After hosting lots of horse racing meetings Fairyhouse Racecourse is now ready to play host to round 13 of the FIM Motocross World series.
With 36 points dividing MX1 Championship leader David Philippaerts and fifth placed Ken de Dycker this is going to be an extremely challenging season finale, continuing next weekend in Lierop, The Netherlands, and ending the weekend after in Faenza, Italy.
On the other hand the MX2 class is a battle for two riders as Championship leader Tyla Rattray has already an 87 point advantage over fourth placed Shaun Simpson. Runner up Tommy Searle is 20 points away while third placed Tony Cairoli ended his season already in South Africa due to an injury.
MX1
A very exciting MX1 Championship is very much due to end only in the final round in Faenza on September 14 as the top five riders are spread in just 36 points.
With victory at the Czech GP David Philippaerts of Yamaha Monster Motocross has taken the red plate back while Teka Suzuki WMX1’s Steve Ramon dropped down to second.
Yamaha Monster Motocross’ Joshua Coppins is currently third and aims at moving up in the standings; though the Kiwi also has to look back as Jonathan Barragan and Ken de Dycker are just one point away.
AXO KTM Silver Action’s Barragan is on a four podium roll which includes three consecutive wins from Sweden to Belgium while Teka Suzuki WMX1’s De Dycker has been riding strong in the latest meetings and showed he is ready for a solid season’s finale.
Sebastien Pourcel, to ride with the fuel injection KX450F, and Max Nagl round off the top seven.
Alessio Chiodi is due to miss this GP and Lierop due to an arm problem; Cedric Melotte injured his right ankle in Lommel and after an unsuccessful try to race in Loket he will sit out of Fairyhouse.
Steve Boniface is also missing this GP as he and the CAS Honda squad ended their relation.
On the other hand Gordon Crockard will return to action this weekend in Ireland.
MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team mates Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle starred an extremely battled Czech Grand Prix as they showed how much hard fought is this year’s MX2 Championship.
Searle was the eventual winner though his gap from series leader Rattray, second overall in Loket, remained 20 points.
Other KTM fellow riders Rui Goncalves (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Shaun Simpson (KTM UK) have been performing well this season; Simpson is actually an extremely popular rider in Ireland as he rides with the Northern Ireland based team KTM UK. Shaun injured his shoulder in Loket and had to miss that GP but he will be on fire this weekend and looking for his third season’s podium.
Goncalves, Simpson and Ricci Racing Yamaha’s Nicolas Aubin aim at moving up in the standings by at least one position as third placed rider Tony Cairoli ended his season already in Nelspruit with a knee injury.
A handful of riders are coming back to racing this weekend; first of all Gareth Swanepoel, to ride his first GP of 2008 after a wrist injury blocked him until now. Matteo Bonini and Pascal Leuret are also coming back after injuries.
FAIRYHOUSE RACE COURSE AND DUBLIN
The motocross course in Dublin is realized on the already existing horse racing facility and actually the circuit itself crosses the horse racing course. The very challenging layout covers any racing situation on a soft terrain; there is a lay of woodchips on top of the current ground to make it resistant to the rainy conditions affecting the area very often.
Ireland’s capital city Dublin is the most populated city in the country and hosts 1.1 million inhabitants in the entire area of its county. Lots of attractions such as castles, museums and art galleries make Dublin an extremely interesting and lively city which can be easily navigated on foot. The Temple Bar area is a nice one to stop by in between one tour and the next one. Dublin is not just land, it is also sea with the spectacular Dublin Bay standing in front of the city.
Other than English the Dubliners speak also the Irish (or Gaelic) language which is the is the original native language of the country. Place names and signage are usually in both languages. The city is also famous for having inspired local writer James Joyce in writing the book Dubliners; this 15 story collection is all about life in the surroundings of this beautiful city in the early 19th century.
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE
Saturday August 30: MX2 Free Practice at 10:00 am; MX1 Free Practice 1 at 11:00 am; MX2 Pre-Qualifying Practice at 12:00 am; 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 (local time).
Sunday August 31: MX2 Warm-up at 9:00 am; MX1 Warm-up at 9:30 am; MX2 Grand Prix Race 1 at 12:10 am; MX1 Grand Prix Race 1 at 1:10 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 2 at 17:00 CET
MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 CET
VRT (Belgium): MX1 Race 1 at 14:00 and Race 2 at 17:00 CET
GALAXIE SPORT (Czech Republic): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
ART (Pan Middle East): MX1 Race 2 at 17:00 CET
SPORT TV (Slovenia): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (PAN ASIA): MX1 Race 2 at 15:30 GMT
RED BULL TV (Austria): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00; MX1 Race 1 at 14:00 and Race 2 at 17:00 CET
MEDIAZONE (Worldwide): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00; MX1 Race 1 at 14:00 and Race 2 at 17:00 CET
TRANS 7 (Indonesia): MX2 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00; MX1 Race 1 at 14:00 and Race 2 at 17:00 CET
The Grand Prix will be broadcast delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2 (Pan Europe): Sunday August 31; MX1 Race 1 at 18:00 and Race 2 at 22:00 CET
MOTORS TV (Pan Europe): Sunday August 31; MX2 Race 1 at 21:00 and Race 2 at 21:55. Monday September 1; MX 2 Race 1 at 05:00 and Race 2 at 05:50. Tuesday September 2; MX1 Race 1 at 21:00 and Race 2 at 21:55 CET
SPORT ITALIA (Italy): Sunday August 31; MX2 Race 2 at 17:30 and MX1 Race 1 at 23:30. Monday September 1; MX1 Race 2 at 00:30 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD (Pan Asia): Sunday August 31; MX1 Race 1 at 16:00 and Race 2 at 23:30. Monday September 1; MX1 Race 1 at 00:15, 08:45 and Race 2 at 08:00; MX2 Class at 17:00. Tuesday September 2; MX1 Race 2 at 03:15 and at 21:00; MX1 Race 1 at 04:00 and at 21:45; MX2 Class at 12:00. Wednesday September 3; MX2 Class at 9:00, 15:30 and at 20:30. Thursday September 4; MX2 Class at 04:00. Friday September 5; MX2 Class at 05:00 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
Information, photos and results are online at http://www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the FIM Motocross World Championships.
MediaZone Moto is the leading global online broadcaster of Motocross and SuperMoto events. Fans worldwide can watch the thrills from this and every race of the 2008 FIM Motocross & SuperMoto World Championships LIVE and On Demand exclusively at www.MediaZoneMoto.com.
Youthstream is the company that manages the exclusive television, marketing and promotional world wide rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Motocross of Nations, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.
- Daniele RIZZI -
