Kawasaki enjoyed a successful afternoon at the biggest and most prestigious Motocross event of the year as Ryan Villopoto and Tim Ferry guided their KX250F and KX450Fs to help Team USA celebrate their eighteenth capture of the Chamberlain trophy in the 61st edition of the international Nations competition.
Team GPKR’s Sebastien Pourcel was part of the French trio that gained second place. From the nine riders on the final podium, one third steered KX motorcycle technology.
74,000 spectators attended the hot and sunny Budds Creek circuit in Maryland and near Washington DC. The Motocross of Nations is now a huge event and is perfect way to end both domestic and international calendars. The circuit itself gave a distinct advantage to the Americans through its rough and technical test and also through the fact that many riders of the nineteen other participating Nations in the main event on Sunday had not seen the venue before.
Double AMA Lites champion Ryan Villopoto was the best performer in front of an appreciative audience. The Team Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider enacted two perfect motos to own the MX2 class and even defeat the bigger bikes of the MX1 and MX Open categories. The 19 year old won both of his 30 minute and 2 lap races with such dominance on the KX250F that the 2007 edition of the competition is sure to be remembered for his speed as much as it will be for countryman Ricky Carmichael’s final motocross appearance after a stunning career.
“I got the holeshot in the first moto and went from there,” said Villopoto who has won the MX2 class for the last two MX of Nations and has been part of the winning team in only two appearances. “On the smaller bike I wanted to have as much of an advantage as possible and made gaps in both motos pretty quickly. It really helps knowing that you have one of the best bikes prepared by one of the best teams and it made things easy for me.”
Tim Ferry, drafted into the team as a replacement for the injured James Stewart, played an admirable role in helping the USA to their record eighteenth success. The 32 year old recovered from a first lap crash in Moto1 to finish fourth and then was second behind Carmichael in the third and final race of the day. He won the MX Open class.
“I tried to pass as many guys as possible when I went down in that first moto and did not want to crash again; keeping it on two wheels was the priority,” he said. “I have been through the pack a few times this year so I knew what to do! After that first moto I felt more relaxed and seeing Ryan do such a good job really helped us. The track was really good and very rough. I kept pushing and at the end of the day I won my class so I’m not sure what more I could have done.”
Sebastien Pourcel made his second appearance for Team France and led two rookies in the three man team with Nico Aubin and Pierre Renet to his side. Pourcel sealed the squad’s best finish with fourth in the first moto (MX1 and MX2 together) and then struggled slightly on the bumpy Maryland mud to take ninth in Moto2. France gained second place by just one point from Belgium.
“It is great to be up here next to a team like the USA and this is a nice way to finish a good year,” said Pourcel. “I finished fourth in the MX1 world championship in my first season. After some good results and seeing what the Americans did today I now know that I have to work really hard through the winter. I want to thank our family and friends for believing in us when there was some doubt about what this team could do.”
Both KRT riders were in action. Billy Mackenzie represented Great Britain in MX1 and finished sixth overall in the class with the team taking fifth position in the classification while Tanel Leok was third but Estonia was lower down the standings in eleventh.
Mackenzie felt the affects of arm-pump in the first moto and took eleventh despite being as high as sixth in the opening laps. As per usual he was a stronger figure in the next race but a first lap spill meant that he needed to recover from almost last. The 23 year old rode well and came back to eighth, just missing out on seventh by less than a second at the finish.
“It was not the best weekend. I had arm-pump in the first race which is the same old story and because I always seem to have a better second moto people seem to be quite happy, but I’m not that satisfied and it is something I need to sort out for next year as it seems to be getting worse. With the track being bigger, rougher and better than our tracks we had trouble setting the bike up and had to go much harder with the suspension; harder than any race we’ve had this year. 2007 has been a good year for my first with a factory team and in MX1. It has been really good fun working with Kawasaki and I am gutted to be leaving them to be honest.”
Leok was seventh and fifth and showed that his speed and form from recent success in British and Belgian championships stood him in good stead. A hold-up in the congestion of the second corner in the first moto was the only black mark on two consistent rides to make him Estonia’s leading racer.
“Today was pretty good,” he commented. “I started well in the first moto and was around sixth but then ran into somebody on the second turn and that dropped me to fifteenth. I came through to seventh and was happy with my riding. In the second race I moved into the top five and wanted to reach the back of Grant Langston but could not make it. I hadn’t been able to train that well for the last few weeks with small injury problems but I was really happy with my speed here.”
The meeting was unlucky for Molson Kawasaki’s Gareth Swanepoel. The South African was hit on the start straight of the first moto and crashed. He rode well to reach thirteenth but his 2007 Nations would end prematurely when he fell awkwardly from the finish line table-top jump and had to be taken to the medical centre with a broken left foot. The 21 year old was due to undergo surgery on his wrist next week and was anticipating a recovery period of two months. He will now have his foot fixed at the same time.
Villopoto’s team-mate Ben Townley was unable to fulfil his staring role for Team New Zealand after the AMA Supercross Lites Champion crashed heavily on Saturday and injured his right shoulder.
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