Crockard pushes Everts to the end.

Ulsterman Gordon Crockard was narrowly beaten for a podium finish at the Grand Prix of Spain on Sunday.

The Circuit de Catalunla, at Bellpuig, some 100 kilometres north of Barcelona produced one of the best races seen in recent years with the introduction of the new combined 250cc two stroke and larger capacity four-stroke machinery up to 450cc.

From the start of the Motocross GP race it was Italian Claudio Federici who made the start and led from Pichon, Smets and Open World Champion Stefan Everts on the 450cc Yamaha.

Crockard, meanwhile, was pushed wide at the first turn - an incident that would almost certainly cost him a podium.

"I thought I was on for the hole shot in the race but Brian Jorgensen was thinking the same thing and took me and a few other really wide almost onto the hay bails," recalled Crockard who was ninth at the end of lap one. "It cost both him and me a lot of time, stupid really trying to win the war but loosing the battle at the first turn."

After a few off track excursions Crockard lost three positions but them picked up a gear and started to attack: "I saw Bervoets (Yamaha) moving up but I got held up behind Jorgensen but on lap six got by him. Bervoets went on to crash right in front of me and I had to really take action to avoid him which caused me to loose my rhythm."

By now, Pichon was well out in front followed by Smets and Everts - and Crockard now had a fading Everts in his sights.

"I was faster than him through the whoops but I thought we might clash and come together at the right turn just at the end," said Gordon. "I was prepared for that, if we crashed the 5th place guy was a long way back so I still would have time to pick up the bike."

However, it never came to that as slower lapped rider allowed Everts to hold onto his narrow lead, finishing 0.7secs clear of the 450F rider as the chequered flag fell.

"I thought I could have been on the podium, I was sure I could have even taken second position had it not been for the start turn, my speed was faster," sighed Crockard. "I didn't fade and I had no arm pump, the bike was working just fine so this is the start to the season I wanted."

Crockard then joked: "The good Lord Jesus Christ said in the Bible that you must come 'fourth', so I did! But I won't be listening at the next race in Holland."

Stick to racing Gordon...!

"Very happy," declared CAS Honda Team Manager/Owner Harry Ainsworth. "Gordon did well after his first turn problem, he raced well and the bike performed as well as we knew it would."

CAS Honda's Joshua Coppins, who finished second to Pichon last season was a non-starter in Spain due to a training injury sustained in January. Coppins is likely to be sidelined for at least another month. He will arrive in Europe from his native New Zealand in two weeks to start race preparation with his new team.