Stefan Everts may have continued his MX1 domination with overall victory in Italy today, but the event also saw young countryman Kevin Strijbos win the first heat race of his career and Andrew McFarlane claim his first MX2 victory.
Strijbos grabbed the race one holeshot and went on to lead the entire race, the Suzuki star taking full advantage of Everts and Mickael Pichon losing time as they worked their way towards the front.
I could ride pretty smooth after my holeshot. I didn't felt any pressure and made a small gap, said Kevin. Of course I'm really happy with my heat win, I hope I can have a GP win soon.
Everts reached second three laps from the finish but couldn't touch Strijbos and instead faced stiff opposition from Pichon when held up by backmarkers.
I lost time behind Jorgensen, and when I passed him I was then able to catch Ramon and finished second. My main problem once more was the lappers; I can't understand why these guys never respect the blue flags, they probably just know the yellow ones. I think that we could give a penalty to these riders, fumed Everts.
I'm never happy with a third position, but it's nice to be back on the podium after France, added Honda rider Pichon. I was fourth but lost two places when my team-mate pushed me in front of the pits. Josh and Stefan passed me, and as the track was really slippery I took my time. The track was drying in the last ten minutes, we made up time on Stefan and came back past Ramon.
Race two saw Coppins, who crashed in moto one, lead the field through turn one with Ramon, Melotte and Pichon in hot pursuit. Pichon then took the lead in the fourth lap, but factory Yamaha star Everts passed him four laps later.
The Frenchman put some pressure on the Belgian, but he held firm to win his fifth GP of the season. Strijbos came back from a poor start to take fourth, handing him second overall, while Pichon completed the overall podium.
My second start was similar but I had a good feeling with the track and came to the lead quite easily, said Everts.
In the second heat my start was pretty bad, I did a wheelie and I was around twentieth, confirmed Strijbos. In the beginning my laps were not so good but after ten minutes I got into a good rhythm and caught many riders, including Ramon in the last two laps.
My start in the second heat was better than Stefan but not so much, pretty quickly I got in front but I didn't find the good lines and struggled a little bit, admitted Pichon. Stefan passed me, I tried to go easy on the track but he pulled away a little bit. I was slower in two or three slippery corners, I pushed really hard in the last laps but I made a mistake and almost crashed.
