RAMON CONFIDENT AFTER CZECH QUALIFYING
Team Teka Suzuki WMX1's Steve Ramon enters the 12th round
of the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship at Loket in the
Czech Republic tomorrow confident that he can increase his
points lead in the series after qualifying fifth in today's
timed session on his factory RM-Z450.
The 1.58 kilometre Loket circuit was dry, fast and slippery
for the 30-minute qualification session with relatively few
bumps or ruts forming which meant times were tight between
the leading MX1 contenders.
Despite not riding during the week, as he recovered physically
from the previous weekend's tortuous sand race at Lommel in
Belgium, reigning MX1 World Champion Ramon soon found the
quick way around the hardpack Loket circuit. Fast throughout
the two free practice sessions and then the official qualification
period too, his fastest lap placed him fifth which gives him
a good gate pick and great confidence going into tomorrow's
points-paying races.
"This track is completely different to how Lommel was
last week and I haven't been practicing with the bike during
the week so it took a little bit of time to get used to riding
this circuit," said Ramon. "My riding was going
okay though and I enjoyed riding today even though it was
quite difficult with many stones making the turns slippery
and there were not so many ruts in the corners. The track
is quite smooth at the moment and so a lot of riders are able
to go quite fast on it - the start will be very important
here.
"Timed qualification went quite well for me and the
difference between myself and the fastest rider was not so
much. I'm looking forward to racing tomorrow. I hope to get
good starts, to ride well and to keep the red plate."
Ken De Dycker finished ninth in the qualification session
on his factory RM-Z450 but is also confident he can perform
better in tomorrow's races as the currently smooth circuit
gets rougher and more technical. After making gearing changes
to his factory Suzuki to improve acceleration both out of
the gate and up the many hills the Loket circuit offers, De
Dycker feels ready to decrease the lead between himself and
the current series leaders.
"The track is quite hard and slippery with all the stones
but there aren't so many bumps or ruts and it's actually quite
easy - it's the same for everyone and I know it will be better
tomorrow as it gets rougher and that's the main thing,"
said Ken.
"The qualifying session went okay for me. I tried many
times to put in a fast lap but with the track being so slippery
I found it hard to make a perfect lap. I finished the session
ninth which is okay and I'm not too worried because the times
are quite tight.
"Ideally I'd like to get good starts tomorrow but it
won't really matter because I'm confident I'll be able to
pass here quite easily. My main aim tomorrow is to take even
more points from the riders in front of me in the championship
- if I do that I'll be happy."
While the track's slick going may change the way in which
the riders can attack the circuit's corners the highly versatile
factory RM-Z450 needs very few changes from its base settings
for this kind of race as Team Teka Suzuki WMX1's General Manager
Sylvain Geboers explained.
"We class the circuit conditions at this race as hard/
medium-hard and Steve is on the standard settings we have
for this type of race," said Geboers. "In qualifying
Steve decided to use his spare bike which has the same settings
as his race bike but offers a little bit more top-end power
which he preferred on this circuit.
"For Ken we have moved to a different gear ratio as
his higher overall body weight means a shorter gear ratio
helps him on this track which is quite demanding on the uphills.
It works well for him and it will help him on the start also
which will be very important tomorrow because we can already
see that it's difficult to pass on this circuit."
The Loket circuit should offer a similar challenge for tomorrow's
race as the weather is forecast to be much the same as today
- overcast with sunny spells and temperature expected to be
around 23 degrees Celsius.
MX1 Timed Practice: 1 Billy MacKenzie (Honda - GB) 1:47:227,
2 Tanel Leok (Kawasaki - EST) 1:47:639, 3 Sebastien Pourcel
(Kawasaki - FRA) 1:47:757, 4 Josh Coppins (Yamaha - NZL) 1:47:985,
5 Steve Ramon (Suzuki - BEL) 1:48:096, 6 Clement Desalle (Suzuki
- BEL) 1:48:128, 7 Steve Boniface (Honda - FRA) 1:48:399,
8 Max Nagl (KTM - GER) 1:48:489, 9 Ken De Dycker (Suzuki -
BEL) 1:48:492, 10 Manuel Priem (Kawasaki - BEL) 1:48:679.
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