Strijbos drives HM Plant KTM UK into MX1 GP top five

HM
Plant KTM UK launched the 2012 FIM Motocross World
Championship with their new rider line-up at a rainy and cold
Valkenswaard
circuit for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands and the first round of
sixteen in
the series. It was a weekend of contrasting fortunes for the Irish squad
asformer double MX1 World Championship runner-up Kevin Strijbos claimed
theirbest ever finish in the premier class to-date with fifth position
but some
small mechanical gremlins prevented MX2 duo Elliott Banks-Browne and
Sean
Mitchell from aspiring to similar heights.

The
Dutch sand offered its usual test of shallow but
unforgiving bumps and ruts and watched by a crowd of 23,000 undeterred
by the
weather, the Grand Prix campaign got underway. Strijbos was eager to
make amark in what was his first major international outing with the
350SX-F and
after a winter of decent preparation under the guidance of Harry Everts.
The
Belgian forged two good starts among factory 450cc company and went out
racing
the track just as much as his rivals. Although he was powerless to
prevent the
strong Ken De Dycker depriving him of fifth by the end of the first moto
of 35
minutes and 2 laps Strijbos was in a defiant mood in the second affair –
run
through the heaviest shower of the day – and surged up to fifth for what
was an
extremely creditable start to the ‘12 term.

In MX2 Banks-Browne was smashed to the ground by another
rider in the first moto and although he was lucky to escape injury his 250SX-F
was not so fortunate and he had to withdraw with a damaged motorcycle. In the
second moto he had to pit for goggles in the wet conditions at one stage but a
technical problem would ultimately end his participation. The same fate
interrupted Mitchell’s efforts as the teenager wasn’t able to start the second
moto and had earlier been on the fringes of the points in the first race only
to slip back to 26^th by the flag.

Although nursing a recently sustained painful hand injury
Natalie Kane was able to open the eight-round FIM Women’s World Championship
with a brave and steady run to fifth position overall. Kane is back in action
this coming weekend for the second race in France.

The three HM Plant KTM UK riders head to Sevlievo for the
Grand Prix of Bulgaria in two weeks time and also have a trip to Italy before
the end of the month.

Kevin Strijbos:

“I
think overall it was a good day. In the first race I had
good start and had some arm-pump. I couldn’t pass Boog for a couple of
laps and
I lost the back of the guys in front and had trouble closing the gap.
Ken
passed me towards the end of the race and I was able to follow him and
it felt
like the riding was a bit easier. In the second one I had another good
start,
around fifth, and then the bike stopped through my own fault. It took me
a few
seconds to restart but then I rode well to come back to fifth,
especially
because the front brake was dragging and it affected me over the jumps
and in
the corners. It wasn’t a bad day and the team have been working really
hard. A
big thanks to Harry Everts for helping me with my training. We had a lot
ofheavy weeks leading up to here and I think it is paying off. We will
see how
things are in the coming races because it will be a completely different
GP on
the hardpack but we will fight for sure!”

Roger Magee, Team Principal:

“The first Grand Prix of the year and, because of my injury,
the first race of the year for me. It was a tough weekend but we have to take a
lot of positives out of it because we are running fifth in the MX1 World
Championship with Kevin Strijbos and fifth in the Women’s World Championship
with Natalie Kane and that’s the highest the team has been for the past few
years, especially after the first round. Kevin continues to grow week by week
and he was very strong today. His lap-times were excellent. With Natalie she
suffered a slight crack in one of her fingers about ten days ago and she rode
through the pain today, so we’re very happy with fifth. In MX2 Elliot and Sean
had a very mixed day with Elliot being hit out of the first race and Sean was
just running outside the points but he has shown a lot of improvement. There
were a couple of technical problems but we’re on the case and we’ll look
forward to the next GP in Bulgaria.”

MX1 Grand Prix classification and World Championship standings

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 points;
2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 44 p.;
3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), 40 p.;
4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 32 p.;
5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, HM Plant KTM UK), 31 p.;
6. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 31 p.;
7. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 29 p.;
8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), 23 p.;
9. Tanel Leok (EST, Suzuki), 22 p.;
10. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 20 p.;