA / KTM / 40:26.100 10 / Leuret, Pascal / FRA / Honda / 40:35.445 11 / Noble, James / GBR / Honda / 40:55.194
12 / Priem, Manuel / BEL / Yamaha / 40:58.462 13 / Jorgensen, Brian / DEN / Honda / 41:04.090 14 / van Daele, Marvin / BEL / Honda / 41:05.479 15 / Pyrhonen, Antti / FIN / TM / 41:12.521 Fastest Lap: EVERTS Stefan in 1:39.929 on lap 4 MX2 Race1 (21 laps = 31.584 Km) 1 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 40:20.154 2 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 40:28.821 3 / Rattray, Tyla / RSA / KTM / 40:30.183 4 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / KTM / 40:34.245 5 / Pourcel, Sebastien / FRA / Kawasaki / 40:46.553
6 / Chiodi, Alessio / ITA / Yamaha / 40:55.207 7 / Pourcel, Christophe / FRA / Kawasaki / 41:04.030 8 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / KTM / 41:11.103 9 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / Kawasaki / 41:26.870 10 / Meo, Antoine / FRA / Yamaha / 41:30.099 11 / Guarneri, Davide / ITA / Yamaha / 41:34.839 12 / Caps, Patrick / BEL / Honda / 41:37.513 13 / Goncalves, Rui / POR / KTM / 41:38.011 14 / Leok, Aigar / EST / Yamaha / 41:41.472 15 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 41:46.094 Fastest Lap: DE REUVER Marc in 1:43.006 on lap 3 MX2 race2 (21 laps = 31.584 Km)
1 / Rattray, Tyla / RSA / KTM / 38:43.423 2 / Cairoli, Antonio / ITA / Yamaha / 38:50.964 3 / de Reuver, Marc / NED / KTM / 38:56.813 4 / Pourcel, Christophe / FRA / Kawasaki / 39:00.960 5 / Goncalves, Rui / POR / KTM / 39:06.272 6 / Gundersen, Kenneth / NOR / Yamaha / 39:08.065 7 / Meo, Antoine / FRA / Yamaha / 39:19.818 8 / Pourcel, Sebastien / FRA / Kawasaki / 39:24.927 9 / Mackenzie, Billy / GBR / Yamaha / 39:25.699 10 / Nunn, Carl / GBR / KTM / 39:26.997 11 / Searle, Tommy / GBR / Kawasaki / 39:41.066 12 / Guarneri, Davide / ITA / Yamaha / 39:56.938
13 / Philippaerts, David / ITA / KTM / 40:01.771 14 / Seguy, Luigi / FRA / Yamaha / 40:04.335 15 / Leok, Aigar / EST / Yamaha / 40:16.549 Fastest Lap: RATTRAY Tyla in 1:40.293 on lap 3 Championship Classifications MX1:
1. Everts, Stefan 47 2. Tortelli, Sébastien 47 3. Leok, Tanel 38 4. Ramon, Steve 34 5. Strijbos, Kevin 33 6. de Dycker, Ken 30 7. Barragan, Jonathan 27 8. Sword, Stephen 26 9. Leuret, Pascal 25 10. Melot, Cedric 25 Championship Classifications MX2:
1.Tyla Rattray (Zaf) 45, 2.Marc De Reuver (Ned) 38, 3.Kenneth Gundersen (Noo) 37, 4.David Philippaerts (Ita) 33, 5.Christophe Pourcel (Fra) 32, 6.Sebastien Pourcel (Fra) 29, 7.Antonio Cairoli (Ita) 28, 8.Antoine Meo (Fra) 25, 9.Rui Goncalves (Por) 24, 10.Carl Nunn (Gbr) 24 Manufacturers Classification
1. KTM 47 2. Yamaha 47 3. Suzuki 38 4. Kawasaki 38 5. Honda 30 6. TM Saturday 1 April:
MX1 Timed Practice 1. Stefan Everts 1.43.978 2. Ken de Dycker 1.44.850 3. Sebastien Tortelli 1.44.989 4. Steve Ramon 1.45.089 5. Kevin Strijbos 1.45.364 6. Tanel Leok 1.45.653 7. Mickael Pichon 1.45.771 8. Stephen Sword 1.47.044 9. Cedric Melotte 1.47.154 10. James Noble 1.47.269 MX2 Heat 1
1. POURCEL Christophe KAWASAKI 12 Laps 2. CHIODI Alessio YAMAHA 5.829 3. GONCALVES Rui KTM 19.428 4. POURCEL Sébastien KAWASAKI 39.210 5. NAGL Maximilian KTM 44.762 6. MEO Antoine HONDA 1:00.387 7. NUNN Carl KTM 1:02.331 8. SEISTOLA Matti HONDA 1:17.485 9. SWANEPOEL Gareth KAWASAKI 1:19.675 10. SCHIFFER Marcus KTM 1:20.309 11. MONNI, Manuel KTM 1:22,8 12. GUANERI, Davide Yamaha 1:23,14 Heat 2
1. RATTRAY Tyla KTM 13 Laps 2. PHILIPPAERTS David KTM 7.150 3. CAIROLI Antonio YAMAHA 12.369 4. GUNDERSEN Kenneth YAMAHA 17.278 5. DE REUVER Marc KTM 26.148 6. SEARLE Tommy KAWASAKI 44.784 7. CAMPANO Carlos KTM 57.564 8. SEGUY Luigi YAMAHA 1:05.238
9. MACKENZIE Billy YAMAHA 1:06.822 10. MILLAN F. KTM 1:09.489 11. CAPS, Patrick Honda Honda 1:12,4 12. LEOK, Agar Yamaha 1:20,09 13. BOOG, Xavier Yamaha 1:20,06 Last Chance practice 1. RENET, Pascal 2. SMITH, Wayne 3. BOOG. Xavier 4. DOUGAN, Jason 5. SIMPSON, Shaun
6. TARROUX, Jeremy reserve: ARRANDA, Gregory MOSSINI, FabioText/results; youthstream/YZ
Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team
rider and reigning MX1 World Champion
Stefan Everts left the opening round of
the 2006 series having increased his
record-career total of GP victories to 88
and proved his rhetoric concerning
the new aluminium frame YZ450FM was
completely founded. 16,000 spectatorslocked to the Zolder circuit in
Belgium for the Karcher Grand Prix of Flanders, the first race of fifteen
in this season's campaign. Teammate Cedric Melotte managed tenth
position overall.
Rainfall in the days leading up to the event meant that the fine Belgian dirt
at the former Formula one circuit was soft and sodden, and throughout
practice churned into a demanding and difficult prospect. Following through
on his excellent pre-season form Stefan Everts did not put a foot wrong on
Saturday to clinch his first pole position since the 2005 Grand Prix of
South Africa.33-year-old Everts began the opening
moto behind former rival Sebastien
Tortelli and although he tried to
pressurise the Frenchman, drawing
close on several occasions, he was
unable to seize the lead and lost any
chance of victory in the last third of the
heat when he was held up by
backmarkers.
The pair surprisingly lapped everybody up to fifth position. Melotte, who is
still coming back to full fitness after a wrist problem limited his pre-season
preparation, finished in ninth. The 27 year old, who was an overall winner
at the first ever MX1 GP - also at Zolder - in 2004, made a mistake two
laps from the chequered flag which cost him sixth place.Spanish sponsors Intur Sports were
announced as the new backers for
the Rinaldi team in an entertaining
function on Saturday evening and they
must have been pleased as Moto2 saw
a dominant performance from Everts
as he broke away from Sebastien
Tortelli in a role-reversal of he first
sprint.
The Belgian has been raving about the handling and performance of
the new YZ450FM and gave a large section of his fans an ample
demonstration of his synergy with the Rinaldi-fettled machine. He
would win by almost 40 seconds and his 2-1 scorecard gave him
a familiar top step of the podium.Cedric Melotte had a problem with
his goggles that affected his
eyesight and he was close to
crashing on several occasions but
was able to steer his Yamaha
past the chequered flag in eighth
spot for tenth in the final classification.
The second round of the series will
take place in two weeks time,
on Easter Sunday, at the Bellpuig
circuit in Catalonia, Spain. The
Grand Prix of Portugal will occur just
one week on from the trip to
the Iberian Peninsula.
Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports
Motocross team:
"I was making a lot of mistakes in the first race and was not riding
smooth enough to really catch Sebastien. After that though the ice
was broken and I knew I had one more moto to make things better.
I changed my position on the start line and got into the first corner
ahead. I pushed really hard in those first few laps and Sebastien
was with me for a while but I focussed on my own riding and it
worked. I was happy with the bike. We changed a few little things
with suspension but the performance was great today and I felt
comfortable.
It is very early for the Championship. Sebastien is right there but
Pichon missed a lot of points today, Josh is out and I expected
the Suzuki boys to be closer, but there is still a long way to go."
Cedric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross team:
"I was struggling over the weekend with my wrist and my condition.
Everything is improving but to come here and do 40 minutes with
a weak wrist was unbelievable. The track was so difficult. If I had
not crashed in the first race I would have been fifth and this was
OK. After a few minutes of the second moto I got some dirt in
my goggles and I could not see or concentrate on my lines. I am
happy enough with the result because at least twice I thought that
'I should stop otherwise I will crash' because I could not see. The
ruts were really deep and to come away with a top ten in the
conditions is satisfying."
Photos: Bart de Jong
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