Resilient De Dycker pulls through‏

In spite of two disastrous starts Ken De Dycker bounced back twice to offer his home crowd two impressive races. With respective 10th and 6th place finishes De Dycker grabbed sixth overall. After the eighth round of sixteen in the 2012 FIM Motocross World Championship the 27-year old Belgian is currently 5th. Ken’s team mate Cairoli added the inaugural Grand Prix in Bastogne to his tally.

Due to persistent rain and deteriorating track conditions it was decided on Saturday to cancel the qualifying race. Finishing runner-up in both the free practice session as well as the timed qualifying session De Dycker once again confirmed his knack for negociating tough terrain. But probably more remarkable was the tall Belgian’s ease with which he made his way around the scenic Sans Souci track.

More than 18.000 people, among them quite a few , assisted the event on raceday in perfect, sunny conditions. Or to quote Dinah Washington’s jazz standard ‘What a difference a day made’ ! De Dycker himself had less reason to be cheerful. He faced an uphill battle in the Ardennes right from the start. Colliding together with Evgeny Bobryshev he lost even more valuable time whilst trying to untangle their bikes. From dead last Keeno launched a mighty push to the front reaching tenth after the first 35 minute plus 2 lap moto.

After two near spills in the start the Red Bull-KTM rider once again had his work cut out. Visibly very comfortable on the track the SX-F450 mounted De Dycker made his way through the pack nearly matching the pace of the eventual race winner Cairoli. Boosted by the second fastest lap time he entered the top 10. Ken bravely pulled through to pass Karro, Paulin, Leok and Guarneri. Eventually he crossed the finish line in sixth.

“My start in the first moto was pretty good. Unfortunately Bobryshev sled off and his front wheel got stuck behind my rear wheel and the mud guard. I couldn’t go anywhere! When I got going again I had lost quite a lot of time, still I was able recover quickly. I suffered a second (small) spill, while this one didn’t cost me a lot of time it was energy-sapping nonetheless. All in all I’m happy with my riding in both motos. Only in the middle of the second moto I made a couple of mistakes. Without those I might have finished even a little better. What bums me most is that I couldn’t translate my good shape into points gain for the championship. That was disappointining. As far as the track goes I have to say they have done a great job creating a versatile circuit; ruts, bumps, harder and softer sections... Everything was there!”

7. Tanel Leok (EST, Suzuki), +0:44.952; 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +0:52.345; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:53.004; 10. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:55.722; 11. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:56.505; 12. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +1:04.723; 13. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:06.549; 14. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +1:09.617; 15. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), +1:44.975; 16. Mark de Reuver (NED, Kawasaki), +1:57.120; 17. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Honda), +2:07.791; 18. Matteo Bonini (ITA, KTM), -1 lap(s); 19. Loic Leonce (FRA, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 20. Jamie Law (GBR, KTM), -1 lap(s);