MotoCross > 2008 Round 11: Belgium > Race Results

August 3, 2008

2008 FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship Round 11
Grand Prix of Belgium – Lommel

Race Results

Honda Martin’s Marc De Reuver narrowly missed out on a podium position at the Grand Prix of Belgium despite riding his factory CRF450 to a first moto victory. Marc remounted from a crash in moto two to finish in 10th place which meant he unfortunately missed finishing third overall by just one point.


Mark DeRuever		Mark DeRuever

The Grand Prix of Belgium always promised to be a tough race as the sandy wastelands of the Lommel circuit – that’s situated on the edge of the Belgian town’s industrial area – offered an ever changing rough and rutted deep sand surface that made it both very physically demanding and also very difficult for the riders to find a good rhythm.

Despite the physical nature of the track and the fact he was riding with broken bones in his left foot it was De Reuver who powered his factory Honda CRF450 through the deep ruts and bumps to first place in timed qualifying. Able to set a lightning fast lap at the very start of the session the lanky Dutchman then sat back and watched as the world’s best off-road racers failed to better his time for the remainder of the 30-minute timed session. De Reuver’s teammate Julien Bill was Honda’s next best qualifier in 13th position with CAS Honda’s Billy MacKenzie 14th and Frenchman Steve Boniface 21st.

Starting from the inside of the gate De Reuver didn’t get the best of starts in the first moto but was able to turn tightly in turn one and make up a lot of ground as the rest of the pack drifted wide. Biding his time and riding consistently around the ever roughening and increasingly technical circuit Marc concentrated on picking off the riders in front of him one by one and finally took over at the front of the pack at the 30 minute mark. Briefly passed back by a battling Barragan, Marc picked up the pace even further and moved back into the lead which is where he remained unchallenged until the end.

MacKenzie started strong and ran third for two laps behind the early leaders before losing his rhythm and starting a backward slide through the pack as arm pump took hold. Unable to pick up the pace Billy had to be content with a ninth place finish.

Julien Bill fought hard for the full 35-minutes plus two laps but couldn’t move into a points-paying position while Boniface twisted his knee on lap two and had to retire for the day as the pain proved to be too much.

De Reuver, MacKenzie and Bill all started inside the top 10 in moto two. De Reuver was able to power through the pack and out into the lead within six laps this time which is where he stayed until the 30 minute mark. Then with the win looking like it was in the bag De Reuver made a mistake in a rhythm section and crashed hard. A little bit dazed by the fall and a little bit bruised and battered it took Marc a good while to restart his machine and the energy lost as well as the physical damage picked up in the fall caused the Dutchman to slow his pace and he finally slipped back to 10th place.

MacKenzie meanwhile found himself in seventh and looked to be the strongest rider on the track as the moto entered its final third. Badly roosted by a lapped rider which damaged his roll-off system MacKenzie had to remove his goggles and this broke his rhythm slightly allowing Coppins to close in. On lap 14 Josh went for an overly aggressive crash which saw both riders end up in the dirt – MacKenzie remounted and toughed it out to an 11th place finish.

Bill made amends for his poor first race performance by challenging hard in moto two until he ran out of energy late in the race and ended up losing several places to finish 14th.

In the championship standings MacKenzie strengthens his hold on eighth place while De Reuver consolidates 10th and Bill stays 13th with Boniface still 20th despite not increasing his score in Belgium.

The FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship continues next weekend with round 11 that will be held at the fast and hardpack Loket circuit in the Czech Republic on August 10.


Billy MacKenzie		Julian Bill

Marc De Reuver – Martin Honda
“Three weeks ago I broke my foot here in Lommel without crashing and so I was not sure if I was going to ride here or not but on Monday the doctor took off my plaster and I went practicing mid-week with a brace on and it felt okay.

“I was riding well all weekend and yesterday in qualification I took pole position which was very surprising to me. In the first heat I just took my time because I knew it was going to be a hard race – I just kept my rhythm and I won. It was quite easy!

“In the second moto I took the lead and I was pulling away. I was thinking that this was going to be my GP but then in the rhythm section near the pit boxes where I was double-doubling, on one lap I doubled the first jump okay and then on the second the bike just kicked me really hard. I crashed over the handlebars and then it took me a very long time to restart the bike. When I crashed I hit my head and when I got going again my vision seemed to be blurred, I was already very tired from the race and also restarting my bike so I just rode around until the end – I was very disappointed not to win the GP.”

Julien Bill – Martin Honda
“In qualifying the track was still fast with some good lines but today it was just so rough, there were no places to rest and it was really hard to find the right lines. I made a very bad start in the first race and the pace I was running with the guys at the back of the pack was just too slow – I was just really struggling and I scored no points. In the second race I made a very good start and I was pushing hard for the first 15 minutes and I was fighting inside the top 10. In the last 10 minutes I was really, really tired and I lost some places and I finished 14th. It’s not great for me but still it’s some points.

“Next weekend we’re back on hardpack and that’s awesome for me. I’m really looking forward to racing at Loket, it’s fast and has some big jumps and I really like it – I’m looking forward to getting some good results there.”

Billy MacKenzie – CAS Honda
“In the first moto I just battled with the bike for the whole race, my lines were terrible and I couldn’t find a flow around the track at all and the one thing you need in sand is to get a rhythm and I just didn’t have it. I just kept on battling and I was quite lucky that two guys had a problem on the last lap and neither of them finished which bumped me up to ninth.

“In the second race I was able to push hard for the whole race, I passed Josh Coppins and I could see all the other guys in front of me and I felt good. I was thinking that towards the end I’d be able to dig deep and push past them because I had good lines, my bike was working well and I was riding well too. I came up to a couple of lapped riders and they filled me in really badly. I think the sand must have gone behind the film because it wasn’t clearing when I pulled my roll-offs and so I had to lose my goggles.

“I lost my rhythm a little bit and Josh started to catch me a little bit – I could see him getting closer – but I didn’t want to change my lines because the outsides were working well. Anyway he came on the inside of me and he was committed to his line and I was committed to my line and we came together pretty hard and we both went down – it was just a racing accident. After that I was physically done in and I felt delusional. I had sand in my eyes which wasn’t helping because my vision was blurry and so I was missing lines and swapping all over the track – it was one of the craziest GPs I have ever done and I’m going to feel its effects all week.”

Steve Boniface – CAS Honda
“I hurt my knee on the first lap of the first moto today – I twisted it and it got pretty swollen right away. I was going pretty well and I jumped really far on one of the jumps and landed in the soft sand, I tried to race on through the pain but it was just too much. The pain didn’t go away between motos so I made the decision not to race the second moto and risk damaging it even more. I’ll be seeking medical advice tomorrow and hopefully it will be nothing too bad.”

2008 FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship
Round 11 Grand Prix of Belgium – Lommel

MX1 Race 1


1		DE REUVER Marc (Honda Martin Racing)

2		BARRAGAN Jonathan (AXO KTM Silver Action Team)

3		DE DYCKER Ken (Team TEKA Suzuki-WMX1)

4		RAMON Steve (Team TEKA Suzuki-WMX1)

5		COPPINS Joshua (Yamaha Monster Motocross Team)

6		NAGL Maximilian (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

7		POURCEL Sebastien (GPKR Team)

8		DESALLE Clement (Team Suzuki Inotec)

9		MACKENZIE Billy (CAS Honda)

10		PRIEM Manuel (Kawasaki Racing Team Europe)

11		NEMETH Kornel (KTM Sarholz Racing Team)

12		LEOK Aigar (Team Yamaha van Beers Racing)

13		ROOS Patrick

14		MELOTTE Cedric (Team Aprilia Off Road)

15		PHILIPPAERTS David (Yamaha Monster Motocross Team)

Mark DeRuever

MX1 Race 2


1		BARRAGAN Jonathan (AXO KTM Silver Action Team)

2		NAGL Maximilian (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

3		DE DYCKER Ken (Team TEKA Suzuki-WMX1)

4		POURCEL Sebastien (GPKR Team)

5		RAMON Steve (Team TEKA Suzuki-WMX1)

6		PHILIPPAERTS David (Yamaha Monster Motocross Team)

7		NEMETH Kornel (KTM Sarholz Racing Team)

8		COPPINS Joshua (Yamaha Monster Motocross Team)

9		LEOK Aigar (Team Yamaha van Beers Racing)

10		DE REUVER Marc (Honda Martin Racing)

11		MACKENZIE Billy (CAS Honda)

12		ANDERSON Bradley (Suzuki Swift Motocross Team)

13		LEOK Tanel (Kawasaki Racing Team Europe)

14		BILL Julien (Honda Martin Racing)

15		CHURCH Tom (Molson Kawasaki Racing)

MX2 Race 1


1		RATTRAY Tyla (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

2		SEARLE Tommy (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

3		GONCALVES Rui (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

4		ROELANTS Joel (Champ-KTM)

5		SIMPSON Shaun (KTM UK)

6		VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy (Champ-KTM)

7		FROSSARD Steven (CLS)

8		KRESTINOV Gert (Favor KTM Motorsport)

9		GUARNERI Davide (Ricci Racing Yamaha)

10		SEISTOLA Matti (SRS Racing -ST)

11		MONNI Manuel (3C Racing)

12		AUBIN Nicolas (Ricci Racing Yamaha)

13		SWORD Stephen (Molson Kawasaki Racing)

14		ILLAN F.

15		BOISSIERE Anthony (KTM HDI MX Team)

MX2 Race 2


1		KRESTINOV Gert (Favor KTM Motorsport)

2		AUBIN Nicolas (Ricci Racing Yamaha)

3		VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy (Champ-KTM)

4		GONCALVES Rui (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

5		ROELANTS Joel (Champ-KTM)

6		SEARLE Tommy (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

7		SEISTOLA Matti (SRS Racing -ST)

8		OSBOURNE Zach

9		BOOG Xavier (Team Suzuki Inotec)

10		RATTRAY Tyla (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)

11		BOISSIERE Anthony (KTM HDI MX Team)

12		SIMPSON Shaun (KTM UK)

13		GUARNERI Davide (Ricci Racing Yamaha)

14		VERBRUGGEN Dennis (Shineray MX Team China)

15		MONNI Manuel (3C Racing)

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