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Suzuki ready for Valkenswaard!

Suzuki ready for Valkenswaard!

Team Suzuki Press Office – March 24.

After a two-week hiatus the FIM MXGP Motocross World Championship motors back to speed with the Grand Prix of Europe and round three of the series delving into the shallow sand of Valkenswaard in Holland.

Easter eggs will have to remain unwrapped until the teams and riders of the premier MXGP class, MX2 and EMX250 and EMX300 European Championship categories, along with the second round of seven for the WMX (FIM Women’s World Championship) have disputed points and silverware at the venue south of Eindhoven and on holiday Monday.

Team Suzuki World MXGP and World MX2 squads (Jeremy Seewer joined by Bas Vaessen for the Dutch youngster’s first race in anger on the RM-Z250 this year and the opening appointment of 10 in EMX250; the feeder class into Grand Prix) will make the relatively short journey across the border from their Lommel HQ to the Eurocircuit and a staple site on the MXGP calendar.

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Bumpy, fast and tricky – as well as prone to fluctuations in weather – Valkenswaard is a familiar but still demanding prospect for the Grand Prix stars and is known to generations of riders and fans after first staging a world championship event in the mid-1970s.

Stefan Everts’ MXGP duo of Ben Townley and Kevin Strijbos come into the race with similar conservative agendas with watchwords of ‘improvement’ and ‘consistency’ at the fore. Townley may have taken pole position and finished a superb runner-up in the second moto in Thailand three weeks ago but the New Zealander knows all about the nuances of racing on sand while Strijbos is looking to build on frustrating top-10 finishes in the first two rounds and find an effective feeling and race rhythm. The Belgian has been racking-up the kilometres to hone the set-up of his RM-Z450 and is overdue a ‘date’ with the Eurocircuit after missing the 2015 edition of the European Grand Prix through injury. He sprayed champagne from third position overall in 2014.

“We have done a lot of hours on the bike,” he said. “The first grands prix did not go fantastically and we know we need to improve but I think we have made a step. The main thing was with the engine and the power delivery. I have a better feeling now for sure.

“I don’t want to say ‘our season starts now’ because the aim is just to show improvement on what we managed in the first races,” he added. “I’m not interested in having that pressure of going for the top-five or the podium and the team is not asking that either. It would be nice however!”

Valkenswaard caught out many athletes last year with hard terrain and small, sharp bumps that the consensus of the riding fraternity believed were caused by the volume of sessions in the sand across the Grand Prix weekend. “I didn’t ride [at Valkenswaard] last year because of the injury but I watched and saw some videos and those bumps looked difficult,” Strijbos says. “It really isn’t the Valkenswaard we remember from 10 years ago. Personally I think we have too many riders on the track…but that’s the way it is.”

Townley is quietly anticipating a memorable return to the Eurocircuit. The 30 year old exploded onto the international stage as a fresh-faced teenager in 2002 with his first podium finish in second place and later celebrated victory at Valkenswaard. “I love Valkenswaard and always seemed to have good results there,” he said. “Quite a few Brits tend to come over and watch and they’re pretty vocal! Being the first European round of the season I think there’ll be a high turnout and a good atmosphere.

“It has been great having these three weeks to get back into the sand,” #‘8’ added. “It is quite an extreme form of racing and I hadn’t done much practice over the winter so we’ve been putting in the hours and testing and testing.

“I want to get a full weekend of motos. We haven’t quite ticked every box across a Grand Prix so far and after talking with Stefan this is one of the things we’d like to do in Holland. I have to be realistic; those guys will be physically ready to go in the sand and I’ll just have to compete as hard as I can.”

Jeremy Seewer takes his RM-Z250 to Holland currently sitting second in the world in MX2 and with the confidence-boosting knowledge that his last Grand Prix run resulted in his first trophy of the season. Thailand had been one of the Swiss’ hardest rounds of the 2015 campaign and Seewer reversed his results and fortune to take second overall at Suphan Buri. The 21 year old was 17th at Valkenswaard in 2014, sixth last year; and hopes to continue his trend of betterment.

“Last year Valkenswaard was one of my hardest Grands Prix,” he says. “The track was so bumpy from so many riders and it was difficult to handle. My preparation was also perhaps not the best and I know I have improved this much more for this season. I’ve been riding a lot in the sand since we came back from Thailand and also improving the bike’s setting. Getting the bike ready for sand is not that easy because every track and surface can feel different. It is not like hard-pack where you can get a general base.”

Seewer knows he now has to look at lofty targets and has identified consistent podium contention as one of parameters for 2016. His rate of progress would almost necessitate this scale. “It’s true a little bit,” he concurs. “This is my third year in GPs, and second as a Pro so although I am not old I have done a few races and I’m getting more and more confident. My goal is to keep being at the front and I’m happy with what we have done in the first two Grands Prix. I’m in a good place and I need to keep it going and see if I can do even better.”

Seewer will have Bas Vaessen next to him in the awning this weekend. The Dutchman reached a point in his first season in 2015 where he was pushing up with the leaders of the EMX250 class and also made his GP debut. He is now expected to be one of the protagonists for 2016.

Like so many in their country most of the Team Suzuki staff were shocked by recent events in the Belgian capital this week. For a moment it brought the focus of their work and goals into perspective. The group continue to strive, however, and General Manager Stefan Everts explains how the time was used between Thailand and what will be an undoubtedly emotional weekend of sport. “The run-up to this weekend was different from the last couple of years because of what happened in Brussels,” ‘S72’ says. “It has been predominate throughout the week and has been in the news constantly. The Grand Prix will be different. But we still worked very hard the last two weeks and tested so much. Yamaguchi-san from Japan has joined us and he really brought us along further. His knowledge about the bikes has given the guys that extra step that they were looking for. We have improved the RM-Z450, especially in power. I even jumped back on the bike to feel the changes for myself. The whole team has worked so hard the last two weeks and I just have to thank them all. They really came together and showed what they are capable of. I’m certain that the improvements will be a positive mental step for Ben and Kevin towards this weekend. So I’m looking forward to this GP, the first European one, with the full team set-up; the full crew. I’m hoping the work we did will pay off.”

A long-term weather forecast for Sunday and Monday predict cloudy and showery conditions.