While the Circuit de Motocros de Catalunya in Spain is renowned for its hard pack natural terrain circuit and warm and sunny skies, that simply was not the case on Sunday, April 20, 2008 as the second round of 2008 World Motocross Championship held at the Spanish venue was nothing short of a sloppy, rain lashed mud bath. And which is the norm in such radical weather conditions, results become erratic and wildly inconsistent. With the rains pouring down and the Bellpuig track — located in the province of Lleida, 130 kilometers North West of Barcelona — the circuit quickly melted into a chocolate mess and the event turned into a free for all. In fact so nasty were the conditions that the second MX1 moto was cancelled — certainly a very good thing for Teka Suzuki rider Steve Ramon, who won the opening moto by 35 seconds over David Philippaerts. Ken De Dycker was third, while Josh Coppins fought bravely to finish fourth ahead of Tanel Leok.

“Actually yesterday we already felt good, but I have been riding in the sand so I had to get used to hard pack again,” said Ramon of the first MX1 Grand win of his career. “I felt comfortable on the bike, but then the rain started and it was different. In the first moto I had a good start and was second and taking it easy, but then Barragan made a mistake and I got the lead, but I was really thinking hard, because it was so hard to win the moto. I am happy to take the win for sure. I can't take it easy as Ken also rode well, so it is still close in the championship. I am happy with second place at the moment. It is a long season and I want to be there at every Grand Prix. I look forward to Portugal now. This is a strange win with the second moto cancelled, but it was best for the riders. If you see just the start straight with all the water it was just too dangerous. I feel good. I have been working hard the last couple of weeks. We as riders decided not to start, it was a risk to race because you can make good points or lose a lot of points.”

In the opening MX2 moto, KTM’s Tyla Rattray continued his winning ways, sloshing his way to an “easy” moto win over rival Antonio Cairoli. Rattray won the moto by over a minute! Davide Guaneri, Stephend Sword , Jeremy Tarroux, Manuel Monni,, Nicolas Aubin, Marvin Masquin, Shaun Simpson and Tommy Searle, who came back from a dreadful start, rounded out the top 10. The second MX2 moto was a beautiful mess, it all starting with a crash Tommy Seale caused in the first corner. Tyla Rattray, who ran at the front for a spell, eventually dropped out of the race, while Cairoli floundered around back in 10th. With two laps remaining, the race organizers mercifully threw the checkered flag, giving the Grand Prix win to Davide Guarneri.

“I was surprised today,” he commented after the race. “I crashed last week and hurt my ligaments and my doctor told me I might not be able to ride this Grand Prix. I had some injections, but I was able to race. The conditions were a lot of mud. I tried to ride easy, because it was so difficult and easy to make a mistake. For sure I want to stay with the top riders for every race. I know for the championship it is hard to continue in the top three. I want to race up front as much as possible, maybe top five in each Grand Prix.”

Two rounds into the 2008 World Motocross Championship, Tyla Rattray leads the MX2 classification with 79 points. Antonio Cairoli is second with 76 points, Davide Guarneri is third with 61pts and Tommy Searle is fourth with 60.

Ken De Dycker leads the MX1 class with 70 points, followed by Steve Ramon (63 points), David Philippaerts (55 points) and Josh Coppins (47 points).