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Motocross

Everts wins again – McFarlane sixth at Sugo

Author: Mark Fattore

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World motocross action returned to Japan for the first time in a decade on May 28-29, at the Yamaha owned and operated circuit of Sugo.
Everts was once again on top of his game taking his 4th win from 6 rounds
On a brilliantly prepared layout, Australian Andrew McFarlane (Ricci Yamaha YZ250F), who has won the last two GPs in Belgium and Germany, wasn‰Ûªt able to continue the same level of authority, and finished with fourth and ninth placings in the two MX2 races. However, Yamaha still remained the dominant marque in its ‰Û÷home‰Ûª race, with seven of the top eight runners all YZ250 mounted ‰ÛÒ led by impressive 21-year-old Billy Mackenzie. McFarlane was sixth overall, with a crash in the second moto putting the Queenslander off his game. "I felt good in the first moto, but it was not an easy track," said McFarlane, who was expecting the technical layout to be to his liking. "I just ran out of time in that one, which was a shame as I was catching (third-placed) Cedric Melotte. "In the second moto I started okay, but then I just lost the back-end out of the whoops. It put me off my rhythm and I struggled the whole race.
Mickael Pichon is still within striking distance of Everts. Photo: Honda
"I am disappointed‰Û_ but that‰Ûªs the way it goes. Now I will go home and prepare to take a good result in the next round in England." The opening MX2 race saw championship leader Antonio Cairoli (YZ250F) take advantage of a small Mackenzie error to claim the win ‰ÛÒ his fifth of the year. Mackenzie held on for second, with his consolation the fastest lap of the day (1:51.341) across both world championship classes. Cedric Melotte (YZ250F) was third from McFarlane and Kawasaki‰Ûªs Stephen Sword (KX250F). The latter lifted a few cogs in race two, finishing second behind the rampant Mackenzie, with Melotte completing a pair of thirds from Cairoli and Alessio Chiodo (YZ250F). With 11 rounds still remaining, Cairoli now has 217pts, ahead of Chiodi (203), Sword (190), McFarlane (185) and an ominous Melotte (183). While the MX2 races reached few highs, the MX1 affairs were absolute crackers. Race two was the highlight, where the positional changes in a five-rider - Mickael Pichon, New Zealanders Josh Coppins and Ben Townley, Joel Smets and Stefan Everts - freight train were just too numerous to track.
Cairoli still leads the MX2 class after 6 rounds.
Townley‰Ûªs engine eventually expired on his KTM 450SXF, with Everts (Yamaha YZ450F) the victor from Smets (Suzuki RM-Z450) and polesitter Pichon (Honda CRF450R) ‰ÛÒ the trio separated by just 2.500sec. Pichon easily accounted for Everts in race one, with Townley, last year‰Ûªs MX2 champion, third from Coppins and Steve Ramon (450SXF). Everts claimed overall honours, to add to his victory in the Suzuka-hosted Japanese round of the 1995 world 250cc title. "In one way I was a little relived that Pichon won the first moto because I was ready to see what would happen in the second race," said Everts. "I knew what I had to do later in the afternoon, and I kept the pressure on Mickael from the first lap. "I am so happy for Yamaha, because I think this is one of the most important days of the year for them and to win it in such a spectacular way is great. The fans won‰Ûªt forget this grand prix in a hurry." Everts is now 11pts (251 to 240) in front of Pichon, followed by Smets (204), Coppins (203) and Townley (168). The championship now continues at Matchams Park in Great Britain this weekend (June 4-5). Main Photo: Kiwi Josh Coppins leads the MX1 class into the first corner
MX 1 Overall Results -Grand Prix of Japan - Sugo - ROUND 6
Pos Rider Nat. Bike Race 1 Race 2
Total
1
 Everts, Stefan BEL Yamaha 22 25 47
2
 Pichon, Mickael FRA Honda 25 20 45
3
 Smets, Joel BEL Suzuki 15 22 37
4
 Coppins, Joshua NZL Honda 18 18 36
5
 Ramon, Steve BEL KTM 16 13 29
6
 Noble, James GBR Honda 12 16 28
7
 de Dijcker, Ken BEL Honda 11 14 25
8
 Theybers, Danny BEL Suzuki 13 11 24
9
 Leok, Tanel EST Kawasaki 8 15 23
10
 Townley, Ben NZL KTM 20 0 20
11
 Atsuta, Yoshitaka JPN Suzuki 5 12 17
12
 Cooper, Paul GBR Honda 9 8 17
13
 Jorgensen, Brian DEN Yamaha 14 3 17
14
 Leuret, Pascal FRA Honda 6 10 16
15
 Nemeth, Kornel HUN Suzuki 7 7 14
16
 Pyrhonen, Antti FIN TM 10 0 10
17
 van Daele, Marvin BEL Honda 0 9 9
18
 Hucklebridge, Mark GBR Honda 3 6 9
19
 Tsuji, Kenjiro JPN Honda 4 5 9
20
 Kaga, Shinichi JPN Suzuki 2 4 6
21
 Kojima, Takuma JPN Yamaha 0 2 2
22
 Idehara, Shinobu JPN Yamaha 0 1 1
23
 Koikeda, Takeshi JPN Yamaha 1 0 1
24
 Freibergs, Lauris LAT Suzuki 0 0 0
25
 Kugimura, Taichi JPN Yamaha 0 0 0
26
 Toda, Kuraudo JPN Suzuki 0 0 0
27
 Takahama, Ryuichiro JPN Honda 0 0 0
28
 Burnham, Christian GBR Honda 0 0 0
29
 Masuda, Kazumasa JPN Honda 0 0 0
30
 Nakayama, Hiroshi JPN Suzuki 0 0 0

MX1 Championship Standings After Round 6
Pos Rider Nat. Total
1
 Everts, Stefan BEL 251
2
 Pichon, Mickael FRA 240
3
 Smets, Joel BEL 204
4
 Coppins, Joshua NZL 203
5
 Townley, Ben NZL 168
6
 Ramon, Steve BEL 149
7
 Noble, James GBR 132
8
 Jorgensen, B. DEN 121
9
 de Dijcker, Ken BEL 112
10
 Cooper, Paul GBR 98

MX 2 Overall Results -Grand Prix of Japan - Sugo - ROUND 6
Pos Rider Nat. Bike Race 1 Race 2
Total
1
 Mackenzie, Billy GBR Yamaha 22 25 47
2
 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha 25 18 43
3
 Melotte, Cedric BEL Yamaha 20 20 40
4
 Sword, Stephen GBR Kawasaki 16 22 38
5
 Chiodi, Alessio ITA Yamaha 14 16 30
6
 McFarlane, Andrew AUS Yamaha 18 12 30
7
 Goncalves, Rui POR Yamaha 8 15 23
8
 Guarneri, Davide ITA Yamaha 12 10 22
9
 Caps, Patrick BEL Honda 10 11 21
10
 Maschio, Mickael FRA Yamaha 15 6 21
11
 Eggens, Erik NED Honda 5 14 19
12
 Monni, Manuel ITA KTM 9 9 18
13
 Philippaerts, David ITA KTM 13 1 14
14
 Leok, Aigar EST KTM 0 13 13
15
 Bonini, Matteo ITA Honda 11 0 11
16
 Swanepoel, Garreth RSA Kawasaki 6 4 10
17
 Church, Tom GBR Kawasaki 7 3 10
18
 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki 0 8 8
19
 Katsuya, Takeshi JPN Suzuki 0 7 7
20
 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM 1 5 6
21
 Avis, Wyatt RSA Honda 2 2 4
22
 Mizoguchi, Tetsuya JPN Kawasaki 4 0 4
23
 Izoird, Fabien FRA Suzuki 3 0 3
24
 Fukaya, Kouichi JPN Honda 0 0 0
25
 Kugimura, Tadashi JPN Yamaha 0 0 0
26
 Dougan, Jason GBR Suzuki 0 0 0
27
 Shimasaki, Daisuke JPN Suzuki 0 0 0
28
 Takeda, Shinpei JPN Suzuki 0 0 0
29
 Kojima, Youhei JPN Suzuki 0 0 0
30
 Nunn, Carl GBR KTM 0 0 0

MX2 Championship Standings After Round 6
Pos Rider Nat.
Total
1
 Cairoli, A. ITA 217
2
 Chiodi, Alessio ITA 203
3
 Sword, Stephen GBR 190
4
 McFarlane, A. AUS 185
5
 Melotte, Cedric BEL 183
6
 Mackenzie, B. GBR 144
7
 Maschio, M. FRA 119
8
 Caps, Patrick BEL 111
9
 Guarneri, D. ITA 109
10
 Goncalves, Rui POR 108

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