STRIJBOS 3RD ON AGUEDA GATE
 Team
Suzuki's Kevin Strijbos sealed third position with the works
RM-Z450 under blue skies and warm Portuguese sun on the first
day of action at Agueda for the Grand Prix of Portugal and
the third round of the 2007 FIM MX1 World Championship.
The balmy conditions lit a well-prepped and grippy course,
located in the town east of Aviero, and a spectacular thunderstorm
Friday evening gave the terrain an extra softening before
the arrival of spring sunshine. It was fair compensation to
the MX1 class riders who had seen practice and qualification
cancelled last week at a rain-hit Spanish GP.
Strijbos altered some gearing settings through the day and
Ramon needed to switch engines after the first session. Both
riders entered the 30 minute Timed Practice fairly confident
after enjoying what was a tiring but enjoyable layout.
Strijbos, who had suffered a small crash earlier in the day,
posted a lap-time to lie second for most of the period but
was eventually bumped down to third when Tanel Leok secured
his second successive pole position in the last minute. Ramon
had a tougher time. The Belgian was frustrated in his attempts
to forge a clean flying lap; either through making small mistakes
or finding slower riders in his path. The former World Champion
rested tenth but only 1.2 seconds from Leok in a very tight
classification.
Kevin Strijbos:
"Third is ok. I had a good feeling in the first practice
but had a small crash in the second and I lost my rhythm for
a little while. In the Timed Practice things went well and
my lap-times were consistent. I am just looking forward to
making a good start and going for it tomorrow. The track is
good; it is not too hard so you can switch some lines and
try some ideas."
Steve Ramon:
"After the first practice we had to change the engine
but things were fine in the second. My riding was good but
in qualification I could not get that one lap without any
mistakes or finding someone who had fallen in front of me.
I am not so happy with 10th but I know I can go quickly; it
was just a matter of missing out on that important lap because
of traffic."
MX1 Timed Practice: 1 Tanel LEOK (EST) KAWASAKI
1:46.867, 2 Sebastien POURCEL (FRA) KAWASAKI 1:47.044, 3 Kevin
STRIJBOS (BEL) SUZUKI 1:47.131, 4 Joshua COPPINS (NZL) YAMAHA
1:47.386, 5 James NOBLE (GBR) HONDA 1:47.413, 6 Billy MACKENZIE
(GBR) KAWASAKI 1:47.591, 7 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL) HONDA 1:47.728,
8 Marc DE REUVER (NED) YAMAHA 1:47.839, 9 Jonathan BARRAGAN
(ESP) KTM 1:48.008, 10 Steve RAMON (BEL) SUZUKI 1:48.086.
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