Everything you wanted to know about the BRITISH GRAND PRIX but you were to afraid to ask - updated!
August 23, 2007
You know that feeling you get on Christmas Eve that tingly excited but nervous feeling, where you know what’s coming but you’re still not quite sure. That’s how I’m feeling right now – but most of all I CANT WAIT! This section is the preview on this weekend’s BRITISH GRAND PRIX, from team previews to the latest news and gossip. Sit back and enjoy the ride! CHAMPIONSHIP QUEST FOR COPPINS AND SEARLE AT FIRST GP IN THE MIDLANDS The second “unseen” track of the 15 round FIM Motocross World Championship calendar will host the World’s fastest riders this weekend for the penultimate round of the series. Fox Racing, the industry leader, values the on-going partnership with Youthstream for the 2007 FOX Grand Prix of Great Britain, and will have logo presence at the event via track signage and selected hospitality areas. MX1 Championship leader Joshua Coppins, who has been missing the latest two rounds and scored no points at Loket when he injured his left shoulder, will come back at Donington after his last minute decision of skipping Moneyglass. In the meantime, runner up Steve Ramon has shortened the gap to 12 points.
Antonio Cairoli, who has won his second World Title at Moneyglass, will make his maiden GP appearance in the MX1 class this weekend. Christophe Pourcel is out with a broken sacrum, and British star Tommy Searle can secure the second place in the Championship by scoring only six points.
The second and final round of the FIM Veterans’ Motocross World Cup will take place this weekend with Senior class leader Dave Thorpe looking forward to his home event, where Charles “Chuck” Sun from America will enter his first round of the Cup in the Senior class. In the Veteran class, Kiwi leader Tony Cooksley hopes to clinch another double victory as he did in Namur.
MX1Yamaha Motocross’ Joshua Coppins skipped Moneyglass to be fitter for the forthcoming FOX Grand Prix of Great Britain. The gutsy Kiwi wants to fight his hardest for this Title, and Steve Ramon of Suzuki is the first rival on the list. Being the current runner up and having a 12 point gap from Coppins, Belgian Ramon could not close the entire hole when Coppins was absent, but he has still good chances to move up to the lead in the remaining two rounds.
His team mate Kevin Strijbos won the latest round; he will surely try to win more and improve on his fifth position in the standings, making up for the knee injury that kept him out of the Bulgarian GP. Sebastien Pourcel of GPKR is as consistent as ever; Seb clinched his fourth consecutive podium last weekend, and was running away with the lead until he crashed in moto two. Pourcel has now 45 points less than Coppins, with 100 points to be taken until sandy Lierop. Also David Philippaerts of KTM Red Bull is another consistent man, as he showed with his sixth season podium at Moneyglass, but this weekend his memories will go back to last year, when he was fighting for the victory with countryman Antonio Cairoli. The latter, who just clinched his second World Title last weekend, will make his maiden MX1 appearance with a production YZ450F entered by his own Yamaha De Carli team. Yamaha, who is now second behind Suzuki in the manufacturers’ classification, hopes to close the 29 point gap and come back to the lead. Billy Mackenzie of Kawasaki Europe will enter his home GP with high hopes; the only British winner of an MX1 GP, thanks to the victory at Sugo this year, looks forward to his fans’ support to improve on his tenth place in the standings. MX2
KTM Red Bull’s Tommy Searle came really close to his maiden GP victory at Moneyglass last weekend, but a gutsy Tony Cairoli ruined his dreams with an incredible last lap manoeuvre. Searle will be a man out for revenge this weekend, but his two main rivals Cairoli and Christophe Pourcel will not be there –now the latter is still in hospital at Belfast with a broken sacrum.
The 17 year old based in Tonge, four kilometres from Donington, will try to win in front of his fans, securing the runner up position in the Championship with gallantry, but six points will be enough to make it. Gareth Swanepoel, who rides for the British Team Molson Kawasaki, is another rider who is about to climb up the Championship classification. The South African is now sixth, but the fifth and the fourth placed riders –respectively Pascal Leuret and Tyla Rattray- are both out for injuries. Ricci Racing’s Nicolas Aubin, who was recently confirmed as Christophe Pourcel’s replacement in the French Team for the Motocross of Nations, chases Swanepoel from very close. Aubin is a dangerous opponent, who is capable of winning GP’s as he did at Loket.
KTM riders Marcus Schiffer –Team Sarholz- and Jeremy Van Horebeek –Team Champ- rounded off the top five both at Namur and at Moneyglass; they are expected to be in good form also for Donington, and so is AXO KTM Silver Action’s Rui Goncalves.
The Portuguese clinched his second consecutive podium last weekend, only two weeks after his maiden podium at Namur. Rui, who picked up two collarbone injuries in the off-season and missed the first GP at Valkenswaard, is now training hard with KTM Racing Director for Motocross Activities Stefan Everts, and can chase Searle in a special fight for the maiden GP victory. Italian Davide Guarneri can be another solid contender this weekend, as he already won at Namur, while Yamaha fellow rider Carl Nunn will make the most of his home crowd’s support to come back to the podium; his last podium appearance dates back to the 2006 GP of Czech Republic at Loket, where Nunn ended third. FIM VETERANS’ MOTOCROSS WORLD CUP
This year’s Cup, which is the second edition of the event, begun at Namur in early August, and will end this weekend at Donington Park. In the Senior class, defending Champion Thierry Godfroid will have his last chance to move up to the lead; the Belgian is third, only five points away from current leader Dave Thorpe. Thorpe is dying to get back on his Honda and race his home event, but runner up Jan Blancquaert will be a tough rival for the Brit. American Charles Sun, who won the 1980 AMA 500cc National Championship for Honda and was part of the victorious 1981 Motocross of Nations team, will make his first appearance in the Cup with high ambitions. Tony Cooksley of New Zealand is now leading the Cup; his dream of a Kiwi one-two, referring to a virtual victory of countryman Joshua Coppins in the MX1 class, did not come true in Namur, but Donington is Tony’s second chance. Frenchman Paul Barbara, who lies second in the standings, will attack Cooksley this weekend to close the 10 point gap and secure the Cup. Also third placed Philippe Dejong has victory ambitions, but Barbara, who is just two points away, is his closest target. DONINGTON PARK AND CASTLE DONINGTON
This unique circuit is called Donington Park, such as the permanent Road Racing complex that plays host to the Motocross course. About 35,000 tons of soil were brought into the Leicestershire facility to build a high leaping and challenging circuit, which was made in about two weeks time, while the overall set up work took the organizers about four weeks. The track, which is about 1650 metre long, is located on a compact area offering good view to the spectators; the course features two high banked parabolica’s, twists and turns through a series of jumps over high rise plateaus. Castle Donington is a small town in a corner of Leicestershire; it is 18 kilometres South East of Derby, and about 200 kilometres North of London. The town is placed on the former Nottingham to Birmingham trunk road, and is characterized by modern shops standing alongside dignified Georgian and Regency houses, in a fascinating blend of modernity and tradition. The Castle that named the town was built to command the crossing points of the River Trent in the eleventh or twelfth century, and is now merely a mound on the northern edge of the village. The Parish Church, which dates back to 1200, is still one of the main attraction for tourists. The weather forecast predicts a sunny weekend, with temperatures around 20° Celsius.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Saturday August 25: Senior Free Practice at 8:45 am; Veteran Free Practice at 9:15 am; MX2 Free Practice at 10:00 am; MX1 Free Practice 1 at 10:50 am; MX2 Pre-Qualifying Practice at 11:40 am; Senior Time Practice at 12:30 am; Veteran Time Practice at 1:15 pm; MX1 Free Practice 2 at 2:00 pm; MX2 Qualifying Race 1 at 3:00 pm; MX2 Qualifying Race 2 at 3:45 pm; MX1 Time Practice at 4:15 pm; MX2 Last Chance Qualifying Practice at 5:00 pm; Senior Race 1 at 5:40 pm; Veteran Race 1 at 6:30 pm (local time). Sunday August 26: Senior Warm-up at 8:00 am; Veteran Warm-up at 8:30 am; MX2 Warm-up at 9:00 am; MX1 Warm-up at 9:30 am; Senior Race 2 at 11:08 am; MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 at 12:08 am; MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 at 1:08 pm; Veteran Race 2 at 2:03 pm; MX2 Grand Prix Race 2 at 3:03 pm; MX1 Grand Prix Race 2 at 4:03 pm (local time). Info on the event can be found in the Official Guide of the FIM Motocross World Championship. To download it directly click here. FOX RACING SPONSORS THE FOX GRAND PRIX OF GREAT BRITAIN Fox Racing are proud to announce their sponsorship of the 2007 FOX Grand Prix of Great Britain, and continued support of the FIM Motocross World Championships managed by Youthstream. For the first time in the World Championship series the event is taking place at the prestigious Donington Park track, Midlands, UK on a specially created course located on the track’s infield section. As a result motocross fans from far and wide are expected to attend. The course on the infield section of the parkland circuit has been specially crafted, using some thousands of tons of soil, to provide a fast, high leaping and exciting challenge for the elite riders as they go for glory. The Fox Grand Prix of Great Britain signals the race of the year in the UK, as riders power into the penultimate round of the World Championship over August Bank Holiday weekend knowing that they can collect vital points in the run up to the conclusion of the Championships. Top British riders including Billy Mackenzie and James Noble compete in MX1 whilst Tommy Searle and Carl Nunn battle it out for the MX2 honours. The home challengers will also be looking for the added boost of the support from the partisan crowd at Donington. Fox Racing, the industry leader, values the on-going partnership with Youthstream for the 2007 FOX Grand Prix of Great Britain and will have logo presence at the event via track signage and selected hospitality areas. RAMON EYES UP MX1 SERIES LEAD Steve Ramon enters the British Grand Prix at Donington Park and the penultimate round of the 2007 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship with a real chance of taking the lead in the series for the first time. The Belgian has finished fifth in the last two meetings and now lies only 12 points behind Josh Coppins with 100 left to win.
Ramon rallied from first lap incidents in both motos last Sunday to take a decent top-five finish on the works RM-Z450 and slice the absent New Zealander's advantage from 43 to 12 points. Coppins is expected to return to action this weekend but his race fitness is unlikely to be 100% and Ramon is poised to seize the initiative ahead of the final Grand Prix at Lierop in Holland.
"It was a pity that I could not make the podium in Ireland but the gap is only down to 12 points now," he remarked. "With the way I could come back to those positions, especially fourth in the second moto, I feel very confident for this weekend. Hopefully I can have the red plate after Sunday."
Kevin Strijbos won his third Grand Prix of the season last week at Moneyglass Demesne and helped Suzuki move 29 points into the lead of the manufacturer's standings. The 22 year old will also be pushing for at least third place in the championship. He is currently eight points from David Philippaerts in fourth and 19 from Sebastien Pourcel.
"It is satisfying to be back going for a good championship position but when I think about the year I am quite sad because I could have been on top now with Josh being out," he says. "I had the knee operation though and that meant I could not ride for a few weeks. I was down after Japan but things improved and the win in the Czech Republic was a big step forward. For the last few months I have been taking each week as it comes. When I felt like I wanted or needed to train or ride then I went out and did it and I believe this has worked well for me.
"I'm looking forward to Donington because it will be our second new track in a week and if it is anything as sweet as Ireland then it'll be fun," he added.
For the fourth time in four years the British Grand Prix moves home. The new circuit constructed in the infield of the MotoGP venue of Donington Park means that the series heads to the first and only permanent Motorsport facility this season. The track has been in construction phases for almost two months but the 'reliable' British weather had not assisted progress during one of the wettest summers on UK record.
Nevertheless the new layout is ready and according to reports consists of many jumps and is fairly technical in nature. Weather forecasts for the weekend predict sunny conditions and temperatures in the low 20s for Saturday.
Mackenzie getting ready for Donington Park
Leading UK off-road motorcycle racer Billy Mackenzie enters his home Grand Prix for the penultimate meeting of the fifteen round FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship this weekend at the brand new Donington Park circuit; built within the infield of the MotoGP venue.
Image by Ray Archer Mackenzie has done an interview this week with Britain’s top publication Motorcycle News talking about the meeting, his MX1 World Championship season so far and his future in the premier off-road racing category. Follow the link (http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/mcn/2007/august/aug20-27/aug2207britishmotocrossgpheadstodoningtonthisweekend/) or simply visit: http://www.motorcyclenews.com to see the story. The 23 year old from Edinburgh currently leads the British Championship on his works KX450F-SR Kawasaki with one round to go and became the first ever British winner of an MX1 GP (also the first Brit to boast victories in MX1 and MX2 categories) when he clinched overall spoils at the Japanese Grand Prix in May. Joshua Coppins fit to defend his championship lead Yamaha Motocross Team’s Joshua Coppins will make his return this weekend for round 14 of the MX1 world championship held at the Donington circuit in the UK. The 30 year old Kiwi has recovered from his shoulder injury to take up the defense of his 12 points lead over Belgian Steve Ramon. With 100 points up for grabs the championship will most likely be decided at the last round scheduled at Lierop (NL) the weekend straight after Donington. A CT scan made last Tuesday confirmed that Coppins’ shoulder has healed very well, enabling him to compete again and providing the confidence to start riding his YZ450FM for the first time yesterday since his unfortunate crash at Loket on the 29th of June. In the period off the bike Coppins made sure he retained his strength and fitness by following an extensive training program consisting out of swimming, cycling, mountain biking, running and general fitness training. In fact the yesterday’s riding exceeded his expectations; “I rode the bike four times yesterday and apart from a bit of pain it went really well. I’m 100% in terms of fitness and strength, just down on riding time. But in a way that is also a positive thing because I feel really fresh now. I have trained so hard for this season that at times I felt a bit tired, but now after a month off the bike I feel very excited and eager to jump on again.” Coppins expects that the participation of Cairoli could make a positive difference, as Antonio’s debut track at Donington will be hard packed; “Antonio is riding incredibly well this year, so who knows what he might be able to do, the circuit will suit his aggressive style and ability. Yet I feel totally able to be more than a match to Ramon, I won’t say I can win in Donington, but I’ll be very competitive for sure.’ ‘I feel great and the doctor confirmed that the healing of the bone is going very quickly at this stage of my recovery, I’m already in the UK and will be riding a lot again today. Tomorrow I’ll make my way to the track where I will work with my medical team to get ready for the race. I expect no restrictions in terms of strength, fitness or movement come Sunday, just a bit of pain maybe, but that can be sorted if needed!”
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