Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tanel Leok and Manuel Priem battle it out in the worst conditions imaginable at round two of the MX1 World Championship at Bellpuig in Spain.
In dangerously deep conditions Tanel Leok and Manuel Priem powered their factory Kawasaki KX450F-SRs to points paying positions during round two of the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championships at Bellpuig in Spain. With conditions being so bad due to the amount of standing water on the track, racing ends early as the MX1 riders collectively decide it’s just too dangerous to contemplate racing a second moto in the mud and ruts.
After qualifying fifth just over one second slower than pole sitter Sebastien Pourcel in very different dry conditions on Saturday afternoon Tanel Leok’s hopes were high of a good result even after the rains fell. Gating inside the top five, Leok made a mistake, which meant the Estonian Express had to battle hard to carve back through the pack.
“The start was okay but in the second corner I hit a hay bale and got stuck a little bit,” explained Tanel. “I ended the first lap in seventh and moved up to fourth on the second lap but I made a mistake on the uphill and I crashed and then got up and crashed again and hurt my bad shoulder a little bit. The conditions were a little bit dangerous because you could not see what was underneath the water. I finally finished fifth so I’m happy with that and I feel like I was riding quite well.”
Priem also didn’t get the best of starts and had to fight through the pack on his way to precious World Championship points. “On the start straight conditions were so bad I only got halfway before I could see nothing,” claimed Manuel. “I think I started more or less last and at the end of the first lap I was already 15th because so many guys crashed. I took one uphill on the second lap and Aigar Leok was stuck on the inside and Sebastien Pourcel had crashed on the outside so I took the middle and I got stuck in the ruts. From there I just rode at my own pace and I finished 15th.
“Racing today was a little bit like Poker, you either pick a good card or you pick a bad card – it was all about luck. My mechanic Rene said my lap times were good so I’m happy with that and now I must look toward Portugal where I had my best results last season.”
Today’s results mean both KRT riders now sit in the top-10 of the World Championship series standings with Priem eighth and Leok 10th. The next round of the MX1 World Championship will take place at Agueda in Portugal on April 27.
With the development of the KX450F-SR being number one priority for Kawasaki’s factory MX1 motocross teams – Kawasaki Racing Team and Grand Prix Kawasaki Racing – will begin to work closely together to ensure the maximum amount of technical information and feedback can be shared back and forth between the two teams. Belgian GPKR rider Kevin Strijbos will be the first beneficiary of this combined team effort.
“After Valkenswaard we wanted to see improvements in our MX1 results,” said Steve Guttridge, Kawasaki’s European Race Planning Manager. “Both factory MX1 teams – GPKR and KRT – will work together to give our riders the best package possible to improve their overall confidence. I’m sure better results will follow.”
