Sweden was the place to be for World Motocross! Jon Barragan takes MX1 victory, and Antonio Cairoli battles to MX2 victory!
| Round 9 - Uddevalla, Sweden - July 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Uddevalla, Sweden
The GP is on Sunday, but we thought we'd share with you what happens at a GP on a Friday and Saturday as well.
And the 'results' of that are truly amazing. There is a certain 'buzz' in the air staring around Thursday. The GPs have truly become a multi day event. It's tangible and something you can feel. As Friday comes around, the feeling, excitement and atmosphere are raised to another level.
Sweden and the Uddevalla circuit are a great place for a Grand Prix motocross. It's clean, it's green (lots of trees and lakes and grass). Friday and Saturday were quite warm - 38 degrees celsius (around 100 degrees fahrenheit).
Uddevalla's 'favorite son' is legendary Swedish Wold Motocross Champion Hakan Andersson, the 1973 250 World Motocross Champion. You'll see some photos below of him back 'in the day'. He's still part of the Uddevalla Club! You can view Hakan's video interview with Amanda on her blog space. There was also a go-kart race on Friday, which you'll see a few photos of. Along with a lot of other photos showing just a taste of Sweden on a Friday and Saturday too!
Thanks to Pascal H and "Matt' Lalloz - Scott Goggles celebrated their 50th year in operation, with a special limited editing goggle that will not be available anywhere else! We were invited, and we have the new goggles! (Josh Coppins and Seb Pourcel helped introduce the goggles as well : )
The photos below that you can click on right now: a big overview of the entire circuit before any spectators arrived, Amanda interviewing former 250cc World Motocross Champion Hakan Andersson, Amanda next to a very cool painted VM Motocross (Swedish for World Championship Motocross), four black and white photos from the Uddevalla Club celebrating Hakan's history, Anna modeling the latest limited edition Scott goggles, Amanda doing her TV job during the go kart race, 250 Heat winner on Saturday Antonio Cairoli 222, Cairoli's bike in the pits, Josh Coppins 6 cornering, Josh being interviewed about the new limited edition Scott Goggles, the great hillside viewing area where people can site and picnic and watch almost the entire circuit in the shade of the trees, Ken de Dycker 9 cornering in Saturday practice, de Dycker trying his hand at karting, the sign that greets everyone as they enter the Uddevalla race circuit, a field and farmhouse right down the road from the track, a lake and trees and flowers close by the race track, two shots of the rock and tree hillside that serves as a natural spectating area (which should be very packed come Sunday's big race), the line up for the go karting on Friday, a pack of GP riders karting, the winner, and then Amanda talking with the winner of the karting, two more shots of lakes and trees near the race circuit, another shot of the natural amphitheater for the spectators, Max Nagl, David Philippaerts 19 cornering in practice on Saturday, part of the pit lane, press conference on Saturday with Tommy Searle, Tony Cairoli and Steve Ramon, Seb Pourcel checking out the new Scott Goggles, two photos of Steve Ramon 11 on Saturday, Tyla Rattray 4, two photos of Tommy Searle 2, Shaun Simpson in practice, sound checks and decibel levels are taken very serious at FIM races, our friend from Sweden who wore a real Swedish flag bikini!, and a sign marking the way toward the race circuit.
On Sunday, there was rain, the but track itself, sand-based, was in perfect condition for motocross. In the MX1 class, it was KTM rider Jon Barragan with the second GP win of the season, and the second GP win of his career. Second overall went to Steve Ramon, and series points leader David Philippaerts took third overall. Josh Coppins had a somewhat off day. The next event is in two weeks at a new circuit in South Africa.
In the MX2 class, it was Antonio Cairoli winning on the number 222 Yamaha. Second overall went to Tyla Rattray, who retains his series points lead. Third place went to Shaun Simpson.
The bottom rows of photos should show you action from today's actual race, including two shots of number 7 Jon Barragan, two shots of Tony Cairoli, Champagne Time on the podium, Josh Coppins 6 twice, two shots of the Swedish crowd up on the high ledges to see all the action, MX1 podium, MX2 podium, World Motocrosss Champion Steve Ramon, Jon Barragan over the finish line jump, three shots of MX2 points leader Tyla Rattray, Tommy Searle 2, KTM mounted Shaun Simpson, what I think was the top finisher from Sweden in MX2, and Tony Cairoli's girlfriend (Jill) showing off the gold!
You'll need the latest version of QuickTime to watch these movies (Courtesy Youthstream). You can get it here at this link for free for Mac or PC - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
Here is MX2 winner Tony Cairoli talking about his win, MX1 winner Jon Barragan talking about his win, and MX1 Series points leader talking about his day - all with b-roll action!
This is a short video on some of the action on Saturday - you do need a high-speed connection to watch the video's properly.
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