The FIM Motocross World Championship is back to Sevlievo, the venue winner of the Best Organizer Awards of 2006 and 2007. Today was a rainy day in the area of Sevlievo, with the sun coming out only at mid afternoon and the trackbeing currently wet.
Yamaha Monster Motocross’ David Philippaerts enters this fourth round with the red plate on his factory Yamaha; this is the first time the Italian has to defend the Championship lead and he will surely face a strong opposition, headed by current runner up and defending MX1 World Champion Steve Ramon of Teka Suzuki WMX1. The latter lost his third consecutive podium in Portugal as he was overtaken by Kiwi Joshua Coppins of Yamaha Monster Motocross, with Coppins moving up to third in the Championship eventually. CAS Honda’s Billy Mackenzie sits fourth in the Championship but proved to have the speed to win moto’s in Portugal, where Teka Suzuki WMX1’s Ken de Dycker lost his leadership as he rode with a blister in his throttle hand. The Belgian will see the comeback of Suzuki fellow rider Brad Anderson this weekend as Teka Suzuki’s Marvin van Daele will miss the event due to illness. GPKR’s Sebastien Pourcel will be back to action after his spectacular victory of the Portuguese GP, while team mate Kevin Strijbos is still out after his thumb operation and will be back only in Great Britain.
Winner of last year’s MX2 Grand Prix of Bulgaria,v of Yamaha Red Bull De Carli is still hungry for success after he had opened his 2008 winning account in Portugal with a brilliant double victory. Now the Italian leads the MX2 points standings from the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo made of Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle, who completed last year’s podium in Sevlievo. Rattray is willing to come back up to the top of the standings, where he was sitting before Portugal courtesy of his fantastic beginning of the season, including the victory of round one in Valkenswaard. On the other hand Searle just collected his first podium of 2008 at Agueda to open up a gap from fourth placed Davide Guarneri of Ricci Racing Yamaha, who won the Spanish Grand Prix. Another Yamaha rider in the likes of Yamaha Red Bull De Carli’s Matteo Bonini is making his comeback to GP racing after a left shoulder injury, with other youngsters Suzuki Swift Motocross’ Jake Nicholls and SRS Racing ST’s Matti Seistola also coming back after the injury plagued beginning of the season. On the other hand Stephen Sword of Molson Kawasaki Racing is now fit and strong after two difficult seasons of injuries; the solid British is currently sixth in the Championship, sandwiched in between Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Rui Goncalves and Ricci Racing Yamaha’s Nicolas Aubin.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Saturday May 10:
- Women’s World Championship Free Practice 1 at 9:00 am
- MX2 Free Practice at 10:00 am
- MX1 Free Practice 1 at 11:00 am
- MX2 Pre-Qualifying Practice at 12:00 am
- Women’s World Championship Free Practice 2 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 4:30 pm
- MX2 Last Chance Qualifying Practice at 5:15 pm
- Women’s World Championship Time Practice at 6:00 pm (local time)
Sunday May 11:
- Women’s World Championship Warm-up at 9:00 am
- MX2 Warm-up at 9:30 am; MX1 Warm-up at 10:00 am
- Women’s World Championship Race 1 at 11:10 am
- MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 at 12:10 am
- MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 at 1:10 pm
- Women’s World Championship Race 2 at 2:10 pm
- MX2 Grand Prix Race 2 at 3:03 pm
- MX1 Grand Prix Race 2 at 4:03 pm (local time)
The Grand Prix will be broadcast live on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 CET
MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 CET
BNT (Bulgaria): MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
GALAXIE SPORT (Czech Republic): MX2 Race 2 at 14:00 CET
ART (Pan Middle East): MX1 Race 2 at 15:00 CET
SPORT TV (Slovenia): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): MX1 Race 1 at 10:00 GMT
MEDIAZONE (Worldwide): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00; MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
TRANS 7 (Indonesia): MX2 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00; MX1 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
The Grand Prix will be broadcast delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe) : Sunday May 11; MX1 Race 2 at 17:45; Monday May 12, MX2 class at 17:00 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): Sunday May 11; MX2 Race 2 at 16:30, MX1 Race 1 and Race 2 N/A CET
BNT (Bulgaria): Sunday May 11; MX2 Race 1 (summary) at 16:00 and Race 2 (summary) at 16:10, Women World Championship Round 1 (summary) at 16:20 CET
VRT (Belgium): Sunday May 11; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:15 CE
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday May 11; MX1 Race 2 at 18:30; Monday May 12, MX2 class at 17:00 and at 21:00 GMT
AMERICA ONE SPORTS (USA): Second Tuesday after the GP; MX2 Race 2 at 21:00; MX1 Race 2 at 22:00 USA Eastern Time
GAORA (Japan): MX2 Race 1 and Race 2; MX1 Race 1 and Race 2; N/A CET
Related Link:
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