STRIJBOS AND RMZ450 PODIUM
 Team Suzuki's Kevin Strijbos walked the podium with runner-up position
in the MX1 class at a sunny Bellpuig circuit for the Grand Prix of
Spain and the second round of 15 in the 2007 FIM Motocross World
Championship.
The Belgian, with his RM-Z450, obtained his
standing with second and third places in two motos held in front of a
22,000 crowd. Team mate Steve Ramon was frustrated to take ninth
overall after a weekend marked by extremely contrasting weather.
The
Bellpuig circuit was victim to harsh conditions with unrelenting rain
forcing the practice and qualification schedule to be cancelled on
Saturday. Race day dawned equally grey and soggy and the two Belgians
tentatively circulated the soaked course with Ramon taking third and
Strijbos fifth positions respectively after a hurried 40 minute timed
session.
From 11am onwards the sunshine started to breakthrough;
so much so that the Grand Prix motos themselves were held in
temperatures touching 20 degrees and the spectators around the Spanish
inclines began to peel away the clothing layers. The climatic
improvement dried the course significantly but the water from the
previous days meant that it became very rough, with many deep ruts,
which pushed the riders more towards a solid single fast racing line.
Neither
Strijbos nor Ramon gained starts that enabled them to challenge double
moto winner Josh Coppins: Strijbos moved into second spot by the fourth
lap of the first race and then spent the next 14 circulations keeping a
several-second margin over Ramon. The latter struggled with a small
engine problem that meant he had to use his second machine for the next
moto.
Ramon was luckless from the beginning as he gated poorly
and also crashed on the step-ups on the first lap. He worked his way
back to 15th but was angry and disappointed to concede valuable
championship points to Coppins. “The first moto was pretty good with
regards to my start and the riding but the engine of the bike wasn't
running as normal. It was difficult to ride because of the deep ruts
and it was hard to pass, even to get close to Kevin, but third was
okay,” the former World Champion commented. “I then had to use the
second bike and it was different. My start wasn't great and somebody
crashed in front of me on the step-up. It was a really bad second moto
for me and I cannot afford to give points away like that if I want the
Championship.”
Strijbos meanwhile also had to work hard to rally
from dodgy start that saw him down in 12th on the first lap. He fought
hard to pass Sebastien Pourcel and Billy Mackenzie to climb the ranking
in the final minutes and capture a well-earned third for his first
spray of podium champagne this season. His result is also the second
top-three result in a row for the Belgian team and the RM-Z450.
“Today
was good,” he remarked in the post-race press conference. “My knee is
feeling much better now. I am starting to find my speed and race
fitness and expect more improvement next week. I had a bad start in
that second moto which meant that I had to push hard. Second overall is
a good result but I want to win and I will do everything that it takes
next week,” he added.
After two rounds, Strijbos trails leader Coppins by 19 points. Ramon is fifth and 34 points adrift of the leader.
Beursfoon
Suzuki rider Erik Eggens gave the RM-Z250 its highest World
Championship finish to date with an excellent third spot in the first
MX2 moto. The Dutchman could not complete the second moto and therefore
ended ninth overall.
Team Suzuki now remain within the Iberian
Peninsula and will begin to head east towards Porto and the town of
Agueda for the Grand Prix of Portugal next weekend.
MX1 Moto1: 1 Joshua COPPINS (NZL) YAMAHA 39:57.248, 2 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL) SUZUKI 40:17.131, 3 Steve RAMON (BEL) SUZUKI 40:18.683,
4 Jonathan BARRAGAN (ESP) KTM 40:18.973, 5 Maximilian NAGL (GER) KTM
40:41.518, 6 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL) HONDA 40:46.859, 7 Kornel NEMETH (HUN)
SUZUKI 40:47.150, 8 David PHILIPPAERTS (ITA) KTM 41:04.680, 9 Tanel
LEOK (EST) KAWASAKI 41:09.771, 10 James NOBLE (GBR) HONDA 41:10.676.
MX1 Moto2: 1 COPPINS 40:24.251, 2 NAGL 40:36.736, 3 STRIJBOS 40:39.703,
4 Sebastien POURCEL (FRA) KAWASAKI 40:42.620, 5 Billy MACKENZIE (GBR)
KAWASAKI 40:46.408, 6 BARRAGAN 40:54.814, 7 LEOK:07.362, 8 PHILIPPAERTS
41:12.034, 9 DE DYCKER 41:16.143, 10 Marc DE REUVER (NED) YAMAHA
41:18.513. 15 42:00.808. 15 RAMON.
MX1 Overall: 1 COPPINS 50, 2 STRIJBOS 42, 3 NAGL 38, 4 BARRAGAN 33, 5 POURCEL 28, 6 DE DYCKER 27, 7 LEOK 26, 8 PHILIPPAERTS 26, 9 RAMON 26, 10 DE REUVER 18.
MX1 World Championship Standings (after 2 of 15 rounds): 1 COPPINS 97, 2 STRIJBOS 78, 3 BARRAGAN 74, 4 NAGL 63, 5 RAMON 63.
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