Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tanel Leok suffered a frustrating weekend at the Grand Prix of Sweden on Sunday, the twenty year old Estonian slipped from a podium finishing position in race one to fifth position after suffering the effects of racing under a blazing hot sun and high temperatures sapped his strength as he battled to stay in contention for the prestigious MX1 World Motocross Championship title.
Tanel was looking very confident in the early part of race one, for fourteen of the twenty two lap race he held a strong third position and was fighting to move forward but in the closing stages he started to feel the effect of the heat and slipped back, first losing 3rd to Josh Coppins and then on the penultimate lap 4th to Ramon. An unexpected DNF mid way through race two, his first of the season, added to his wows, a rock thrown up from another competitor’s rear wheel smashed the engine cases and let oil leak out, Leok had no other option but to retire while in 6th position. Rivals Stefan Everts and Kevin Strijbos pulled points on Leok as the season enters its second half, Steve Ramon took a podium position which saw him gain points on the Kawasaki ace as the pair now lie in joint third position in the championship.
The Uddevalla circuit some 100 kilometers north of Gothenburg had undergone a major revamp in recent months, a complete new lay out with many new jumps and whoops created some interest and with the circuit now run in reverse it was a refreshing if not unusual change to the traditional home of the Swedish GP. A better than expected crowd of 23,000 spectators (weekend figure) basked under a blazing hot blue sky which in turn was responsible for some duct clouds in parts of the circuit.
Former Dutch Champion Bas Verhoeven struggled in qualification, as team mate Leok secured 4th fastest time with a lap of 1:42.452 Bas just missed out on selection finishing 31st and was forced to sit out the opening 35 minute plus two lap moto on Sunday as he was positioned as first reserve. With several riders failing to start race two, Bas was assure a ride but having missed race one the circuit was completely new to him as it had started to cut up with many faces of the jumps showing deep ruts. A first turn clash with several riders being taken down involved Bas but he was able to dust himself off and restart but from back in last position. Riding the alien circuit he was struggling until being passed by the Belgian Ken De Dycker, Bas tucked in behind him and started to increase speed, his lap time were consistent with those battling in the top five and while he made up ground it was not enough to get back into a points scoring position. He finished 24th.
Tanel Leok:“I made a small crash in the very beginning of the qualification session, the bike was left all twisted and the handlebars were bent so I had to use the second race bike, I was happy with fourth position, I had some faster laps but just when you think you have it in the bag someone either falls off in front of you or you come up to a slower rider who’s cruising around on the race line. In race one I made a good start and was up in the top three, things looked promising and was I hoping to make headway and try to catch Barragan but he came stronger in the closing laps. I was third for the most of the race and then I started to ride tight and feel tired, I don’t know why, it was hot but it was the same for everyone. In race two I started feeling very relaxed, I pulled through in the early laps from tenth to just outside of the top five but the guys were right in front of me, Everts had gone down but I could see him two bikes in front. Mid race I could feel that the bike had lost power and then I could see smoke coming from the engine, a stone had been blasted up into the engine and broke the cylinder head cover I think, with oil leaking out I had no other option to retire, the bike could have seized had I continued.”
Bas Verhoeven:“My lap times weren’t up to speed in qualification, there was a couple of times I thought that I had a good flying lap in but then something went wrong or someone got in my way and I missed out. I new that I would get a ride because the track was very rough and the speeds were fast, someone was bound to retire either from a crash or fatigue. I went out to watch the line in race one, it’s not the same as racing and I knew that by the time the second MX2 race had been run the track would be badly rutted and very rough. I didn’t count on being taken down at the first turn, I was annoyed but it is always chaos with bike rubbing up against each other and handlebars clashing. The dust was so bad I have no idea who went down first, I jus ended up o the ground in a pile of riders and machinery. It was a uphill struggle from there and I latched on to De Dycker after I was lapped, I saw his line and my laps speed increased and by lap time were much better from then until the end of the race.”
Tanel Leok, Team Manager Jan De Groot leave for South Africa in less than ten days time for round ten of the fifteen round world series, the South African Grand Prix will be staged at Sun City for the last time before moving to Durban next year.
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