Everts wins, Beirer airlifted to hospital.

Factory Yamaha 450 rider Stefan Everts dominated his second Motocross GP race inside a week with victory in MX GP class at the Grand Prix of Bulgaria, but the event was marred by a serious accident for Pit Beirer.

Beirer had been as high as second on the first lap - after getting the holeshot - but a big accident over the largest jump on the course left the German seriously injured and needing to be airlifted from the circuit.

The latest report from the medical staff in the hospital at Sofia is that the factory KTM rider has serious back and chest injuries.

The exact details of his condition are not yet known, but positive signs can be taken from the fact that he is being transported to a hospital in Munich this evening.

Back on track, six-times World Champion Everts passed Brian Jorgensen on lap four and proceeded to pull away from the chasing Dane on his Honda 450.

Joel Smets was holding third and under pressure from Mickael Pichon until the Frenchman and winner of the first three races of the season made a small mistake and crashed, slipping down the order to sixth.

It was the breather that Smets needed to reel in Jorgensen by the end of the race to grab his fourth runner-up spot of the season and continue his 100% podium record on the KTM 450.

Pichon recovered and begun a brave charge on a fast and difficult track for the 250s eventually passing Claudio Federici and Andrew McFarlane to take his second fourth place in a row and the first time in over two years that the 27 year old has missed two podiums in succession.

McFarlane gained his best finish of the season in fifth beating Federici and Marnicq Bervoets in seventh. Patrick Caps, Kenneth Gundersen and Yoshitaka Atsuta rounded out the top ten.

The Championship standings have now narrowed significantly. Pichon is still at the top of the table but his lead has shrunk to 3 points over Smets. Everts has reduced a 25 point deficit of two GPs ago down to 11. Jorgensen's first podium for several years lifts him to fourth but trailing Everts by 33 points.

In the 125cc class, World Champion Mickael Maschio won his second trophy of the season with a commanding performance during the first moto of the day. The Frenchman guided his Kawasaki past early leader and factory KTM rider Marc De Reuver on lap 8 and wasn't headed until the flag.

De Reuver, who looked so strong in the opening laps, fell into the clutches of Andrea Bartolini entering the last quarter of the race and eventually had to settle for third place behind the Italian who recorded his third podium from five GPs.

In fourth was Stefan Everts. The Belgian could not repeat his dominant exercise from Italy and appeared to be using the moto as a warm-up for the Motocross GP heat. A small crash while crashing Bartolini after several laps dropped the multi World Champion away from the leading trio who were already fairly spaced out.

Everts completed a lonely 35 minutes and two laps and was chased by the equally isolated Erik Eggens in fifth, finishing five seconds behind the Yamaha rider and steering his KTM over the line in front of team-mate Steve Ramon.

Ramon was the victim of a first lap fall and had to come through the pack from 26th passing Britain's Stephen Sword with several corners remaining. Sword's 7th position was still an impressive performance considering that the Albion KTM rider is suffering from a broken finger. Josef Dobes, Nicolas Charlier and Rodrig Thain completed the top ten.

Thanks to Maschio's win and Ramon's slip-up the 125 World Championship has now become even tighter. Ramon and De Reuver are tied for the lead with Bartolini one point behind in third and Maschio trailing by four points in fourth.

Tyla Rattray who crashed heavily in Saturday qualifying heats was taken to a hospital in Sofia and was fortunately only diagnosed with mild concussion.

Joel Smets finished another double dose of champagne drinking today when he clinched his fifth straight 650 GP. In typical fashion the KTM rider assumed the lead half way around the first lap and the moto was over.

A faultless performance means he now has a perfect 125 point haul in the standings. Second place went to Cedric Melotte who celebrated his highest ever Grand Prix finish.

Javier Garcia Vico has been an ever-present force on the podium this season and he took third some way behind the Honda of Melotte. Fabrizio Dini was fourth and Thierry Bethys scored points in both the MX GP class and the 650 event with his fifth position.