Press Release

Ken De Dycker previews the Portuguese GP



FIM
Motocross MX1 World Championship - Portugal,  June
12



Lier
-
Agueda,
one
hour south of Porto, is the host venue for the sixth round of the
2011 FIM MX1 World Championship. For LS Honda Racing star Shaun
Simpson the undulating course with its typical red soil was a happy
hunting ground last year, having secured 3rd in qualifying and 4th in
the opening moto. After the French GP Simpson drove down to Portugal
whereas team mate De Dycker chose to return home. In Saint-Jean
d’Angély Simpson was unable to replicate the great form he showed
in qualification on Sunday, but Shaun is determined to get some more
top-10 results under his belt this weekend!



Between
Agueda and La Baneza, the location of the Spanish GP, De Dycker will
join his GP colleagues who will travel to the from one race to the
other by camper. We grabbed the opportunity to sit down with Ken in
Belgium and get his opinion on the coming Grand Prix.



You’ve
put together some fine moto results in Portugal, third last year, two
seconds in 2009. What do you think about the track?


Ken
De Dycker:

"It is a track that I've gone well at in the past and I hope to
fight for a top-5 and mix it up some more with the frontrunners. My
speed is good for the moment, I just lost too much time passing
slower guys in France and obviously I need some better starts! Often
the track is wet In Portugal and Agueda becomes very technical.
Slower tracks tend to suit me better anyway.”



The
track in Agueda is on the calendar since many years. Going through
the stats I even found a particularly significant
red
race

for you there. Can you remember what I am talking about?

Ken
De Dycker:
(looking
examiningly) “Let me think. The red dirt is always there of course
and it sure looks awesome in pictures... It’s also where I got my
first top-3 moto, back in 2006 and my first moto top-5 in 2004. That
was also on a Honda! Having said that, I enjoy the jumping in Agueda
and I don’t mind how it becomes very bumpy after a while. But I
think they should tweak the track a little bit, to keep it fresh you
know. The place hasn’t really changed since I first went there.”


What
have you been up to this week?


Ken
De Dycker:
“I
did moto on Tuesday and Wednesday, cycling on Thursday and a lot of
my regular physical routine. However I have been careful to take some
rest as well. I’m keen to find out about the weather this weekend,
because to people in Belgium and Holland going to Portugal sounds
quite exotic. But as far as I can remember we always had rain at some
point in Agueda!”



With
these back-to-back GP’s do you have to be more careful about
recuperation compared to GP’s where you had more time in
between?

Ken
De Dycker:
“It’s
not necessarily like that. You have to listen to your body and you
have to pace yourself because the season is long. I dug deep in
Saint-Jean d’Angély and at the start of the week it was obvious
during training that my heart rates were a bit higher than usual
because of fatigue. But everything is okay now and I’m ready to
rock!”


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