Reigning World Champion Stefan Everts, of the Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross team, now has just three more victories to reach a magical and all-time record total of 100 career wins after taking his 97th success and tenth consecutive triumph at Sun City in South Africa today. The 33 year-old Belgian clinched both motos in dominant and now familiar fashion in front of 25,300 spectators to stretch his unbeaten run to ten rounds and nineteen races.
A journey of almost 200km was necessary to reach the luxurious holiday 'oasis' of Sun City from the capital of Johannesburg. The complex boasts one of the best and most spectacular hotels in the world in the form of the 'Palace' and the motocross circuit is an entirely man-made creation sculpted from land next to the large car-park situated just beyond the entrance to the resort.
The venue set standards once again for its organisation and the pleasant layout of the surroundings including two sides of the track flanked by grandstands and decent viewing possibilities. The terrain had been improved over the two previous years with softer dirt allowing for more ruts and racing lines although the hard pack was still slippy in places.
Everts captured his fourth pole position in a row and sixth of the season yesterday with a late lap only eight hundredths of a second ahead of Steve Ramon. He started moto one in third place and needed a circulation to gently ease his way past his countryman and then holeshotter Josh Coppins. With a customary clear track stretching ahead, Everts began to work and pulled out a lead of five seconds over his Honda rival in a matter of minutes. His 18th consecutive moto victory was then a formality and he only had to worry about the backmarkers which was a tough task in itself.
The second outing was almost a carbon-copy and Everts crossed the line almost five seconds ahead of the New Zealander with Ramon also in attendance. The eighth double of 2006 represented Everts' first triumph on African soil and the landmark means that his lead in the standings has pulled to 136 points. In theory his tenth World Championship could be won in the fairytale setting at Namur, Belgium during the first week of August.
Cédric Melotte finished the opening race in sixth position and put up a stiff resistance to the speed and aggression of Ken de Dycker while holding fourth but eventually had to concede two places to his fellow Belgian and Tanel Leok. Later on in race two he was picking his way through the field after a bad start but got a stone in his throat and struggled to breathe. The luckless Belgian was again forced to stop and the DNF was his sixth of the campaign. He is 8th in the World Championship 14 points behind Pascal Leuret.
The Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, home to two World Championship celebratory parties for Everts and Yamaha in the last five years, will take place once more at the Loket circuit in the far west of the country near the idyllic town of Karlovy Vary.
Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team:"I am a bit surprised myself at how I can win so many GPs, and maybe in a few years time I will look back at what I have done so far and realise the achievement. I have also never won ten in a row, nine was the most; so that is a personal record. I have never won in South Africa before so that also was special. I did not wave to the crowd on the last lap this time! I came here with a positive outlook after two years of bad luck and it really worked out today."
Cédric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team:"I am trying to ride and enjoy myself on the bike at the moment and that is what I did in the first race. My arms got a little bit tired in the last three or four laps. I had a really bad start in the second race but I was coming back slowly. I was gaining on De Dycker and Leuret and was enjoying myself. I was pushing hard for the top ten but then something entered my throat and I could not breathe and wanted to vomit. It is a real shame because I could not continue and should have had a good result."
Carlo Rinaldi, Racing Manager, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team:"It was another perfect weekend. Stefan's starts were not as good as we have become accustomed to but he proved again who is the fastest. There is not much to say because we have seen this type of GP before this season; Stefan just wants to win at any cost. We made a few settings on the bike but we changed hardly anything. Cédric had a half decent race the first time and while he was coming back from a bad start he got a piece of dirt caught in his throat. He could not breathe and had to stop, losing a lot of points, so that was a pity."
Race classification MX1:Round: 10 - 2006 GP of Sun City, South Africa
Circuit: Sun City
Date: 16 July 2006
Crowd: 25300
Temp: 31ºC
Weather: Hot
Race 1: 20 Laps 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 39' 49.835
2 J. Coppins Honda NZL +5.555
3 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +11.709
4 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +19.545
5 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +21.713
6 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +53.306
7 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1' 2.336
8 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 4.923
9 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1' 11.786
10 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 27.554
11 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 34.262
12 W. Avis KTM RSA +1' 49.209
13 J. Barragan KTM ESP +2' 43.560
14 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1 lap(s)
15 G. Crockard Honda GBR +1 lap(s)
16 C. Dugmore Kawasaki RSA +1 lap(s)
17 K. Stegen Suzuki RSA +1 lap(s)
18 L. O'Farrel Yamaha RSA +1 lap(s)
19 D. Keramidis Honda GRC +3 lap(s)
20 C. van Niekerk TM RSA +4 lap(s)
Race 2: 20 Laps 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 40' 19.139
2 J. Coppins Honda NZL +4.591
3 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +9.215
4 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +37.551
5 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +40.730
6 J. Barragan KTM ESP +1' 25.723
7 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +1' 32.927
8 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1' 37.300
9 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 39.573
10 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 40.537
11 G. Crockard Honda GBR +1' 41.009
12 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +2' 4.872
13 W. Avis KTM RSA +1 lap(s)
14 C. Dugmore Kawasaki RSA +1 lap(s)
15 J. Noble Honda GBR +1 lap(s)
16 L. O'Farrel Yamaha RSA +1 lap(s)
17 R. van der Westhuizen Honda RSA +2 lap(s)
18 K. Stegen Suzuki RSA +2 lap(s)
19 K. Bowen KTM RSA +3 lap(s)
20 A. Nielsen Yamaha KEN +3 lap(s)
Championship standings MX1:1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 492
2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 356
3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 334
4 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 330
5 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 322
6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 235
7 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 186
8 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 172
9 Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 172
10 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 168
11 Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 167
12 James Noble Honda GBR 138
13 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 131
14 Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 128
15 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 127
16 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 116
17 Gordon Crockard Honda GBR 102
18 Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 99
19 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 84
20 Wyatt Avis KTM RSA 63
Manufacturers standings MX1:1 Yamaha 492
2 Suzuki 409
3 Honda 361
4 Kawasaki 334
5 KTM 291
6 TM 128
Related Linkswww.yamaha-racing.com
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