By Carly Rathmell
March 7 2005

Nearly 18,000 people turned up to watch the big International Motocross at the weekend at Hawkstone Park. They were not to be disappointed, and certainly got their monies worth, as the sun shone down on the Shropshire circuit - the World’s best riders were putting on some awesome displays of riding.

Rinaldi Yamaha rider Cédric Melotte was the star of the weekend. The Belgian, who has dropped down into the MX2 class, completely dominated the MX2 races, and showed his fellow MX2 riders that he means business in 2005. Not only did he take the win in both MX2 races, but he also took an impressive third position in the Super Final class against the mighty 450s.

Melotte held off young American superstar Mike Alessi. The 16-year-old proved why he is becoming one of the most talked about Motocross riders, as he pushed the Rinaldi rider all the way. He was hounding Melotte in the first MX2 race, and was on his tail for the closing laps. However, Alessi was unable to find a way past and had to settle for second place. The two leaders had pulled a huge 22-second advantage from third place man Mike Brown.

In the second MX2 race it was Melotte and Alessi who once again broke free and were dicing for the top spot. Unfortunately, Alessi suffered with a mechanical failure on the fourth lap and was forced to retire. Melotte took his second win, from former British Champion Carl Nunn. T here was a close battle further down the field for sixth and seventh places between 18-year-old Jason Dougan, on his Motovision Suzuki, and 19-year-old Maximum Solutions rider Lewis Gregory. Shrewsbury based rider Ray Rowson scored and encouraging tenth position.

In the hotly contested MX1 class it was the inspiring Stefan Everts who proved why he is an eight times World Champion. His extremely impressive smooth riding style made his win in the first MX1 race look effortless. He was being attacked hard by five times World Champion Joel Smets, proving to the crowd why between them they have thirteen World titles. The battle between the two champions in 2005 is certainly going to be intense.

Everts and Smets were in a league of their own in the first race, and were a massive 44 seconds faster than pole place man Jussi Vehvilainen. The Finnish rider was riding a race of his own in third place, finishing twenty seconds ahead of fourth place finisher James Noble. Yoshitaka (Yoshi) Atsuta finished a fine fifth place in the first race, on his début appearance with Motovision Suzuki.

Reigning British Champion Josh Coppins fell and landed heavily on the fourth lap, dislocating his right shoulder. He was sent to hospital, where they put the shoulder back into place, and he is hoping he will be fit for the first British Championship this weekend (13th March) at Canada Heights. It was a big blow for the New Zealander, and his hope for the British and World titles could be on the line. He only has a week to recover until the first round, so it will be touch and go.

Smets was fired up for the second race and, after having a year out through injury and illness in 2004, he is more eager than ever to reclaim the World title. Smets got a fantastic start in the second MX1 race, and was soon leaving a gap between him and Everts. A massive thirteen seconds split the two World Champions at the finish. Vehvilainen was once again third, with another former British Motocross Champion Paul Cooper in fourth, and Atsuta in fifth. Brain Jorgenson, Steve Ramon, Neville Bradshaw, Mark Jones and James Noble rounded out the top ten. Bradshaw was making his first appearance in the MX1 class, and was happy with the results he gained on the day.

The last race of the day was the big race, with the best eighteen finishers from MX2 and best twenty from MX1 racing head to head. The MX2 class were allowed a ten second advantage before the MX1 riders were let loose. It was Melotte that impressed everyone. He got his head down and really pushed hard to allow a gap between him and the other racers. The feisty Belgian held off the super fast MX1 riders Everts and Smets for 17 of the 25-minute race. Smets and Everts made their move on Melotte, and began to lap in the high 2:19s, compared to the 2:21s of Melotte. Smets took control and was sitting comfortably at the front when a small error forced him to lose ground ,and allowed the chasing Everts underneath him. The two battled it out to the flag, and only 1.5 seconds split the two. 45 second behind was Melotte, who was eleven seconds in front of fourth place man, and first of the British riders, Carl Nunn.

Sixth place saw Mike Alessi, Noble and Molson Kawasaki rider Tom Church fighting it out between each other, with Alessi getting the better hand. Church makes a welcome return back to Motocross after a serious injury forced him out for nine months.

The first World Motocross Championships take place at Zolder in Belgium on the 3rd April.

MX2 race one results:
1 Cédric Melotte
2 Mike Alessi
3 Mike Brown
4 Carl Nunn
5 Brad Anderson

MX2 race two:
1 Melotte
2 Nunn
3 Brown
4 Anderson
5 Wayne Smith

MX1 race one:
1 Stefan Everts
2 Joel Smets
3 Jussi Vehvilainen
4 James Noble
5 Yoshitaka Atsuta

MX1 race two:
1 Smets
2 Everts
3 Vehvilainen
4 Paul Cooper
5 Atsuta

International Grand Final
1 Everts
2 Smets
3 Melotte
4 Nunn
5 Cooper
6 M Alessi
7 Noble
8 Tom Church
9 Atsuta
10 Brain Jorgensen

For full results see mylaps.com