The French track of Saint Jean d’Angely, home of the 2000 Motocross des Nations will mark the midway point of the sixteen round 2004 FIM Motocross World Championship this weekend.
Unfortunately for the home fans, the first part of the season has not been too rewarding for French riders, with just a single MX1 win for Mickael Pichon in the third round (Portugal) and an MX2 heat win for Mickael Maschio at the second round (Spain) to show for their efforts. But two years ago both were world champions, and as such their fans are expecting much better results from them this weekend.
Of the two, Pichon has most expectation, but he’s still recovering from being knocked unconscious in a serious fall one month ago in Germany.
“I can’t train so much on my motorcycle between the GP’s, but I can do cycling, jogging, and physical training,” he said. “My problem is that this training program is not the best one for a motocross rider, as you need to train on the bike to be fit for the races.
“I’ve always in pain from some muscles in the neck and shoulder, and I’ve not always enough power in my damaged shoulder to correctly hold the bike. But it’s coming better every day, and for me the tough schedule is better at the moment with a GP every Sunday,” he added.
“Now I take every race separately, as I’m so far from (Stefan) Everts in the championship,” he revealed. “I will never give up, but my goal is to collect as many podiums as possible and at the end of the season we’ll see my position; the most important thing for me, at the moment, is to enjoy racing, to have fun on my Honda and to give my maximum.
“That’s the reason why I was not too disappointed last weekend when I lost the GP to Josh Coppins, as I gave my best. Josh surprised me, he was really fast and even if I would have been in great form I’m not sure I could have beat him,” he said sportingly.
