World Championship winning motocross team Grand Prix Kawasaki Racing have decided to release MX1 rider Kevin Strijbos two races prior to the end of the 2008 GP season.
It’s been a troublesome and difficult season for MX1 title contender Kevin Strijbos as the Grand Prix Kawasaki Racing team rider struggled to get race fit after being plagued with injury after injury. This has left him unmotivated and struggling to get back to race winning pace despite the best efforts of both the GPKR and KRT teams who have worked together to provide him with GP-winning machinery.
After missing much of the pre-season training and testing period with an injured shoulder Kevin went into the first two GPs suffering with a lack of race fitness. Then after undergoing some surgery he sat on the sidelines for most of the mid-season before attempting to make a race comeback in August. After making an unsatisfactory return to world championship competition at the Irish GP, the fully-focussed GPKR team and the decidedly unmotivated Strijbos have decided to part ways rather than continue racing with less than satisfying results.
"We’re sorry to have experienced an injury-ridden season with Kevin,” said Kawasaki’s European Race Planning Manager Steve Guttridge. “Having had off-season injuries that restricted his training potential before the first round at Valkenswaard, Kevin struggled with confidence and bike set-up. He then injured his hand during practice at round two of the series in Spain and this spelt an early end to his season before it had really begun.
“You can now see that in the MX1 class the level of competition has been raised so high that any one of 10 riders can win a Grand Prix, it is fair to say that if Kevin was fit he could be one of those riders but unfortunately that is now not the case as he remained unmotivated despite the very best combined efforts of Kawasaki’s factory MX1 teams – GPKR and KRT. Kevin has been unable to turn his season around and with that in mind we prefer to end Kevin’s racing activities now before any negative feelings arise between the parties involved.”
GPKR team manager Patrick Gelade:
“We were really happy to start the collaboration with Kevin as the initial tests in Japan last October showed us how professional he was and that brought high hopes for the team and for the 2008 season. Unfortunately we soon had to face different injuries and our high hopes of success turned into big disillusions. However, we wish Kevin the best for his future and hope he can prove his value in another team.”
More information: kawasaki-racingteam.eu
