Flat track tyres, an almost motocross track, two and four-stroke single cylinders and legends battling it out: the Champions Charity Race organized by Eicma was a spectacle. Here we tell you everything you missed, between the nostalgic tears of the challenge between Capirossi and Melandri, the innocence of Troy Bayliss and the wonder of an event that gave Casey Stoner back the desire to compete smiling, despite a fall
In the end the Champions Charity Race reserved for legends was a success: organized by Eicma for charity, the flat track race that brought together historic champions of on-track and off-road motorcycling took place on a crisp and sunny Saturday afternoon, with the public filling the stands of the track built for the occasion in the exhibition space Motolive, on the outskirts of Milan. A tournament divided into two groups, that of the six track players (Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Carlos Checa, Troy Bayliss, Randy Mamola and Casey Stoner) and the same number of off-roaders (Stefan Everts, Marco Belli, Cristophe Pourcel, Alessio Chiodi, Alex Puzar, Joel Smets). In each group three direct elimination duels (with only one repechage) defined the seminal and final matches of the two draws, respectively won by a majestic Troy Bayliss and an unplayable Cristophe Pourcel (MX2 champion in 2006). Troy and Cristophe eventually faced each other in the final – the King Charity Race, structured in the same way as the previous elimination phases, with the drivers involved in two heats of two laps each, with reversed starting blocks – which crowned the Frenchman, winner with a four-second advantage over the Australian legend (despite a heavy smudge on one crest at the very last step).
Overall result aside, however, the event shone thanks to several memorable moments: Capirossi and Stoner with the two-strokes (Casey to be precise riding a Beta RX 350) who smoked nostalgically when exiting the corners, Mamola almost sixty-five years old who like a boy – with his iconic red and linear helmet – got involved without making a bad impression (he was eliminated by Stoner in the first round for just three seconds), Troy Bayliss with amusement in his eyes and the innocent smile of someone who just wanted to go around and enjoy it, almost unaware of the dynamics of a competition in which he was the absolute protagonist, Andrea Dovizioso on the track who – specially dressed in civilian clothes – made fun of his old colleagues.
The eyes of the public were covered with a glossy patina right from the start, when Capirossi and Melandri challenged each other in the first roundwhile Guido Meda’s commentary flowed from the speakers (flanked by Edoardo Vercellesi and Mauro Sanchini) and Rho Fieramilano suddenly seemed like the Mugello of a few years ago. Marco won and laughed into his helmet when he saw it Capirex who, on the opposite side of the track, risked a sensational highside in the last meters in order to recover the disadvantage. Then, while in the off-roaders’ group Everts was stopped in the semi-final by Pourcel and Puzar by Smets, Melandri took part in another vintage match with Bayliss and the same thing happened to Stoner with Checa. In the first seminal Troy prevailed with a few tenths of advantage over the Ravenna, in the following race Casey and Carlos fired up the crowd at the Motolive Arena in Eicma: the number 27 won the first heat with a six-tenths margin over the Spaniard, but squandered the advantage in the second heat, when his arms were screaming with fatigue (only in the last three weeks, despite the well-known chronic fatigue syndrome from which he suffers, has Casey been able to physically prepare for the event) and his Beta flagged on the first lap, before finally dumping one of the clearest talents motorcycling has ever known to the ground a few meters from the finish line. Not bad: Casey Stoner took off his helmet and greeted the Milanese public with the smile of someone who is back to having fun, doing what he does best.
While the determination of Carlos Checa could do nothing against the fluidity of Troy Bayliss in the track final, among the off-roaders (on a track that, as it wore out, filled with stones, canals and humidity, transforming into something more similar to motocross) Pourcel scored record laps (the only one to go below thirty-six seconds per lap) to get rid of Smets. In the Kings’ final, Troy shook his head at Pourcel’s power, but on the podium he regained the conviction that there should be many more of Saturdays like this – spent with old friends and doses of pure motorcycling.
