Strijbos on Turkey – raising his game

Kevin Strijbos was the sole representative for the JWR Yamaha Racing outfit at the penultimate round of the 2019 FIM Motocross World Championship, the Grand Prix of Turkey, and delivered great results once again. The event at the Afyonkarahisar circuit was held in front of 25,000 fans.

The Turkish fixture got off to a brilliant result for Strijbos, as he qualified eighth on Saturday and secured a positive position on the starting line. The intense temperatures fazed some competitors in the first points-paying moto on Sunday, but Strijbos moved up from twelfth on lap one to eleventh at the end. The second moto was even more impressive. Twelfth was where he started once again and he progressed to ninth by the end of the thirty-minute stint. Ninth was also the position that he occupied in the overall classification.

Kevin Strijbos will now head to China for the final round of the 2019 FIM Motocross World Championship, where he will attempt to improve on his current ranking of twenty-first in the premier-class standings. A new circuit in Shanghai will play host to the fixture.

Kevin Strijbos: “Another good weekend here in Turkey. I felt good on Saturday with an eighth in qualification. In the first moto on Sunday I had a bad start but could turn inside on the first corner and came out about seventh, I think. I lost some spots as I made small mistakes and was a bit too careful on the track.

“Once I started to get in my rhythm, I showed good speed and closed the gap with the top ten but did not have any laps left to make a move. In the second moto I got a good start and rode the whole moto pretty good to finish ninth for ninth overall. I am just happy with my speed and riding at the moment.”

Words and pic: JWR Yamaha