Mixed weekend in MX2 for Red Bull KTM factory riders in Fermo

2010-09-13 07:19
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.

MX2 GP Results
1, Ken Roczen, Germany, Suzuki, 25-25—50
2, Gautier Paulin, France, Yamaha, 18-20—38
3, Arnaud Tonus, Switzerland, Suzuki, 16-18—34
4, Steven Frossard, France, Kawasaki, 10-22—32
5, Joel Roelants, Belgium, KTM 15-15—30
Other KTM
10. Marvin Musquin, France, KTM 22-0-22
18. Shaun Simpson, Britain, KTM 6-0—6

World Championship final standings
1, Marvin Musquin, France, KTM, 635
2, Ken Roczen, Germany, Suzuki, 574
3, Steven Frossard, France, Kawasaki, 478
4, Zach Osborne, USA, 397
5, Joel Roelants, Belgium, KTM 396
Other KTM
6, Jeffrey Herlings, Netherlands, KTM, 391
8, Shaun Simpson, Britain, KTM 367

Final MX2 Manufacturers Standings
1, KTM 701
2, Suzuki, 613
3, Yamaha, 533

Source: KTM-Sportmotorcycle AG

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