The first round of the new Motocross GP World Championship was won by double World Champion Mickael Pichon riding a 250 Suzuki two-stroke in Bellpuig, Spain, this afternoon in front of almost 18,000 fans.
The Frenchman broke free of a thrilling four-way battle in the opening four laps to win his tenth consecutive Grand Prix event.
The mixture of 250cc two-stroke and 500cc four-strokes was always going to be an interesting combination in terms of the action it would produce on the hard and rough terrain of the Catalan slopes. So it proved within the first few circulations as Pichon, Joel Smets (KTM 450), Claudio Federici (Yamaha 450) and Stefan Everts (Yamaha 450) tangled in a close and frantic tussle for first position.
The 27 year old Suzuki rider managed to break free of the pack after 10 minutes as Federici faded and Smets also took a few laps to re-engage his pace after Everts claimed second. Gordon Crockard was certainly one of the fastest riders on the track and charged from ninth to fifth in six laps and was a constant threat to Marnicq Bervoets before the latter spectacularly crashed out of the moto without injury. Crockard, the highest running Honda rider, threatened Everts for third after the Yamaha man tensed up and was passed by Smets (who dashed away after the podium ceremony to take part in the 650 race).
Further down the final standings Brian Jorgensen, also on a Honda 450, rode to a lonely but impressive fifth position chased by a 250 Kawasaki/KTM quartet of Kenneth Gundersen, Jamie Dobb, Pit Beirer and Andrew McFarlane.
The top ten saw the field even between 450 and 250s with each type of machine taking five places each. In the first five Pichon was the only two-stroke finisher.
“The first few laps were quite tight and I almost crashed entering the whoops,” the winner remarked. “After a while I saw that nobody was proving to be really fast while I felt quite comfortable. I passed Federici and pulled away without a problem. This isn’t the result I was expecting to get this weekend but I’m really happy for myself and the team to win the first Motocross GP race.”
Defending 125 World Champion Mickael Maschio triumphed at Bellpuig for the second year in a row; the scene of his first ever GP win seven years ago. The confident Kawasaki rider was nursing a hand injury but was fast enough to beat the Yamaha 250 four-stroke pairing of Alessio Chiodi and Andrea Bartolini. Stephen Sword was the highest KTM in fourth after leading the moto in the initial stages. The Briton beat Steve Ramon and Marc De Reuver.
Joel Smets completed a thoroughly satisfying Grand Prix of Spain by winning the 650 moto and disappointing the local fans that were raucous in their vocal support of Javier Garcia Vico, by beating his fellow KTM rider into second. Yves Demaria rounded off an all KTM podium.
