Highs and Lows - Agueda, Portugal

Highs

Great weather - It took 3 GPs but for thefirst time all seasonwe got a chance to see who had the speed on a dry track.

Cairoli – Tony took his first wins of the season and proved that he has lost none of his speed controlling both races despite pressure from Searle, Rattray. Still not feeling the best Cairoli stated that by Bulgaria comes around he will be off the antibiotics and even faster!

Philippaerts - After two great rides and his first GP moto win of the season David is leading the world championship series for the first time in his life! Will the pressure get to him? Its hard to say but right now Philippaerts looks fast and more importantly consistent, maybe he is putting his experience and lesson he learnt form Jobe and Everts in previous year into action!

Coppins – The tough kiwi grabbed a podium that wasn’t his, despite admittedly not being on the pace of the leaders no one can run 40 minute motos with the consistency of the Josh and his dogged determination pulled him through yet again to 3rd on the podium and now 3rd in the championship.

Nunn – Carl Nunn finally showed some life in 2008! A great start on his Suso Suzuki put him in 2nd place in the 2nd moto and Nunn fought with the factory buys tooth and nail for a hard earned 7th place and 10th overall, maybe Carl will find the confidence to ride to his potential for the rest of the year now.

Sword – What a comeback form Scot Stephen Sword, A brilliant 4thand 5th after a podium in Spain has got hisGP challenge off to a great start a little more speed is needed to run with the top 3 for the whole race but his start to the season has been phenomenal given his previous 2 years and we can only see Sword getting faster as the year goes on. A GP win is not out of the question.

Pourcel – Sebastian Pourcel was just flying all weekend combined with a great style Pourcel sped to an impressive GP win proving that when its fry there are not to many people on his pace unfortunately his opening 2 GPs were dismal and he only managed 5 points other wise he would be further up than 8th in the championship but after last season nothing is impossible.

 

 

Lows

Barr – Martin Barr never made it to Portugal after injuring himself in Spain. Unfortunately this track would have suited the Ballyclare rider with soil similar to that of Desertmartin, with time on his side we wish Martin well in his recovery and hope that he can come out firing with the speed he had at the start of the year.

Billy Mac – This should have been in the highs as Billy was only a few laps away from his maiden GP moto win of the year and his first podium, but instead a small mistake had huge consequence and Billy could only manage 6th after fending off Barragan. But Mackenzie is still riding great and is in the hunt for the championship maybe all his mistake are out of the way for the rest of the season…

 

Ramon – the World Champion had his worst day of the season that was compounded by a terrible last moto that saw him go from leading and possibly winning the moto to fading back to 4th place after Josh Coppins block passed him in the last corner of the last lap. This meant he fell form 3rd overall to 5th and lost valuable points to Coppins and Philippaerts in the series. Ramon hung his head dejectedly after the crossing the line so maybe he will be fired up for Bulgaria or maybe it will be more of the same in the heat there.

De Dycker – Ken had a terrible day after a 14th in moto 1 after going down on the first lap. Ken nursing an injured back had more of the same in moto 2 but was unable to finish. As a result he lost the red plate and dropped to 5th in the standings!

By: Jonathan McCready, Photos: Paul McCready