It was a dry opening day to the Grand Prix of Republic of Ireland; Ken de Dycker took his third season’s Lovemytime Pole Position Award with Tyla Rattray and Zach Osbourne taking victory in the MX2 qualifying heats.
MX2 Championship runner up Tommy Searle was hit by misfortune and broke his back brake in moto two to end first in the last chance and qualify eventually.
MX1
Teka Suzuki WMX1’s Ken de Dycker showed to be at ease with the Irish track right away as he took his third season’s pole by clocking a solid lap with 10 minutes to go.
Kawasaki Racing’s Tanel Leok was right behind in second as the Estonian Express could not reply to De Dycker’s attack which put him off the pole by almost 0.6 seconds.
Billy Mackenzie of CAS Honda rode a solid qualifying session as he stayed in the top five for all the 30 minutes before securing the third spot on the grid.
After taking podiums in the latest four GP’s AXO KTM Silver Action’s Jonathan Barragan got ready for another strong performance and ended fourth in the time sheets ahead of Sebastien Pourcel.
The GPKR rider demonstrated the value of the new fuel injection machine by remaining less than a second off De Dycker’s storming pole.
Championship contenders Steve Ramon and David Philippaerts rounded off the top seven.
Top five: 1. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Suzuki), 1:45.660; 2. Tanel Leok (EST, Kawasaki), +0:00.579; 3. Billy Mackenzie (GBR, Honda), +0:00.904; 4. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), +0:00.935; 5. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:00.979
MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tyla Rattray and Utag-Yamaha.com’s Zach Osbourne will take the best two spots in the MX2 grid tomorrow as they won the first and second qualifying heats today.
While Tyla worked his way up to first by moving past KTM UK’s Shaun Simpson, Osbourne found himself at the lead when early leader Tommy Searle had a back brake problem and lost vital time before ending an eventual 13th.
Ricci Racing Yamaha’s Nicolas Aubin finished second from Simpson in heat one with CLS’ Steven Frossard and Champ KTM’s Joel Roelants rounding off moto two’s top three.
MX2 QUALIFYING RACE 1
Simpson took an early lead as Rattray was charging to move in front; the South African eventually made it and took victory from Aubin, who also moved past Simpson. The latter ended third from a solid Xavier Boog and Stephen Sword, who got rid of British countryman Jason Dougan at lap five. Making his GP comeback after a wrist injury Gareth Swanepoel took 11th.
Top five: 1. Tyla Rattray (RSA, KTM), 24:05.249; ; 2. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:06.411; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:09.418; 4. Xavier Boog (FRA, Suzuki), +0:10.324; 5. Stephen Sword (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:11.248
MX2 QUALIFYING RACE 2
Thrills and spills characterized the second heat. Early leader Searle and Osbourne were pulling away from the rest of the field when the former had a problem to his back brake and was forced to run through the pit lane to fix it. Searle lost vital time and finished 13th –he qualified by taking first in the last chance- while Osbourne won his first ever heat. Frossard and Roelants rode strong to round off the top three. Jake Nicholls was holding the third place when he crashed out of the race – he also qualified through the last chance.
Top five: 1. Zach Osbourne (USA, Yamaha), 24:22.261; ; 2. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:12.006; 3. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:15.399; 4. Jeremy Tarroux (FRA, KTM), +0:20.845; 5. Carl Nunn (GBR, Suzuki), +0:27.192
NEWS OF THE DAY: ROB KINSEY UNVEILS SHAUN SIMPSON’S PAINTING
Professional painter Rob Kinsey from Great Britain handed countryman Shaun Simpson a dedicated painting today in front of the international press and TV’s attending the Irish GP. The idea of the painting came from Team Principal of KTM UK, Roger Magee who commissioned Kinsey to paint a picture of Shaun Simpson to commemorate his successful season in 2008, the last with the Northern Ireland based squad as the rider will move to the Red Bull KTM works team next season.
In 2008 Simpson took his first ever podium in Sevlievo, Bulgaria, which was followed by another rostrum finish in Uddevalla, Sweden and he is currently fourth in the MX2 Championship.
500 limited edition prints of Kinsey’s painting autographed by Shaun Simpson will be on sale for the many fans both online on the team’s website www.ktmukmx.com and at the team’s hospitality during the GP and British Championship weekends. The profits will be donated to Chris Esler, a motocross passionate from Northern Ireland who picked up a severe spinal cord injury while riding in 2007.
More information on Rob Kinsey can be found online on his personal website www.robkinsey.com while Simpson’s website is www.shaunsimpson.com.
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
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, Youthstream -
