Leok goes top five at new circuit
 Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tanel Leok took fifth position overall at the
Grand Prix of Great Britain on Sunday, the young Estonian riding the
factory KX450F-SR went 6-4 to score 33 points which fulfils his goal of
another top five in the sports most demanding category, the premier MX1
class. High temperatures and a big crowd made the Matterley Basin
circuit near Winchester a colourful spectacle for the eight round of
the fifteen race world motocross championship, the circuit was lined
with flag waving, air-horn wielding fans.
The Matterley Basin, an impressive new venue prepared with the
Motocross Of Nations in mind planned for mid September, was sun-baked
hard and despite watering between motos soon turned dusty. The valley
setting gave all around viewing for the many man made jumps, banked
berms and whoop section, the pace was very fast and there was no time
to back off the throttle. Leok suffered from poor starts but still
managed to end his opening lap well within the top ten. In race one
despite early promise Tanel lost ground to championship rival, Belgian
Kevin Strijbos, the air are fighting over second position in the
championship standing but Tanel was struggling to get grip and drive
and lost positions in the process. The outcome of race two looked even
more promising from the end of lap four as the Kawasaki ace moved to
third position after a braking bump caught out Everts and he fell. Now
in third position, Tanel as so focused on catching Strijbos he failed
to hear Everts catching him and was caught unawares as he landed from a
jump, forced wide he ended up fighting to maintain his speed with
severe arm pump.
Kawasaki test rider Bas Verhoeven made two very
poor starts I his two 35 minute plus two lap outings, a small crash in
race one saw him circulating at the back of the field until being
lapped double race winner Everts. Now able to see new lines he followed
in Everts wheel tracks and knocked five second per lap off his time to
confirm his capabilities to ride the big 450cc four stroke Kawasaki at
speed. Struggling mid pack for the better part of race two, Bas, a
former multi Dutch Champion managed to find a good turn of speed by his
own accord and came through to salvage one points for his hard fought
efforts.
Quotes :
Tanel Leok “I was really struggling to put
together a fast lap in qualification, every time I went for a quick one
either someone was in my way or a made a small mistake, I posted 6th
fastest in lap 8 of 11, I wasn’t too sure what to expect here, it’s a
new circuit and no one has raced here before, in fact they were still
building the jumps when I arrived. It was quite loose on top in places
but hard and slippery beneath the surface making it hard to get good
drive. It was very dusty I places and they should have watered better I
think, some places I couldn’t see anything. In race one I was just
inside of the top ten, I didn’t make a good drop at the gate, I held
onto 7th position but lost ground to Strijbos, I was getting a lot of
wheel spin and hitting the dust berms to keep up my corner speed,
inside lines would have been too slippery. I finished 6th but I know I
could do better.”
Leok “I was fighting with the guys up front in
race two, I was battling with arm pump but Everts fell and I moved to
third position, I was focused on catching and passing Strijbos in
second place, he’s now ahead of me in the championship and I wanted to
get by him. I was so intend on attacking that I forgot to defend and
Everts caught me up and passed me as we landed over the finish table
top jump, he took me wide and I was in the loose dirt almost hitting
the fence. I was back to 4th position, the arm pump didn’t go away and
I just tried to ride with it, I could see Ramon had been passed by both
Everts and Strijbos but I could just catch him in time. I know that I
had a lot more speed but it wasn’t safe to go for it as my arms were so
tight, I think it was nerves as I was trying so hard to catch Strijbos
but of course that’s why Everts caught and passed me.”
Bas
Verhoeven “I took 26th position in qualification, no that good but
enough to qualify, my fastest lap was slower in the first half but I
really managed to pick up the pace after the intermediate timing point.
I made a very bad start and caught up I the pack I went backwards
unable to see the lines and generally messing things up. I made a small
crash which knocked my rhythm but towards the end of the race I was
lapped by Stefan Everts, that was the best thing that could happen at
that time, he showed me new lines and I stuck with his rear wheel and
my lap times improved by five seconds per lap. In race two I was riding
too defensive and started going backwards and slipped out of the top
twenty, I was circulating at the back of the field but without getting
lapped I managed to improve my lap times by a couple of second and went
on to finish 20th at least scoring one point.”
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