FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship Round 15 of 15 – Sunday September 12th 2010 Grand Prix of Italy, Fermo Crowd: 22, 500 (weekend figure) Weather: Saturday – Sunny, clouds, breeze 23C / Sunday –Sunshine, clouds 26C Suzuki end World MX season on a high note with domination of final round The 2010 FIM Motocross World Championship arrived to its end in Fermo with Clement Desalle and Ken Roczen being the overall winners. Antonio Cairoli and Marvin Musquin had an unfortunate weekend suffering both two small injuries which prevented them from finishing the season on top of the rostrum. Clement Desalle finished his season with an unexpected overall victory for him as he landed in Fermo still injured from the heavy crashes in Lierop. His team-mate Steve Ramon achieved his first heat victory of the season and finished second overall. Sebastian Pourcel got his best result of the season in Fermo being on the third step of the rostrum. In MX2 Ken Roczen brought his Suzuki machine at the top of the podium and Gautier Paulin was second overall after obtaining his maiden GP victory of the season last weekend in Lierop. Arnaud Tonus achieved his best result in his career finishing third overall in Fermo. Pascal Rauchenecker clinched the overall victory winning the two heats of the last round of the UEM EMX125 Championship. Arnaud Aubin was second and Maxime Desprey completed the top three. MX1 Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Desalle was not really lucky in the last Grand Prix’s of the season but he could not have a better ending of the season after achieving the overall victory in Fermo. On Saturday Desalle had terrible pain on his right leg due to the crash he suffered in Lierop and winning the Italian Grand Prix was not really in his mind. However, the Belgian managed to finish fifth in the first heat and got full confidence on himself for race two and clinched the victory. With such result Desalle went up to the top of podium for the third time this season and also celebrated his second final position in the FIM MX1 World Championship. Other Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1 rider Ramon was on the second step of the podium after obtaining his maiden heat victory of the season in race one and being fourth in the second heat. Ramon expressed his satisfaction for his overall result but he was a bit disappointed for not being able to achieve the GP victory in Fermo. Ramon finished fifth in the Championship seven points behind Nagl. Kawasaki Racing Team’s Pourcel was back on the podium for the first time this season after not an easy year for the French. Pourcel was third and second during the races and showed that his confidence is back and he is ready to be part again of Kawasaki Racing Team in the 2011 season. Boog rode again with the front riders after his knee injury he suffered in Lommel and obtained an overall fourth position. Kawasaki Racing Team’s Boog did an excellent race one, and after a good start he managed to follow Ramon’s and Desalle’s rhythm and he finally ended second of the race. In the second heat he could just finish fifth but the French was really happy with his performance this weekend and he is now looking forward to the Nations. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Nagl was fifth overall in Fermo after his second position in the last Grand Prix in Lierop. The German was just sixth in the first heat and he managed to ride most of race two in the second position until Pourcel passed him with just three laps to go. The German finished fourth of the FIM MX1 World Championship just four points behind Philippaerts. Philippaerts could not achieve his goal of winning at home and he was just sixth in the Italian GP. The Italian did not have a good start but managed to go from eight to fifth in the first laps of race one. However, he lost his battle with Pourcel when fighting for the fourth position and after crashing he could just finish seventh. In the second race Philippaerts finished sixth with a left knee injury because his foot slipped off the footpeg in a downhill with the Italian suffering all the way through until the chequered flag. Philippaerts will go straight to his doctor tomorrow to have his knee checked and to make sure he will be fit for the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations. However, with this weekend’s result, Philippaerts finished third in the Championship 35 points behind Desalle. Coppins raced his last Grand Prix in Fermo and achieved a solid seventh position for twelfth in the Champ¡onship. Gonçalves had really good starts in both races but he could not keep the rhythm of his rivals and was just ninth and eleventh in the heats. Davide Guarneri finished eighth in the first race but he had to give his best in the second heat as he crashed in the start and climbed up to the eleventh position. Aranda was back to racing in Fermo and obtained a solid tenth overall position. Barragán was fifth in the first race but he did not finish the second heat as he crashed at the very beginning when he was riding in the seventh position. His second moto crash involved also MX3 World Champion Campano, who left the track in an ambulance as he was diagnosed a head concussion. Brazilian Balbi finished sixteenth after not a really good first race, but he managed to finish 13th in the second heat. 2010 FIM MX1 World Champion Cairoli could not delight his Italian fans with the overall victory as he had to stop racing in the first race after twisting his left ankle while landing in a slippery area of the track. The Italian decided not to race the second heat in order not to risk too much and try to be 100% ready for the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations. Aubin did an excellent qualifying race finishing third after Pourcel and Philippaerts, but today he suffered a heavy crash and broke his coccyx. Australian Dean Ferris carded 19th and 27th place finishes on a Martin Honda. “It was the first time I’d ridden hard pack in two months and I was pretty excited when I got here and saw the jumps. I had some bad luck in the qualifying race when I hit a fallen bike and bent my front disc so my gate pick wasn’t the best. I rode consistently in the first moto and came up to nineteenth from last and I was happy with the way I rode; the speed is so different from an Australian championship meeting to world championship! I made a better start by passing a lot of people on the straight for the second race but half way through the moto the bike stopped. It was a little bit of a bummer but I’m not too worried. I have not done what I expected to do in my GPs for the team but either way I’m grateful for the experience and to get on the factory Honda was pretty cool.” MX1 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 692 points; 2. Suzuki, 625 p.; 3. Yamaha, 556 p.; 4. Honda, 483 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 420 p.; 6. Aprilia, 264 p.; 7. TM, 145 p.; 8. CCM, 39 p.; 9. Husqvarna, 4 p.; MX2 Starting from pole for the fifth time in 2010, Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Roczen made the most of it as he stormed to two moto wins and took the overall win of this last round of 2010. The German rode a perfect first moto after getting rid of holeshotter Musquin, but the duo battled for the first half of moto two adding drama to this final round of the Championship. Eventually Roczen moved past while Musquin crashed and pulled out of the race, leaving the German alone in first place. At the end of the day KTM announced that Roczen will ride for them in 2011. Second on the podium was Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ Paulin who managed to remain on the rostrum after last weekend’s win in Lierop. The French admitted he could not perform at his best on the Italian hard pack and reckoned he would need more bike time in these conditions if he wants to keep up the pace of riders such as Roczen and Musquin. Though a fourth and a third place were worth a podium for Paulin, breaking into the top ten of the Championship. Other Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2 rider Tonus made it to his first career podium this weekend in Italy. The youngster from Switzerland was aiming at the top three in race one but a tough move of Paulin dropped him down to fifth while in the second race Tonus recovered from the bottom of the top ten to an eventual fourth, completing on the overall podium. Kawasaki CLS’ Frossard managed to finish fourth overall courtesy of his second place from the last moto, making up for an 11th place in race one due to a crash in the first lap-Frossard rejoined the race from the back of the pack. Leib was a surprising seventh in Fermo, which is the best result of his rookie season in the FIM Motocross World Championship. World MX2 Champion Musquin instead dropped down to tenth after he was forced to pull out of moto two. The French crashed and hurt his arm, leaving the race track in pain with a big bruise on his arm. Van Horebeek was an unlucky twelfth, with the Belgian taking third in heat one but retiring from moto two after a crash. MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 701 points; 2. Suzuki, 613 p.; 3. Yamaha, 533 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 525 p.; 5. Honda, 133 p.; 6. TM, 48 p. |
MX1 Race 1 | MX1 Race 2 | MX1 Championship |
1. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 39:33.144 2. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:02.174 3. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:04.173 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:05.958 5. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:07.902 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:11.073 7. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:19.516 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), +0:30.589 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:35.890 10. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), +0:49.316 |
1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 40:19.772 2. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:04.419 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:06.278 4. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:18.402 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:29.992 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:35.386 7. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), +0:37.210 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:38.050 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), +1:00.199 10. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:07.402 |
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 625 points 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 537 p 3. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 502 p 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 498 p 5. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 491 p 6. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 356 p 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 337 p 8. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 331 p 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), 290 p 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 270 p. |
MX2 Race 1 | MX2 Race 2 | MX2 Championship |
1. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 39:20.219 2. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:17.333 3. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:32.877 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:41.170 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), +0:47.958 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:49.915 7. Michael Leib (USA, Kawasaki), +0:58.400 8. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +1:09.666 9. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:15.678 10. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:19.436 |
1. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 40:39.797 2. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:24.745 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:27.697 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), +0:29.889 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +0:38.242 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:43.495 7. Michael Leib (USA, Kawasaki), +0:55.683 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:02.084 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Yamaha), +1:05.998 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:08.307 |
1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 635 points 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 574 p 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 478 p 4. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 397 p 5. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 396 p 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 391 p 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), 390 p 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 367 p 9. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 365 10. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 336 p. |
— KTM Report
Already confirmed as the 2010 MX1 World Champion, Tony Cairoli would have enjoyed going out on a high note for his enthusiastic Italian fans in the season’s final race. It was however not to be for the man who has dominated the MX1 competition this season on the new KTM 350 SX-F bike.
Mid way through the first moto on Sunday on the hard, slippery and very technical Italian track at Fermo, Cairoli got the trajectory wrong coming down from a jump and sprained his ankle. Because he has had previous injuries to his left foot he decided it was wise to sit out the second moto. Tony was disappointed but philosophical about the outcome of the weekend.
Tony Cairoli: “This was a bad day for me. There have been no bad points for the season up till now but now with this small injury, fortunately not something serious, I now want to concentrate on getting ready for the Nations.” On Saturday it was announced that outstanding issues with the Italian Federation had been resolved and Cairoli was now on the team to ride for Italy in two weeks time in the MXoN. “I was surprised,” he said. “But this year has been full of surprises for me and its one of the best seasons I ever had.”
Solid weekend on the track for Max Nagl
Best MX1 Red Bull Factory rider of the day was Max Nagl who was sixth in the opening race but was a real contender for the top spot for most of the second moto. He had a great battle with French rider Clement Desalle for most of the race distance with barely a second separating the two riders as they fought with each other and with the difficulty of the slippery hard pack surface. Max had to settle for third going through the flag, which garnered him 35 points and fifth overall. It also meant he finished the season just four points behind third placed David Philippaerts in the final reckoning.
Max Nagl: “I’m a bit disappointed not to finish third in the championship but that’s how it is. four races ago David (Philippaerts) was 25 points in front of me and I caught him up to just four points. I did all I could,” he said.
The team’s third rider, Rui Goncalves of Portugal picked up 25 points for his two motos and was eighth overall. “This is a special track and there are not too many lines,” Rui said. “The way they water it makes it tough to overtake but I managed to get in the top 10 in both motos and to finish in the top eight is not so bad.”
Mixed weekend in MX2 for Red Bull KTM factory riders in Fermo
After a charmed season where Marvin Musquin sealed the MX2 world title and KTM clean-sweeped all of the other rider and manufacturers titles, on Sunday the MX2 Red Bull KTM Factory Team had to leave the final round in Fermo Italy empty-handed.
But despite not being on the podium, Marvin said his weekend had still been positive. “Saturday was good for me and I had some good fights with (Ken) Roczen and today my starts were perfect. But this track is very hard. It’s very slippery and very technical,” Musquin said. He started well on Sunday with a second place in the first moto and he was within a second of Roczen for most of the second moto, but then he crashed and hurt his arm and slipped back through the field. He finally decided to retire from the second moto because of the pain in his arm. Musquin also said he enjoyed riding the new KTM fuel injection bike for the first time on Sunday.
With Musquin at overall tenth at the close of the day and his factory teammate Shaun Simpson at 18th, it was up to young Belgian rider Joel Roelants to take top five honors for KTM as the best finisher of the day. Jeffrey Herlings, the team’s third factory rider is healing a shoulder injury from the GP in the Czech Republic.
Shaun said he had just not gelled with the track at Fermo. “The track was okay but I jsut didn’t gel with it. I didn’t have a good feeling and I didn’t make good decisions,” he admitted
Roczen signed for the KTM factory team
At the close of the race program in Italy, Pit Beirer, the man in charge of KTM’s offroad racing program announced at a press conference that Roczen, the winner of the final GP and Musquin’s biggest challenger during the 2010 season, had been signed for the KTM factory team. With Musquin riding Orange in the USA competition, Roczen joins Jeffrey Herlings to contest the MX2 for KTM next season.
— Yamaha Report
TBC
— Team Suzuki
Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Clement Desalle overcame a week of pain and discomfort to incredibly win the Grand Prix of Italy in front of 22,500 spectators at Fermo and the final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship.
The Belgian nursed a painful and badly-bruised hip and lower back and made two excellent starts on his RM-Z450WS to take fourth and first in the two motos run across a dry, hard, fast and jumpy track. It was a fantastic day for Suzuki as Ken Roczen claimed the MX2 class and Larissa Papenmeier conquered the last outing in the Women’s World Championship. RM-Z450 and RM-Z250 technology helped riders capture five podium positions from a possible nine as Steve Ramon finished second in MX1 and gave the Belgian team a perfect 1-2 result.
Blue skies and sunshine created warm and pleasant racing conditions for a layout that wasn’t high on technical demands but punished the slightest mistake as many riders circulated within tenths of a second of each other.
Desalle, taking pain-killers to cope with the hard-hits of the jump take-offs and landings, managed to get away in the top three of both 35 minute and 2 lap motos. The Belgian held on for as long as possible in a four-man fight for the lead in the first race along with Ramon, Seb Pourcel and Xavier Boog. He relinquished control in the final laps as Ramon powered through for his first moto victory of the year. Desalle was however buoyed to hear he had mathematically secured his status as World Championship runner-up.
The placing was confirmed in the second moto where the 21 year old had to deal with Ramon, Pourcel and Max Nagl, and, despite a heavy dose of pressure, broke away from the others in the closing stages for a remarkable win. Ramon vied for the overall triumph but eventually closed the race in fourth; earning the same points as his countryman but accepting the second podium step by virtue of the second moto ranking.
Rockstar Teka Suzuki WMX1 can look back on 2010 with two riders in the final top five of the MX1 standings, three victories from 15, and 16 podium appearances from both riders combined and further evidence of the high level of competitiveness of the RM-Z450WS. Suzuki was also runner-up in the Manufacturers standings.
Ramon will attempt to win his seventh Belgian Championship at Pierreux for the final round of the national series next weekend before joining Desalle on the plane across the Atlantic for the 64th Motocross of Nations at Thunder Valley in Colorado. Ramon will be searching for his third Nations success with his country while Desalle wears the Black, Gold and Red for the second time in his career.
Clement Desalle – 2nd, 2010 World MX1 Championship: “It is incredible for me to win here because I could not do anything during the week and was having a really tough time. Anyway I took second in the World Championship and we managed something special here today. I really want to thank my family, my girlfriend and the team for all their help this week. I knew after the first practice that I was in for a hard weekend and I was just focussed on keeping that second place. I would actually like to win when I do not have an injury! The bruising actually improved in a few days during the week so I hope it will be much better very soon.”
Steve Ramon – 5th, 2010 World MX1 Championship: “I was feeling strong today and both motos were good although I started to get a bit tired in the last 10 minutes of the second race. I just missed the GP win but I am still pleased with the second place. I really enjoyed that first moto and we had some good battles; it must have looked good on the TV because I had the onboard camera! I want to say thanks to the team because we have done a good job again this year even if I have had to deal with some injuries and it wasn’t my best season.”
Ken Roczen won the Grand Prix of Italy at Fermo and complete a memorable day for Suzuki as Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2 team-mate Arnaud Tonus scored his first podium, Larissa Papenmeier won her second Women’s World Championship event and Clement Desalle owned the MX1 category on the RM-Z450 to paint the vast majority of three podiums a shade of yellow.
The German once more duelled with Marvin Musquin although 22,500 spectators witnessed the 16 year old hold the upper-hand on the Italian hillside hard-pack thanks to the power and performance of his fuel-injected RM-Z250. Roczen escaped to win the first moto by a canter and then followed Musquin for seven laps in the second sprint before finding a gap in a layout that was not easy for overtaking and escaping to claim his second ‘double’ moto haul of 2010.
The result at the 15th and final round completed an exceptional final third of the campaign for the team and the teenager: Roczen won three of the last five GPs and only dropped out of the top three twice in the last 15 motos and those blips were caused by technical misfortune.
Fermo saw Arnaud Tonus in a determined and attacking mood and the 18 year old Swiss pushed through for fifth and fourth for his first career podium finish with third overall. The result also elevated him to seventh in the final MX2 championship standings.
Fermo hosted the final round of the Women’s World Championship and Larissa Papenmeier scooped victory on the 2009 RM-Z250. The German rode to third and first for her spoils and has staked third in the competition.
Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s haul this year has been impressive:
From 15 Grand Prix events they can count on three wins and 11 podiums thanks to Roczen and Tonus’ talents. Roczen finished 96 points ahead of Steven Frossard and also collected his second national title with the German ADAC MX Masters series. Tonus only dropped out of the top 10 on eight occasions in 30 motos and moved up from a maiden championship finish of 16th in 2009 to collect seventh.
After a busy campaign stretching back to successful pre-season races during February and March, the team has one major appointment left with the Motocross of Nations at Thunder Valley in Colorado on September 26th. Roczen and Marcus Schiffer will wear the Suzuki/Teka colours for Germany and Tonus is ready to represent Switzerland.
Ken Roczen – 2nd, 2010 World MX2 Championship: “This is what I wanted. I took two race wins and I was really going for it. I felt better today than I did yesterday and rode really well. I had a good fight with Marvin until he crashed in the second moto. Marvin has been a great opponent but lately I have come closer and showed that I can be good too. I had two fast starts and that really helped. I planned to make the break early and it worked to perfection even if I did have to wait a little bit in the first one because the track had been watered and was quite slick. We have had a season with some ups and downs but I am really happy to have finished my first full year in this strong way.”
Arnaud Tonus – 7th , 2010 World MX2 Championship: “This feels great! I got-on with the track and could really push here. I was surprised when I learnt I had made the podium. My starts were not so good so I really had to go for it to reach the positions I did and get near the front. I was consistent in both races and then had that good news when I came across the line. I am going to work hard this winter to make the next step and take some more results like this next season.”
Larissa Papenmeier – 3rd 2010 World Championship: “I’m really happy to have another victory. I want to thank my family and my boyfriend and all my friends. The track was awesome with some fun jumps that were also technical; it was a good track for me and I wanted to win. I had some bad luck at the beginning of the season so to finish top-three in the Championship is a good result.”
Thomas Ramsbacher -Team Manager: “This is the greatest day for our team ever! Two wins and a podium result; we could not have asked for more. It shows that that the team is in a very good position. Thanks to Teka for two very good years and for sure Suzuki will stay top of the podium. Thanks to all of our supporters and friends who have helped us reach what we have achieved this season and we are really looking forward to 2011.”
— HRC Report
The FIM Motocross World Championship reached a close with the Grand Prix of Italy at the renovated Fermo circuit near the Adriatic coast and as Clement Desalle claimed the fifteenth and final round, LS Motors Honda’s Davide Guarneri again finished as Honda’s best representative at his home event. The Italian took ninth overall as his team-mate Tanel Leok had a difficult time on the dry and fast layout but was able to gather enough points to finish the year with sixth in the championship standings. Three CRF450Rs claimed positions in the final top ten of the premier MX1 class with Leok leading the way from Guarneri in ninth and Evgeny Bobryshev in tenth.
The large crowd of 22,500 spectators enjoyed good weather around the Fermo circuit wrapped around one side of a steep hill and with a fast layout littered with jumps. Guarneri, 25, completed his first season as a Honda rider with ninth place at Fermo thanks to eighth and 11th in the two motos.
The second race performance was impressive as he recovered from a first corner crash and last position to reach the fringes of the top ten.
Leok struggled to gel with the track and his mediocre starts meant that he was unable to breach the first half of the leader-board in the opening phases of the sprints; a key ingredient for decent results on a track that was not easy for passing.
Martin Honda counted on the efforts of Jimmy Albertson and Dean Ferris. The American was twelfth overall (scores of thirteenth and
eleventh) despite not being fully fit. The Australian took two points for nineteenth in the first moto and then suffered a technical problem in the second.
In MX2 Alessandro Battig posted points for nineteenth place on the CRF250R for the third time in 2010.
Honda ended the campaign with one excellent MX1 victory obtained in Spain by Leok and a further podium garnered by the Estonian. Bobryshev forged a breakthrough maiden season with CAS Honda and was on the fringes of the podium in at least three events from the fifteen. The Russian was still unable to compete in the wake of his rib and lung injury sustained three weeks ago in Brazil therefore the British crew were not present in eastern Italy.
The Grand Prix year has finished but the season is not yet quite over as the 64th Motocross of Nations on September 26th in Lakewood, Colorado will see Leok and Bobryshev in action for the last time on their 2010 CRF450Rs. They will be joined by AMA 250 Champion Trey Canard on the CRF250R for Team USA with Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short also riding for the Americans and Brett Metcalfe (450 runner-up) for Team Australia.
Tanel Leok, LS Motors Honda:
“It was difficult for me today. My starts were not that bad but I went too far to the outside and didn’t get the positions I thought I would.
In the second race I landed a bit harsh on a jump and wrenched my wrist a little bit. It was tough for a few laps and it was throbbing but I didn’t want to stop and managed to get used to it. I didn’t want to give up and wanted more points. I figured it was good practice to see out a race on a track that I couldn’t really get the hang of and didn’t suit me. To finish sixth this year I think is pretty good. I wanted top five and was a little bit short on that; I had some DNFs I shouldn’t have had and some bad luck but I’ll remember the win in Spain and also the moto win in Loket.”
Davide Guarneri, LS Motors Honda:
“I am really tired now! The first moto went well and I ran near the leading group but I fell at the start of the second and was totally last. I rode back to eleventh and I was happy with that but I couldn’t push the whole distance because after 25 minutes I was finished. I feel it has a pretty good year and I will make some changes for 2011 and we will see.”
Jimmy Albertson, Martin Honda:
“It has been a long year and a tough year. It was not really a roller-coaster season more of a giant dip! I came over and I was hot and kinda fell to the bottom. However I am thankful for the things that have happened because I have learnt so much and become a better person for it.
Getting used to living in Europe was tough but now I am over that little hurdle and I can move forward. We had a lot of pre-season expectation and I guess the rest of the year was a letdown for me and the whole team. It was hard doing these last few races because I am not in the physical shape I need to be in but this weekend my head was in the best place it’s been since I have been in Europe. We will see what happens for next year. I would really love to stay with these guys but I know I have not been able to post the results I and they deserve. I think I can be a top contender next year after everything I have learned in 2010. I would definitely like to stay in GPs and I feel like I have done the hard part.”
Dean Ferris, Martin Honda:
“It was the first time I’d ridden hard pack in two months and I was pretty excited when I got here and saw the jumps. I had some bad luck in the qualifying race when I hit a fallen bike and bent my front disc so my gate pick wasn’t the best. I rode consistently in the first moto and came up to nineteenth from last and I was happy with the way I rode; the speed is so different from an Australian championship meeting to world championship! I made a better start by passing a lot of people on the straight for the second race but half way through the moto the bike stopped. It was a little bit of a bummer but I’m not too worried. I have not done what I expected to do in my GPs for the team but either way I’m grateful for the experience and to get on the factory Honda was pretty cool.”
Roger Harvey, Honda Motor Europe Off-road Racing Manager:
“Good news for Tanel in the world championship standings and it ends what has been a pretty decent year for him even if he did not have a smooth ride out there today. We knew in 2009 that this season would not be easy because we were late and set by certain conditions but we took a win and another podium and there were some very good moments in 2010. We are now working hard to get things into place for next year. We have dialogue with several riders and we know that Ken De Dycker is agreed with LS Motors Honda so the future looks pretty bright.”