David Philippaerts revs up Italian pride at Faenza with MX1 World Title

At the end of his second MX1 World Championship season Italian David Philippaerts of Yamaha Monster Motocross collected his first ever World Title in front of a huge home crowd.

The 24 year old from Pietrasanta, Italy, rode well throughout his first season with the factory Yamaha squad which is now celebrating the first World Title since the retirement of multiple World Champion Stefan Everts in 2006.

The last Italian to have won the Title in this category was Suzuki mounted Alex Puzar in 1990 (250cc).

Starting off a brilliant career in the 125cc class at the Dutch GP in 2001 Philippaerts, who has Belgian roots, moved to the Errevi KTM Team in 2003 and never left the orange manufacturer until 2007.

Throughout these years Philippaerts’ riding improved until his 19th place finish in the 2004 MX2 World Championship as the number 19 is on the Italian’s number plate since then.

In 2005 Philippaerts remained with the Errevi team and took an incredible step forward in his career; from the German GP KTM handed the team a factory bike and David squeezed it until he reached the fourth place in the MX2 Championship. In the same year Philippaerts collected his maiden GP win in France with another one following in South Africa.

The next year Philippaerts was inside the Champ KTM Team and set his sights on the MX2 Title. He took the challenge onboard factory KTM machinery and went on to take other four GP wins for a total of six podium appearances. Misfortune and mistakes saw the talented Philippaerts end an eventual third.

A solid MX1 ride at the 2006 Motocross of Nations in Great Britain where team Italy finished fourth by just two points and Philippaerts took third in the MX1 individual standings (behind Belgium’s Stefan Everts and USA’s James Stewart) was an omen of what could be his next season.

In 2007 Philippaerts made his debut in the MX1 class taking one GP win in Germany and other five podiums to end a promising sixth overall. Courtesy of his maiden MX1 GP victory Philippaerts became the second rider to have ever won GP’s both in the MX1 and MX2 classes – first won Ben Townley as Philippaerts is also the first ever Italian to have reached this goal.

The move to Yamaha meant a big change for David who spent the winter to prepare and adapt to the new bike. After a solid pre season Philippaerts entered the World Championship scene in Valkenswaard with a lot of confidence and his first podium came at the following round in Bellpuig. Taking another second overall in Portugal Philippaerts conquered the red plate and lost it just once in Lommel courtesy of an incredible consistency.

Despite never starting from pole this year Philippaerts collected two GP wins for a total of seven podium appearances.

David Philippaerts said: "It was a very long season, both Steve and Ken have been very fast and I am very happy about this Title, there is not much else to say. I have been taking this Championship race by race, I think the moment

I realized I could actually be World Champion was the second moto today! Consistency has been one of the reasons of my success, I finished most of the motos and scored good points. I would like to thank my girlfriend Alice, my sponsors, Michele (Rinaldi) who helped me very much this year and all the people around me."

Michele Rinaldi stated: "I won many Titles with foreign riders, this time it is an Italian rider winning and most of my team is made of Italians so it is something very special. The crowd today was very warm and I think it has been a special day for the press and us as well."

In 2009 David Philippaerts will defend the MX1 crown together with the Yamaha Monster Motocross Team.

Now the MX1 World Champion is focusing on the Red Bull Motocross of Nations to perform a solid ride for team Italy at Donington Park on September 28.

DATE OF BIRTH: 07.12.1983

PLACE OF BIRTH: PIETRASANTA, ITALY

NATIONALITY: ITALIAN

RESIDENCE: BORGOSESIA, ITALY

NICKNAME: DP

WEBSITE: http://www.dp19.com

FIRST GP: 2001, GP OF THE NETHERLANDS, 125CC CLASS

FIRST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE: 2008

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES: 1 (MX1)

FIRST GP WIN: 2005, GP OF FRANCE, ST. JEAN D’ANGELY, MX2

GP WINS IN TOTAL: 9 (3 IN MX1; 6 IN MX2)

PREVIOUS YEARS RESULTS:

2007 KTM KMT RED BULL FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MX1 6TH

2007 KTM ITALY/KTM RED BULL RED BULL FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS 4TH

2006 KTM CHAMP KTM FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MX2 3RD

2006 KTM ITALY/ CHAMP KTM FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS 4TH

2005 KTM KTM ERREVI FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MX2 4TH

2005 KTM ITALY/KTM ERREVI FIM MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS 13TH

2004 KTM KTM ERREVI FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MX2 19TH

2003 KTM KTM ERREVI FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 125 22ND

2002 SUZUKI CASTELLARI FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 125 45TH

2002 SUZUKI CASTELLARI UEM EUROPEAN MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP 125 3RD

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.

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- Daniele RIZZI -