Philippaerts unlucky to take 8th at home GP

Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's David Philippaerts can consider himself unfortunate to end his home Grand Prix with only 8th position after an eventful afternoon at Mantova for the second round of fifteen in the 2010 FIM MX-GP World Championship.

The Italian was leading the first moto at the Grand Prix of Lombardia until a crash, which was then followed by an excellent recovery and finally thwarted by a damaged exhaust. He took 2nd place in the following outing. Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross Team's Ken De Dycker had a consistent day for 4th overall and his best finish yet on the YZ450FM.

The weekend began positively with Philippaerts among the fastest riders as the track rapidly began to change, chop and cut-up due to the intense period of activity thanks to the presence of two support classes; the opening rounds of the 125cc European Championship and Veteran's World Cup (won by champion and Yamaha rider Mats Nilsson). The 25 year old enjoyed an entertaining battle with Tony Cairoli and Max Nagl in the Heat race to earn the first Pole Position for the rear-slanting innovative 2010 YZ450FM and put the distinctive black and green motorcycle into the Grand Prix gate first.

Philippaerts comfortably fronted the pack in Moto1 for two laps across the rippled and treacherous terrain until catching a bump awkwardly at speed that pitched him onto the floor. Dazed, he remounted in 12th and began an emphatic charge to fly to 5th. With several laps to go the silencer on his exhaust broke free and robbed his machine of power.

The 2008 world champion coasted across the finish but was penalised by a minute for failing noise control and classified 19th. Philippaerts again started well in Moto2 and rode a lonely 35 minutes and 2 laps behind winner Tony Cairoli and ahead of Max Nagl.
 
In contrast to the fine race had by Philippaerts on Saturday De Dycker suffered two falls in the Qualification Heat that left him ruing 19th place in the gate for the motos. The Belgian shook off the limitation from the line to slot into top ten contention and rise steadily to 4th and 5th positions for his best showing yet in Monster Energy colours.

De Dycker is 4th in the world championship standings and Philippaerts is five points behind in 5th. The MX-GP FIM World Championship will now pause for a break after two events in succession. The Grand Prix of the Netherlands will run on April 25th at Valkenswaard.

In other news Spaniard Carlos Campano leads the MX3 World Championship on his YZ450F after winning the opening round in Portugal last week and finishing fourth in France today.

David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team, 8th:

"The first moto was terrible. I had a big crash when I caught a bump at speed and the bike pushed me off. I hit my head on the ground and was dazed for a few moments. The bike was damaged and got worse as I went on. I made some good positions but five laps from the end the silencer broke; I did not feel safe even making the jumps. The second moto was good. I was in second and Nagl was quick at the beginning.

I watched my lap-times on the board. Cairoli was too far to catch but I was pleased overall because I know I am fit and the bike is working very well. The track had a lot of ruts and bumps and was dangerous so I am pleased to come away feeling healthy. I will go to Belgium now for some training. Valkenswaard is next and I am fast there. Last year I should have done well but physically I was not 100%. This time I want better than a top five."

Ken De Dycker, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 4th:

"I am pretty happy because yesterday was a nightmare. I felt better in the morning but I still had to work so hard on the bike and I really pushed to get those results. I feel that we can work from what we have achieved here and get better for Valkenswaard. The track got much drier and was a real mix of hard and soft bumps; it had everything."

Crowd: 19,000
Weather: Changeable

2010 GP of Lombardia 11/04/2010 Race 1 - 19 Laps

1    Clement Desalle    Suzuki    BEL    40'13.247
2    Antonio Cairoli    KTM    ITA    0'04.718
3    Maximilian Nagl    KTM    GER    0'14.321
4    Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL    0'13.063
5    S?bastien Pourcel    Kawasaki    FRA    0'29.853
6    Jimmy Albertson    Honda    USA    0'33.123
7    Xavier Boog    Kawasaki    FRA    0'35.055
8    Jonathan Barragan    Kawasaki    ESP    0'37.764
9    Tanel Leok    Honda    EST    0'43.058
10    Steve Ramon    Suzuki    BEL    0'54.348
11    Manuel Monni    Yamaha    ITA    1'11.842
12    Marc De Reuver    Suzuki    NED    1'19.344
13    Davide Guarneri    Honda    ITA    1'23.471
14    Evgeny Bobryshev    Honda    RUS    1'24.100
15    Gareth Swanepoel    Honda    RSA    1'47.012
16    Tom Soderstrom    Yamaha    SWE    1'51.102
19    David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA    2'39.451


Race 2 - 19 Laps

1    Antonio Cairoli    KTM    ITA    39'50.854
2    David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA    0'08.843
3    Maximilian Nagl    KTM    GER    0'17.627
4    Clement Desalle    Suzuki    BEL    0'32.466
5    Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL    0'39.633
6    Xavier Boog    Kawasaki    FRA    0'41.226
7    Steve Ramon    Suzuki    BEL    0'48.453
8    Jonathan Barragan    Kawasaki    ESP    0'55.507
9    Evgeny Bobryshev    Honda    RUS    0'58.109
10    Anthony Boissi?re    TM    FRA    1'00.706
11    Joshua Coppins    Aprilia    NZL    1'01.396
12    Kevin Strijbos    Suzuki    BEL    1'02.494
13    Jimmy Albertson    Honda    USA    1'03.223
14    Gareth Swanepoel    Honda    RSA    1'10.054
15    Manuel Monni    Yamaha    ITA    1'13.328


- Yamaha, Amsterdam -