Team Suzuki maintained its streak of podium results with the RM-Z450 as Steve Ramon raced to third position – and up to third in the series - and Kevin Strijbos sixth at a warm Sun City in South Africa today; the ninth time Suzuki colours have been seen on the rostrum this season.
The 10th round of the FIM Motocross World Championships was attended by a crowd of 25,300 in the depths of winter-time at the luxurious holiday resort 180km away from Johannesburg. Bright sunshine blessed the day’s action in which Ramon and Strijbos set off from second and fourth in the gate.
The Sun City terrain was holding up well under the punishment of the 450 four-stroke machines and remained soft and rough, especially in comparison to previous editions of the event. The layout was technical in terms of the jump sections, a special sandy set of corners and several elevation changes.
Ramon circulated inside the top three from the opening lap of moto1. Josh Coppins won the race into the first corner but was soon demoted by a looming Stefan Everts who escaped for his 16th moto win in succession.
Ramon briefly held onto the back of Coppins in second but the leaders were soon running alone with sizeable margins between the positions. It was Ramon’s sixth top-three finish of the year. His sixth overall podium was confirmed when the front runners re-enacted the first moto later in the day. On this occasion the former 125cc World Champion was able to hurry Coppins to a close finish and even managed to get past his Honda rival briefly.
Strijbos could only take ninth position in the first moto after a crash while fourth dropped him down the order and then he hit the deck again when Jonathan Barragan had brake trouble and could not avoid colliding with the Suzuki. Picking his bike up again, Strijbos was still able to rescue 12 points. After lunch, another mistake meant that he trawled through to fifth and then hit a wall trying to overtake Tanel Leok for fourth. He finished fifth and scooped sixth in the final classification.
Ramon has moved up from fourth to third in the World Championship standings which means that Suzuki now hold the top two positions behind Stefan Everts as well as second place in the Constructors table.
Team Suzuki have crated up the factory machines and will head back to their Belgian base. Round 11 is only two weeks away and will take place at the Loket circuit for the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic; the site of Kevin Strijbos’s and the RM-Z450’s first victory in 2005.
Steve Ramon:“My physical condition was good this weekend and I am happy with my speed. In the second moto I pushed hard to pass Josh and got him twice but he overtook me again. I dropped my speed but tried to catch him again near the end. I closed the gap and I knew there was one place around the back that I could move through but the backmarkers pretty much messed up my plan. I went for second place but finally I am third again.”
Kevin Strijbos:“It was a bad day. I made a mistake in the first heat after the rhythm section and got going again in tenth position but on the next lap Barragan took me out. I could not restart the bike and another rider hit me. It was a totally forgettable race. I made another error in the second moto and then got stuck behind Leok. I have not been able to train this week because of the leg cramps and I wonder if this played a part. I think I had the speed today but the crashes ruined the motos. When I had to restart I was using a lot of energy and this meant I was less effective later on. The good news is that my leg was not really hurting but I will keep on taking medication and look forward to a week off now.”
MX1 Moto1: 1 Stefan Everts, (Bel) Yamaha 39:49.835,
2 Joshua Coppins, (Nzl) Honda 39:55.390,
3 Steve Ramon, (Bel) Suzuki 40:01.544,
4 Tanel Leok, (Est) Kawasaki 40:09.380,
5 Ken De Dycker, (Bel) Honda 40:11.548,
6 Cedric Melotte, (Bel) Yamaha 40:43.141,
7 Pascal Leuret, (Fra) Honda 40:52.171,
8 Manuel Priem, (Bel) Yamaha 40:54.758,
9 Kevin Strijbos, (Bel) Suzuki 41:01.621,
10 Julien Bill, (Sui) Yamaha 41:17.389
MX1 Moto2: 1 Stefan Everts, (Bel) Yamaha 40:19.139,
2 Joshua Coppins, (Nzl) Honda 40:23.730,
3 Steve Ramon, (Bel) Suzuki 40:28.354,
4 Tanel Leok, (Est) Kawasaki 40:56.690,
5 Kevin Strijbos, (Bel) Suzuki 40:59.869,
6 Jonathan Barragan, (Spa) Ktm 41:44.862,
7 Ken De Dycker, (Bel) Honda 41:52.066
8 Pascal Leuret, (Fra) Honda 41:56.439,
9 Antti Pyrhonen, (Fin) Tm 41:58.712,
10 Julien Bill, (Sui) Yamaha 41:59.676
MX1 Overall: 1 Stefan Everts (Bel) Yamaha 50,
2 Joshua Coppins (Nzl) Honda 44,
3 Steve Ramon (Bel) Suzuki 40,
4 Tanel Leok (Est) Kawasaki 36,
5 Ken De Dycker (Bel) Honda 30,
6 Kevin Strijbos (Bel) Suzuki 28,
7 Pascal Leuret (Fra) Honda 27,
8 Jonathan Barragan (Spa) Ktm 23,
9 Antti Pyrhonen (Fin) Tm 22,
10 Julien Bill (Sui) Yamaha 22
MX1 World Championship Points (after 10 of 15 rounds):1 Everts 492,
2 Strijbos 356,
3 Ramon 334,
4 Leok 330,
5 De Dycker 322,
6 Barragan 235,
7 Leuret 186,
8 Melotte 172,
9 Garcia Vico 172,
10 Priem 168.
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