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More Photos from the 2001 Motocross des Nations

Published April 20th, 2001

Photos by Mr. Fernando Bianco

The French team won the 55th edition of the Motocross des Nations in Namur on the last Sunday in September. It was the first-ever victory for France. The Belgian and New Zealand teams finished second and third. The French team of Luigi Seguy, David Vuillemin and Yves Demaria had a historical day in a historical place!

The Citadelle track is located on the top of a hill over looking the town of Namur. The name of the track comes from what’s on the very top of the hill – the Citadelle, which is a castle-like fortification built centuries ago.

The French team was considered by many as a ‘B’ team without 250 World Champion Mickael Pichon and SZbastien Tortelli, but the three selected riders proved themselves very capable. They didn’t win any individual motos, but they did strong races with Seguy (thirteenth after a bad start and fifteenth after two crashes), Vuillemin (third and fourth despite bad starts) and Demaria (fifth and third). All of them were motivated for this race: Seguy had to verify his choice from the French team manager as other names were on the list to race the 125 class, Vuillemin had to race with a different bike set-up as his mechanic was stuck in the USA, and Demaria had to prove that he is one of the best riders of the GP series.

Stefan Everts of the Belgian team got the best possible individual result on his favorite track, winning both motos he raced. Steve Ramon did great in the 125 class, placing his Kawasaki tenth and eighth and winning the 125 class. Unfortunately, Joel Smets had a terrible day – ‘one of the most difficult days of my career’ he said, as he had technical problems with his bike. He went off the track in the first race with brake problems, and then on the last lap the engine went out. In his second moto he crashed with another rider, lost his radiator cap and had to stop twice in the pits.

Third place went to New Zealand with consistent races from Hurley, Coppins and King. Australia could of been on the podium but Michael Byrne broke his wrist in the first race. Chad Reed won the second moto but was involved in a crash at the start of the last one.

The USA team of Mike Brown, Kevin Windham, and Ricky Carmichael were not able to attend because of 9/11 security concerns.

Overall standings

1. France (Seguy, Vuillemin, Demaria) 28 points

2. Belgium (Ramon, Smets, Everts) 37

3. New Zealand (Hurley, Coppins, King) 47

4. Great Britain (Sword, Nunn, Nicoll) 56

5. Germany (Kanstinger, Beirer, Eckenbach) 57

6. Australia (Byrne, Reed, McFarlane) 73

7. Sweden (Johansson, Karlsson, Lindhe) 73

8. Portugal (Goncalves, Rodrigues, Goncalves) 80

9. South Africa (Swanepoel, Hunt, Dugmore) 90

10. Finland (Pyrhonen, Vehvilainen, Aaltonen) 94

11. Estonia 99

12. Czech Republic 104

13. Slovenia 109

14. Ireland 113

15. Netherlands 113

16. Spain 115

17. Italy 116

18. Latvia 125

19. Denmark 130

20. Switzerland 149

Special Thanks to Valentin & Christophe Guinberteau, MX2K.com, Fernando Bianco, Filippo Ceccucci, DORNA, & Pascal Haudiquert

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