Steve Ramon on a roll!
Flanders MX Trophy
Tongeren, May 4th 2008

SUZUKI WORKS RIDER STEVE RAMON PROVED TO BE THE FASTEST IN TODAY’S FLANDERS MX TROPHY IN TONGEREN-BERG, BELGIUM . THE RIDER FROM WEST-FLANDERS  WON THE OVERALL AHEAD OF TEAM-MATE KEN DE DYCKER AND SPANIARD JONATHAN BARRAGAN.

It wasn’t an easy victory in the first heat for Ramon. Although he took the holeshot and would lead from flag to flag.  The World Champion was continuously pressured by a very eager Max Nagl. De Dycker made a very strong back from tenth to third after yet another bad start.

It was a surprisingly strong Clément Desalle who headed the field during two laps, but De Dycker moved from third into the lead in almost no time. A position he would keep for the rest of the race. Ramon ended up third ahead of Barragan, Priem and Nagl.

With De Dycker, Barragan and Ramon in front the final heat seemed set to become a thriller. Barragan and De Dycker were duelling it out but when the Spaniard tried to block pass De Dycker it was Ramon who benefited and took both frontrunners by surprise.  “The Bomb” soon made the break and neither Barragan nor De Dycker was able to retaliate.

Post Race Reactions:
Steve Ramon: “The track proved to be very treacherous, despite the way it looked this morning. The soil is soft and that meant that bumps formed during the course of the day. Especially in the opening stages of the third heat the pace was very high. I’m really glad that I have won that heat because it means me physical condition is quite good. I could see the block pass between Barragan and De Dycker come, luckily I had anticipated it and was able to benefit from it.

Ken De Dycker: “The start of my first race was really awful and I had to dig deep to end up third. The second heat was better as a took the lead fairly quick and from ther on I was in control. I suffered from a sore thumb all day long, but that’s just no excuse. Steve proved to be a lot better today.

Max Nagl: “This is a natural track like we are used to in Germany, but you don’t see it in the GP’s anymore. The bumps made it super important to find the right pace and make your way through the turns quite swiftly. In heat one It seemed to work after a couple of laps but by then Ramon was long gone. In heat two I never really got going and in the fourth I became better and better, but the heat was way too short. A pity because it could have been a lot better. But I’ll leave for Bulgaria with a good feeling.”

INTERS MX1/MX3
Final standings
1. Steve Ramon (BEL-Suzuki), 2. Ken De Dycker (BEL-Suzuki),  3. Jonathan Barragan (Spa-KTM), 4. Max Nagl (DUI-KTM), 5. Clément Desalle  (BEL-Suzuki), 6. Danny Theybers (BEL-Suzuki), 7. Tom Janssens (BEL-Honda), 8. Manuel Priem (BEL-Kawasaki), 9. Jurgen Van Nooten (BEL-KTM), 10. Roy Gijsel (NED-Kawasaki)

Heat 1
1.Steve Ramon, 2. Max Nagl, 3. Ken De Dycker, 4. Clément Desalle, 5. Jonathan Barragan, 6. Danny Theybers, 7. Scotty Columb, 8. Tom Janssens, 9. Jurgen Van Nooten, 10. Christof Godrie

Heat 2
1. Ken De Dycker, 2. Steve Ramon, 3. Jonathan Barragan, 4. Manuel Priem, 5. Max Nagl, 6. Clément Desalle, 7. Danny Theybers, 8. Tom Janssens, 9. Jurgen Van Nooten, 10. Roy Gijsel

Heat 3
1. Steve Ramon, 2. Jonathan Barragan, 3. Ken De Dycker, 4. Max Nagl, 5. Clément Desalle, 6. Manuel Priem, 7. Danny Theybers, 8. Tom Janssens, 9. Christof Godrie, 10. Hans Vogels

Wyatt Avis surprises in MX2
Jeremy Van Horebeek seemed on his way to victory in heat one until he suffered a mechanical failure halfway through. Despite a malfunctioning damper, Jerre soldiered on and but saw his lead evaporating. The rider from Brabant would finish the heat in 7th spot. The battle for victory proved compelling with a furiously charging Joël Roelants. “The Fonz” made it to the rear fender of South-African Wyatt Avis. Despite Roelants eagerness to pass Avis, It was the South-African who remained in the lead. Avis’ team-mate Dennis Dierckx ended up third in front of Jurgen Wybo and young Jeremy Delince.

If the final stages of heat one had proved to be interesting, heat two proved to be possibly better.  With Joël Roelants in front of Dennis Verbruggen and Jeremy Van Horebeek, the three main Belgian MX2 riders ran together. Verbruggen seemed to lack the speed to follow Roelants but Van Horebeek could. The two team-mates fought  it out. Despite clipping a piece of track banner Van Horebeek, was able to hold off Roelants. After this hard won heat win, Van Horebeek seemed overwhelmed with joy.

Final Standings
1.Wyatt Avis, 2. Joël Roelants, 3. Jeremy Van Horebeek, 4. Jurgen Wybo, 5. Jeremy Delince

Heat 1
1.Wyatt Avis, 2. Joël Roelants, 3. Dennis Dierckx, 4. Jurgen Wybo, 5. Jeremy Delince

Heat 2
1.Jeremy Van Horebeek, 2. Joël Roelants, 3. Wyatt Avis, 4. Dennis Verbruggen, 5. Jurgen Wybo
 
Jeremy Van Horebeek: “The riding went good today, it’s a shame I had a mechanical failure in heat one. In heat two Roelants pushed me a lot but I absolutely wanted to win here. A few laps before the end I went to wide and clipped the banner that surrounds the track, I lost the rear brake and a the bike felt less powerful in the climbs. Joël kept pushing but I got my goal.”
Joël Roelants: “This track isn’t my favourite really, so I am not too disappointed with my runner up sport. I went reasonably well today, although I had to continuously search for the right lines. The public got two very good heats. But finally I lost out two times, so that’s a bummer!  The duel with Jeremy was awesome. We where neck on neck pretty much all the time. I could have taken him out a couple of times, but then again so could he!”

Team Suzuki
TEKA SUZUKI MEN DOMINATE TONGEREN

Team Teka Suzuki WMX1's Steve Ramon won the overall at the Flanders Trophy motocross in Tongeren, Belgium ahead of team-mate Ken De Dycker and Jonathan Barragan.

The reigning MX1 World Champion won both the first and third motos of the non-championship international event held in the eastern region of Belgium and finished third in the other to take a relatively easy overall victory.

"The track was very tough today," said Ramon later. "The soil here is soft and big bumps formed. The short 20-minute races meant the pace was fast all day - especially in moto three - and it was good practice for the Bulgarian GP next weekend."

De Dycker suffered from a sore thumb on the day but was able to win moto two to ensure that the Team Teka Suzukis won each and every race of the day.

"I had a terrible start in moto one and I had to dig very deep to finally finish third. The second heat was much better for me as I took the lead fairly quickly and had control from there. I suffered with a sore thumb today but that's no excuse - Steve was just a lot better than me today."



Wyatt Avis
Wyatt Avis wins Flanders MX Trophy in Tongeren

The LS Honda rider Wyatt Avis has won the Flanders MX Trophy in Tongeren, Belgium last Sunday. Avis won the first moto after a nice battle with Champ KTM rider Joel Roelants. In the second moto the South African settled for third because this was enough to take the win.

In practice things went well for Avis. He found his rhythm straight away on the technical circuit in Tongeren and went out to put a fast lap together. After several attempts Wyatt ended the session in sixth position.

First moto:
The start of the first moto was good and in third position he came out of the first corner. In the beginning of the race Wyatt worked his way up to second position. When the leader in the race had to lower his pace because of a mechanical problem Wyatt took over the lead. Avis kept the pace as high as possible and managed to held on to the lead till the closing stages of the races. With still one lap to go Wyatt got a lot of pressure from the second place rider. Wyatt kept his head cool and crossed the finish line in first position.

Second moto:
When the gate dropped in the second moto Wyatt went into the first corner in eight position. In the beginning of the race Wyatt passed several riders and worked his way back up to third position. The two leaders were already gone so Wyatt settled for third position in the second moto. This position was enough to take the overall win in Tongeren.

Wyatt took the win with a first and a third position in the motos. Wyatt’s next race will be the fourth round of the World Championship Series in Sevlievo, Bulgaria.



Kawasaki Racing Team MX1
Priem battles hard in Tongeren

Kawasaki Racing Team's Manuel Priem battles hard at the Flanders Trophy in Tongeren with a word class field in preparation for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria.

Manuel Priem put a difficult Portuguese Grand Prix behind him at the Flanders Trophy in Tongeren by battling hard with world championship contenders Ken De Dycker, Steve Ramon, Max Nagl, Jon Barragan and Clement Desalle. Three sharp, short 20-minute sprints on one of Belgium's few hardpack, hillside race tracks made it ideal preparation for the next round of the MX1 World Championship in Bulgaria next weekend.

Priem's day started with a fine second place in qualifying as he took his factory KX450F-SR to the runner-up position just 0.777 seconds behind De Dycker.

Race one also saw a strong showing from Priem as he battled hard inside the top five before a small crash saw him slip back to sixth where he settled until a small engine problem caused him to retire on the next to last lap.

Putting the problem behind him Priem once more battle hard in moto two improving from a sixth place start to finish fourth. Moto three was also a strong showing from Priem as he caught and battled with De Dycker for third place before making a small mistake and slipping back to sixth at the finish.

"Manuel's performance pleased me today as he battled hard and rode well against some stiff competition," said team manager Martin van Genderen. "This race was ideal preparation for Sevlievo so we'll be hoping for a strong performance from Manuel - as well as Tanel who won in Holland on Thursday - in Bulgaria."