2000 and 2008 - Two titles
The World MX2 (125cc) championship of years gone by have often produced classic action and major rivalries. Names like Gaston Rahier, Harry Everts, Dave Strijbos, Alessio Chiodi Sebastien Tortelli, Grant Langston, Ben Townley, or Antonio Cairoli have had to deal with tough competition and on-track stress. For Tyla Rattray that tough competition came in the form of Tommy Searle.
There had been times during the 2008 World MX2 championship that I felt I was I was in a time warp. The battle between Red Bull KTM riders Rattray of South African, Searle of England and Antonio Cairoli reminded me of a championship gone past.
I have followed the World Motocross championship for my work now for around 20 years. Every now and then you come across a year that sticks out in your mind as a classic.
The MX1 championship had lacked that in many years with the domination of Stefan Everts, or to some extent Joel Smets domination of the 500cc class and Mickael Pichons two years of domination in the 250cc class.
For some reason though the 08 MX2 championship racks up good battled, like the war between Cairoli and Christophe Pourcel in 2006, or the fights between Ratters and Tommy Gun.
When I decided to do a story on the 08 MX2 championship I looked back on championships gone by and suddenly noticed a huge similarity with the World 125cc championship of 2000. It was a year when a young kid by the name of Grant Langston (like Rattray a South African), James Dobb (like Searle a British rider) and Mike Brown.
The 2000 championship was full of controversy, bitter rivalry on the circuit and magnificent racing. At times Langston, Dobb and Brown were locked together on the track, so close that you could have covered them with a blanket.
Langston and Dobb rode for KTM, while Brown was on a less powerful Honda machine. Just like 2008 Langston and Dobb moved away from Brown when Brown got a 0-0 score, similar to that of Cairoli who lost contact with Rattray and Searle after going 0-0 in South Africa.
Unlike Rattray and Searle the two KTM warhorses from 2000 didn?t get on, in fact you could have even said that Langston and Dobb hated eachother with a passion. Near fist fights, fingers pointed and pit board wars were daily routine.
While Tommy Searle might have been told to take out Antonio Cairoli in Sweden in 08 (so it said on his pit board), all the Langston camp had to do to get the South African fired up was to put the name Dobb on the pit board and Langston found another couple of seconds in speed.
That 2000 season started with James Dobb winning his first ever Grand Prix, it was in Bellpuig, Spain and Dobber was looking to start the season on fire. His 2-3 results meant he didn?t dominate, but he did look very strong.
The 08 series of course started with Rattray dominating, showing no mercy for defending champion Cairoli who finished second, while Searle had problems and finished off the podium.
What was interesting is that Dobb won his second Grand Prix at the sixth round of the series in Foxhills, England, while Searle (who is managed by Dobb) won his second ever Grand Prix at the GP of Bulgaria, which was round four of the series, Searle actually had a great chance to win his third GP at the sixth round of the series in Mallory Park, England, but was taken out by Cairoli and missed out, Rattray won the GP with 43pts and Searle was second with 42pts.
While the bitter rivalry was between Langston and Dobb in 2000, this years bitter rivalry was between Cairoli and Searle. In 2000 Langston and Dobb crashed into eachother on more than one occasion and nearly came to blows at the Grand Prix of Belgium, held at the Spa circuit, while Cairoli and Searle have spend more than the odd corner dodging eachother.
That pair nearly came to blows at the Grand Prix of Great Britain at Mallory Park, funnely enough both facilites are road racing complexes. We mentioned Mike Brown in the 2000 series.
The veteran racer was under the guidance of British Motocross legend Dave Thorpe and rode what many people felt was a very slow Honda, at least in comparison with the super fast KTM?s of Langston and Dobb.
Brown had won one Grand Prix early in the year, winning in Croatia, although he struggled when the going got rough in the sand. His bike just lacked power and the KTM riders totally dominated him there.
Slowly but surely Brown lost contact with Langston and Dobb, just as Cairoli did this year. Brown scored just eight points at the GP of San Marino and from that moment on he didn?t figure in points battle.
As for Cairoli he lost out in that fatal day in South Africa when he injured his knee, so from round ten on it was just two men, both on KTM who would fight for the end of season gold.
In another amazing point with a five rounds remaining in the 2000 championship Langston lead Dobb by 21 points, which is the exact lead Rattray had over Searle with five rounds remaining.
Of course the South African Langston went on to win the championship by 74pts, while Rattrays victory was a little closer. Finally winning the title in the first moto of the last Grand Prix of the season.
Source: http://www.mxlarge.com/news/1827-2000-and-2008-two-titles