Van Doninck and Ostlund OUT at Kemea for 2018!
In a recent interview with Marnicq Bervoerts who is team manager of the Kemea Yamaha team, he revealed to us that Brent Van Doninck and Alvin Ostlund won’t be part of the Kemea Yamaha setup in 2018.
Regarding Van Doninck, Bervoerts had the following to say, “this is the third year we are working together and every time he has to come back again from injury. After coming back the speed is not there anymore so it’s really difficult for us to make this decision.
It was a really hard and difficult decision but I think for him and for the team it’s better that we split because I think he needs some new brand or a new start somewhere else. I think if we go again next year together that after two Grand Prix’s it will be the same problem. I think he needs new blood as we say and that’s why we didn’t go any further”.
It remains to be seen where the young Belgian will head for the 2018 season but you have to remember he is a talented rider. He currently sits tenth in the MX2 World Championship and considering the set backs he’s had it’s still be a solid season. If he can put the injuries behind him we could certainly see more of the Belgian at the front, he was in good form at the USGP as he finished ninth overall so hopefully he can build on that.
As for Ostlund, Bervoerts has confirmed he will stay with a Yamaha team in the paddock, “It’s so difficult to say but I think that the speed was not good enough to go with the good riders. Yamaha have made the decision to put him in another team, in a support team. Maybe he needs one more years’ experience and then maybe he could come back to us on the factory bike.”
The team the Swedish rider is expected to join up with is the Yamaha SM Action – Mc Migliori Racing Team who currently have Simone Furlotti battling for the EMX250 title but it’s thought Ostlund will race the MX2 World Championship with them in 2018. It remains to be seen if he will contest the oversea rounds of the series.
Bervoerts also confirmed that Benoit Paturel could end up staying with Yamaha in 2018 too for his rookie MXGP season. “The problem is I think that at the beginning of the season that Yamaha wanted to open the contract and make a deal with him for MXGP. But, he didn’t want to do it, he wanted to be free for 2018. It was a little bit gambling from his side, you know suddenly Yamaha already had four riders signed up for the MXGP class and they didn’t want to have a fifth rider so it left him without a seat at Yamaha. Now after the victory he did in Switzerland, Yamaha wants to maybe do something for him and still try to find a solution for him to have a bike in MXGP.”
During the interview Bervoerts also confirmed that Kemea will have a third rider in 2018 alongside Jago Geerts and Vsevolod Brylyakov. It hasn’t been announced yet but we do know that Ben Watson has got an offer from the team!
