HARD RACES FOR TEKA SUZUKI AT LOKET
 It
was a tough day at the races for Teka Suzuki WMX1's Steve
Ramon and Ken de Dycker who battled hard to place fifth and
sixth overall at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic - the 12th
round of the 15-round MX1 Motocross World Championship - in
front of over 28,000 race fans.
The fast and hardpack nature of the Loket circuit always
makes overtaking difficult and both Ramon and De Dycker made
things extra hard on themselves by not getting the best of
starts in either motos.
Running sixth in moto one, Ramon, the reigning MX1 World
Champion got stuck in the heavy roost of Josh Coppins for
far too long and actually lost a position to David Philippaerts
during that time before making a safe, clean pass to move
ahead of Coppins on lap 16.
Desperate to not let Philippaerts pull too far away and retake
the series lead that Ramon had worked so hard to get, he doggedly
chased the Italian Yamaha rider - a battle which would see
them both pass Sebastien Pourcel - and would finally finish
fourth meaning the scores were level between the pair in the
MX1 World Championship standings going in to moto two.
But while Philippaerts holeshot the second encounter and
was never headed, Ramon had to put his head down and pull
through the pack after getting snarled up in some turn one
chaos. Battling through even heavier roost in the second race
that deeply cut the champ's upper lip and badly bruised his
torso and biceps, Ramon was able to methodically move from
outside the top 10 to fourth on a circuit that many riders
claimed was difficult if not almost impossible to pass on.
Although losing the championship lead back to Philippaerts,
Ramon is confident of championship success going into the
final three races of the season and sits just a mere seven
points behind the current leader with races in Ireland, Holland
and Italy left to run.
"This was a difficult race for me as Loket is not my
favourite track so I'm actually pretty happy with my results,"
said Ramon.
"The start is really important here because it's not
so easy to pass unless you are much quicker. My start in race
one was okay and I was riding well but I spent too long sat
behind Josh and it cost me a lot of energy trying to get by
him. In the end I was able to pass him with about eight laps
to go then I found myself right on the tail of Pourcel on
the last lap. We were two corners from the finish and I was
on the inside and I knew Philippaerts was in front of me and
that I needed to make the pass so I kept the throttle on and
made it happen - it wasn't a block pass though, it was a good
fair pass.
"The start in race two wasn't good and I had to push
hard in the beginning. I started getting a little bit tired
in my legs in the middle part of the moto but I had to keep
pushing hard. To finish fourth twice on this track is good
because I knew this would be a difficult GP for me. There
are now only three rounds left now - it is going to be tough
but I will try my best!"
While De Dycker struggled to make much of an impression in
moto one - starting 10th and only moving to eighth - his progress
through the battling pack in moto two was meteoric. Starting
outside the top 10 after getting stuck in turn one it was
a classic De Dycker display of how to outsmart the competition
from there on for the duration of the second race. Moving
to third position - ahead of Ramon - on lap 15, he then powered
after Pourcel with his Teka Suzuki WMX1 team-mate in tow but
ran out of time before he was able to pass the Frenchman.
"The track was much better for me today with more ruts,
more bumps and more lines. It was still important to get a
good start because it was difficult to make up time and to
pass here also," he explained.
"In race one I didn't get such a good start and then
I wasn't riding so well. I wasn't able to turn and my speed
wasn't there but the second moto was much better - I was much
better and more aggressive. I was behind Steve for a long
time in moto two and I felt faster but I found it difficult
to pass him. There were many times when I was close and I
could have gone for it but I may have made contact and I obviously
didn't want that to happen - it wouldn't have been good for
anyone involved. Eventually I was able to get by and then
catch up with the guys in front - I would have got Pourcel
but I ran out of time.
"Overall today wasn't too bad even though I am disappointed
not to get on the podium. I'm now looking forward to the next
few races where the tracks will be heavier and more technical
so I can recapture the points I lost today."
The MX1 World Championship series will now take a two-week
break before resuming with the Grand Prix of Ireland held
at the brand-new Fairyhouse circuit near Dublin.
MX1 Moto 1: 1 Max Nagl (KTM - GER) 39:38.255,
2 Jonathan Barragan (KTM - ESP) +0:08.690, 3 David Philippaerts
(Yamaha - ITA) +0:16:171, 4 Steve Ramon (Suzuki - BEL) +0:19.210,
5 Sebastien Pourcel (Kawasaki - FRA) +0:20:225, 6 Tanel Leok
(Kawasaki - EST) +0:20.798, 7 Josh Coppins (Yamaha - NZL)
+0:23:086, 8 Ken De Dycker (Suzuki - BEL) +0:24.745, 9 Clement
Desalle (Suzuki - BEL) +0:37.346, 10 Kornel Nemeth (KTM -
HUN) +0:50.532.
MX1 Moto 2: 1 David Philippaerts (Yamaha
- ITA) 40:18.466, 2 Sebastien Pourcel (Kawasaki - FRA) +0:04.986,
3 Ken De Dycker (Suzuki - BEL) +0:06.206, 4 Steve Ramon (Suzuki
- BEL) +0:10.184, 5 Jonathan Barragan (KTM - ESP) +0:14.943,
6 Tanel Leok (Kawasaki - EST) +0:17.849, 7 Manuel Priem (Kawasaki
- BEL) +0:24.837, 8 Clement Desalle (Suzuki - BEL) +0:31.930,
9 Max Nagl (KTM - GER) +0:39.030, 10 Josh Coppins (Yamaha
- NZL) +0:51.460.
World Championship standings (after 12 of 15 rounds):
1 David Philippaerts (Yamaha - ITA) 405 points, 2 Steve Ramon
(Suzuki - BEL) 398, 3 Josh Coppins (Yamaha - NZL) 370, 4 Jonathan
Barragan (KTM - ESP) 369, 5 Ken De Dycker (Suzuki - BEL) 369,
6 Sebastien Pourcel (Kawasaki - FRA) 344, 7 Max Nagl (KTM
- GER) 327, 8 Tanel Leok (Kawasaki - EST) 275, 9 Billy MacKenzie
(Honda - GB) 257, 10 Marc De Reuver (Honda - NED) 224
Manufacturer World Championship standings (after 12
of 15 rounds): 1 Yamaha 471 points, 2 Suzuki 457,
3 KTM 452, 4 Kawasaki 420, 5 Honda 362, 6 TM 32, 7 Aprilia
12.
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