Ramon Podiums in German Masters MX Debut

Team Teka Suzuki's Steve Ramon raced to a podium position in his debut appearance in the German ADAC MX Masters at Furstlich Drehna at the weekend on his factory Suzuki RM-Z450.

Due to race in selected rounds of the German international series throughout the 2008 season, the reigning World and Belgian MX1 champion gated well in moto one and led the race until Hungarian rider Kornel Nemeth charged into the lead for a couple of laps during the middle section of the 35-minute plus two lap moto. Able to regroup and refocus, Ramon then re-passed Nemeth and continued to hold him at bay, finally winning the race by 0.86 of a second.

Moto two didn't start so well for Ramon as a crash left him at the back of the pack with plenty of work to do if he were to repeat moto one's result. Able to charge to third place by the race's end, he set some of his fastest laps during the latter half of the race as he closed in on Nemeth, who once more finished second, this time behind Max Nagl who took the race win.

Finishing second overall with a 1-3 scorecard after losing out on a tie-breaker with Nagl, Ramon was satisfied with his performance even though the end result wasn't quite as good as it could have been.

"I've never raced in a round of the ADAC series before so I wasn't sure what to expect before the weekend," he said. "The first race went well and I was pleased to win even though it was very close at the finish. I crashed straight after the start in moto two which cost me a lot of time. I put in a lot of effort and found some good lines to come through the pack well and although I didn't win, I'm satisfied with my performance."