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French Riders Win Mud Chaos
European 125 Motocross Championship, Orehova Vas (Slovenia), Round 2, 13.06.04
The second meeting of the MX3 World/European 125 Championship was nearly wiped out by heavy rain and riders threatening to strike.

French riders Yves Demaria and Pierre Alexandre Renet came out on top of an event-filled Slovenian round.

Track conditions were ugly on Sunday morning, and things only got worse from there, both on and off the track.

The 125 riders agreed to race half a lap in the first moto before stopping at the signal area. That didn´t exactly happen though, as suddenly a race was underway again. One rider re-started and the rest followed like sheeps. The win in the bizarre mud battle went to Renet aboard his Yamaha.

In the meantime the MX3 field didn´t want a race, either. But finally an agreement was made with the organisers to cut out three corners of the usually beautiful Orehova track. The start of the moto had to be delayed by 90 minutes.

The race itself saw a 1-2 finish for Jacky Martens´ KTM riders Yves Demaria and Sven Breugelmans.

The following second 125 moto was overshadowed by a mal-functioning start gate (due to the mud). A second attempt went through Ok.

Renet displayed brilliant mud riding skills once more and took maximum points.

The closing MX3 heat more or less went along without major problems. Italy´s Cristian Beggi took victory from Demaria and Trampas Parker. Demaria won the overall from Beggi and Breugelmans.

Then after the race the jury announced that the top six bikes would be checked for correct capacity. That happened after the parc ferme had already been opened and the machines taken back to the teams.

For home rider Saso Kragelj, who hails from Orehova Vas, his 4-4 finish was satisfying, although a collision with Breugelmans might have costed him second overall. Due to the weather the Slovenian couldn´t fulfill his plans to ride both classes on Sunday.

125cc
Moto 1

1. Pierre Alexandre Renet , FRA, Yamaha
2. Matti Seistola, FIN, Honda
3. Tom de Belder, BEL, Honda
4. Jonatan Banken, BEL, Yamaha
5. Loic Leonce, FRA, Kawasaki
6. Matteo Bonini, ITA, KTM
7. Alessandro Cinelli, ITA, Honda
8. Gunter Schmidinger, AUT, Honda
9. Frederic Weigert, BEL, Yamaha
10. Patrick Walther, SUI, KTM
11. Dennis Verbruggen, BEL, Yamaha
12. Frederic Sandouly, FRA, Yamaha
13. Aurelien Grelier, FRA, Kawasaki
14. Marcus Norlen, SWE, KTM
15. Rob van Vijfeijken, NEL, Yamaha

Moto 2

1. Renet
2. Alex Salvini, ITA, Yamaha
3. Christophe Pourcel, FRA, Kawasaki
4. Banken
5. Cinelli
6. Seistola
7. de Belder
8. Norlen
9. Marcus Schiffer, GER, Yamaha
10. van Vijfeijken
11. Michel Votroubek, CZE, Yamaha
12. Manuel Chittaro, GER, Kawasaki
13. Bonini
14. Leonce
15. Tommy Lehmusvirta, FIN, Yamaha

Point Standings

1. Cinelli 80
2. Seistola 68
3. Salvini 62
4. Renet 61
5. de Belder 44
6. Pourcel 43
7. Roberto Lombrici, ITA, Yamaha 41
8. Bonini 36
9. Banken 36
10. Jukka Pirinen, FIN, Honda 31

Qualifying on Saturday in MX3 had seen Demaria claim pole from Estonia´s Juss Lanssoo and Kragelj.

Group A in the 125 division was taken by Matti Seistola, with Christophe Pourcel and Manuel Chittaro next.

Group B belonged to Jukka Pirinen, also from Finland. Kragelj and another Finn, Tommi Lehmusvirta, rounded out the top three.