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Kevin Strijbos Signs with Standing Construct KTM

The Standing Construct KTM team have announced that Kevin Strijbos has signed with the team for the 2018 season to contest the MXGP World Championship. The Belgian rider had a difficult 2017 season due to some injuries but he has ended the season on a high and has proven in the last few GP’s that he can still be a top five contender.

After a total of almost 7 years with the now defunct factory Suzuki team, Strijbos will contest the MXGP World Championship in 2018 with the factory supported Belgian KTM team.

Kevin Strijbos

“I am really happy to sign a deal to ride for Standing Construct KTM. The team has proven in the past, when they were a GP winning team in MX2, to be very professional and well organized as well as having the know-how and the infrastructure to be competitive on the highest level. I had some good offers from other teams but having the guarantee with the Standing Construct KTM team that I will be in a team that gives me together with their factory support all the needs to perform at the highest level made me quickly decide to sign with them. I would like to thank Sylvain Geboers for all the things he did for me, he was the one who brought me into the world of top motocross many years ago and who kept believing in me all these years.”

Tim Mathys – Standing Construct KTM

“Kevin has proven throughout his career that he is a great rider and that he’s more than capable of getting great results when he feels comfortable on the bike and in the team. He is one of the more experienced riders of the MXGP paddock with still a lot of ambition and we are convinced that we can give him the material and surroundings that he needs to satisfy him. When the news was spread that we would make a comeback in the MXGP paddock I was contacted by a lot of riders but Kevin gave me the most motivated and ‘hungry’ impression. I am confident that together with our experience and for Kevin with a crew that he knows well, we will have a good 2018 season.”

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Smarty’s Race Reports

Honda Summercross – Bay of Plenty, NZ

Team Honda rider Cody Cooper has claimed his third consecutive Bay of Plenty Summercross this time ahead of Kawasaki’s Rhys Carter and Honda’s John Phillips.

Cooper rode to victory in the MX1 class carrying a 515 number plate on the front of his Honda as a tribute to former team-mate David Fisher, who drowned recently in an accident at Lake Wanaka.

Cody Cooper leading at Awakaponga – Image by InMotion Photography

Originally from Tauranga, Fisher raced motocross through his teens and on Saturday fellow Bay Of Plenty riders Rhys Carter and Roydon White also carried Fisher’s race number. “We got the number plates made up as tribute to him,” Cooper said. “It’s an honour to win today carrying Davey’s number.”

Cooper was in bed with the flu leading up to Saturday’s race but with four sprint races followed by a longer final moto, worked in his favour. “I had to win the shorter races to get an advantage. I knew it would be hard in the longer race and at the end I was mucking up and not riding well. I pulled it back a bit to make sure I’d finish,” added Cooper.

With four wins already on the scorecard, Cooper’s third place behind Yamaha’s Kayne Lamont (Mangakino) and Carter (Mount Maunganui) in the final moto gave him a clear overall win.

Carter was second overall and happy with his first race on his Kawasaki since breaking his thumb and collar bone in May. “It was my first time back at the starting gate for about six months. It’s good to know my speed is okay and I can still race,” said Carter.

Cooper was the MX1 overall winner with 266 points over the five-race format from Carter on 246 and Rotorua’s John Phillips (Honda) on 214 while Lamont was in podium contention after a 3-3-2 sequence in the first three races but crashed at the start of the fourth moto before climbing back to fifth overall with his final race win.

MX2 honours went to Wyatt Chase (KTM) in a duel with Maximus Purvis (Yamaha) after Chase took three wins and Purvis two but a fall in race three left Purvis with a ninth place on his scorecard and trailing Chase by 18 points.

The closest Summercross fight came in the Youth MX (15-21 years) class where Ryan Gwynn (Husqvarna), Thomas Watts (Husqvarna) and Jake Tomblin (Honda) each rode to a moto win but when the points were tallied Gwynn edged Watts by five points for the overall win.

In his first start in the veteran ranks, former national champion Peter Broxholme (Honda) cleaned up the 35-40 years age group and as one would expect Darryll King (Husqvarna) was unbeaten in the over-40 category.

Letitia Alabaster put in an unbeaten performance on her KTM in the Women’s class to take the Summercross honours ahead of Rachael Archer (Husqvarna) and Melissa Patterson (KTM).

Ryan Villopoto Amateur Cup – Pala Raceway, California

The inaugural Ryan Villopoto Amateur Cup was held at Pala Raceway last weekend and from all accounts the event was a complete success with hundreds of racers from four-years-of-age right through to 40-plus competing in 36 classes ranging from 50cc to 450cc machinery.

Ryan Villopoto Amateur CupRyan Villopoto Amateur Cup — Ryan Villopoto Amateur Cup

Seth Dennis was the most successful rider on the weekend with four class wins while Jo Shimodo and Max Vohland had particularly good weekends with three class wins each and it was two class wins each for Matix Soto, Austin Black, Haiden Deegan, Kaeden Kniffing and Talon Hawkins.

Second generation racers are showing their talent with Tallon Vohland’s son Max, Rick Ryan’s son Jeremy, Brian Deegan’s son Haiden and Nick Wey’s sons Vincent and Donovan all putting in good rides at Pala.