Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tanel Leok suffered his most disappointing day of the 2006 World Motocross Championship so far, the Belgian based Estonian was taken out in his opening race at the Citadelle circuit in Namur on Sunday, badly bruised after a race one crash he struggled to come to terms with the demanding hillside circuit at his ‘home GP’. Unfamiliar with the race lines he finished 11th in race two with a total points accumulation of only ten points, he has now slipped to fifth position in the classific.
Leok posted second fastest time in Time Qualification on Saturday, pole position went to race favourite Stefan Everts, posting a lap time of 2:31.721 Leok was just two hundreds of a second off Everts with a lap speed of 58.30kmph. His race one crash caught the twenty year old by surprise, the Italian rider Beggi forced him wide on the opening lap at the bottom of the steep circuit, Leok went into the straw bales where he tangled and picked up the track side marker banner, this rapped itself around the rear wheel bringing Leok’s factory Kawasaki KX450-SR machine to abrupt stop pitching him over the handlebars. The crash causing heavy bruising to his upper thighs and twisting his ‘good’ shoulder, it badly twisted bike his race machine and he was unable to continue.
A mechanical failure was to impede Bas Verhoeven in race one also, the former Dutch Champion who qualified in 28th position after a similar incident saw him running back to the paddock for his second machine. After the DNF he recovered in race two coming back from a poor start, starting from the extremes of the starting gate to clash bars in the confusion and chaos of lap one he came around in 16th position and moved up to 13th by half distance. Leok made a good start in race two, choosing to start in gate two he kept tight to the inside and was circulating in 5th position at the end of lap one, feeling unsure of the circuit having only completing one previous lap he was lacking the confidence to push harder and slipped to 7th before a mistake cost him eleven positions, he restarted again in 19th place.
Picking up his pace and determined to salvage something from a frustration weekend, Leok quickly picked off Beggi, Coulin, Pyrhonen to come on the rear wheel of team mate Verhoeven, the two Kawasaki battled for a lap before Leok moved ahead and eventually passed Theybers with two laps remaining. Despite his hearty efforts and the failure of Ken DeDycker to score points on race two, the lanky Belgian moved to 4th in the championship relegating Leok to 5th place trailing DeDycker by seven points, 365 to 372.
Tanel Leok “I posted second position in qualification near the end of the session, Everts was just a fraction in front of me, I was surprised how fast the track was, it was too fast really and I thought they might try to slow it down but they left it. I had the choice of gate positions I took the inside and came out in tenth position, the pace was fast and another rider hit me, I think it was Beggi, I bounced off him and then in the corner some other riders forced me into the straw bales, I tangled with the banners and then the bike spat me off and I hurt my thighs going over the bars. It was a heavy fall, it took me some time to pick myself up, I was hurting and the bike was a little twisted up, I tried to ride but it was no good and I was forced to retire.”
“I was unsure about race two, I tried to look at the lines for race two in between the motos, I hadn’t even done a single race lap and I knew the circuit would have changed a lot. I started inside next to Evers, he had gate one and I was in two, I turned back at turn one and tucked up the inside coming around in 5th position. I wasn’t feeling comfortable on the bike, I was tight and slipped back unsure what was in the track ahead of me. I made a big mistake on lap five or six and fell off losing eleven places, I was very annoyed with myself and started to push hard, I was riding much better in the second half of the race, I passed several riders including Bas and finished 11th. I was disappointed with the overall day especially losing 4th position in the rankings to DeDycker. I will be working very hard in the next few weeks to prepare for Northern Ireland and the two remaining races after that.”
Bas Verhoeven “Both of the early free practice session on Saturday went ok for me, I was able to post 14th fastest time in both of the sessions but in the timed session I had a small mechanical problem which stopped the bike and I had to run back to the paddock and complete the rest of the session on my second machine. I thought I had a fast lap in already but it was too early and someone went faster, I eventually qualified in 28th position. Race one was a difficult start, I had to come right from the far left of the gate but I was fighting for 14th position for two laps before the bike stopped, it was frustrating but I could do nothing. For race two the track had changed a little and |I was unsure where the race lines where, I started in mid pack but came back to 16th buy the end of lap one, I kept pushing and moved to 14th ahead of Tanel but then in the last few laps I lost ground struggling to hold on with arm pump.”
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