Mikkel Haarup had a long time to wait since the MXoN last year to race at the elite level again, but the talented Dane did himself and the 450 Triumph proud with a holeshot in race one and coming from mid-pack in race two for 11th overall with 10-14 scores to show great potential in a staked class.
Haarup said of his day: “Holeshot, first moto, awesome. I actually felt great all morning as well, improved a lot during time practice and was in the top 10. So I was really happy with that and surprised myself a little bit because I always feel a little rusty on the first couple rounds, especially in the time practice.
“But yeah, then pulling a holeshot, being out front with the guys was great. Yeah, they passed me, but I enjoyed myself a lot. And then a little further back in the second moto, had some great battles, got actually going pretty well, made a small mistake, just rode it home.
On the bike itself, Haarup says he has made no major changes from he first got on the machine: “To be honest, I’ve been feeling really good. Like you saw with the whole shot, the power is great. We’ve had to adjust some things through the months that we’ve been practicing and trying to improve on small details, which is normal for a bike like this. But I think we showed ourselves to be very competitive. And yeah, I’m really proud of the whole team.
It’s been nothing major. It’s just been fine details. I mean, there’s been small changes to pull rods and linkage and stuff like that. Details that we find throughout time, like what can we improve on chess, stuff like that. But overall, we haven’t done anything crazy at all. I’ve just been spinning laps and getting feedback. And that’s it.”
Get the full interview with the friendly Dane below:
