A tough home GP for Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha
The second round of the MXGP World Championship took place at Valkenswaard which is a special race for the Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing team as it’s the teams home GP. With a lot of rain in the Netherlands heading into the weekend, it saw Valkenswaard with very soft sand which made conditions very difficult and rough.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way the team or riders would have liked at the weekend. Bike problems for both Alessandro Lupino and Calvin Vlaanderen meant they didn’t finish a moto and as a result picked up no championship points.
The positive is that both riders showed they had the speed for top fifteen result, but it just wasn’t meant to be on the day with brutal conditions.
As for Thomas Covington, the American didn’t have a good feeling with the track on Saturday and together with the team it was decided that it would be best to sit out on race day. Covington will put in more hours on the bike to prepare for the future rounds of MXGP.
Alessandro Lupino: I am disappointed about the GP because it didn’t go well. I struggled a lot on Saturday to have a good feeling on the bike to push. I know for me that sand is a little bit harder, but I’ve never seen Valkenswaard like that, it was really tough and heavy. It didn’t go how I wanted and on Sunday I knew starts would be important. In the first moto we had an issue with the start device, it didn’t come off. At the end of the first lap I had to stop in pitlane, and the mechanic took it off. When I restarted, I was already lapped so I decided to stop and focus on the second moto. I was riding good in the second moto and was eighth on the first lap but we had an issue with the bike. I’m sorry for the team and for the sponsors but this is Motocross. I’m 100% sure that the good results will come soon, I feel good on the bike, so I think we’ll have our good times at the next races.
Calvin Vlaanderen: The home GP was a tough one. I felt I had a good feeling on the track and with the bike and was confident I could ride top 15 both races which was my goal. Unfortunately, the races didn’t go as we wanted them to with having bike issues. But we take some positives out of it and we move on to Argentina in 2 weeks.
Words: Gebben Yamaha
Pic: Eric Laurijssen
