Van Horebeek Sails To Top Five on Assen Sands2016-08-28 10:10Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider Jeremy Van Horebeek rode over the deep sands at Assen on Sunday to a top five finish after heavy rains changed track conditions from one race to the next. Teammate Romain Febvre struggled in the treacherous, wet ruts of the first moto but bounced back after skies cleared and the circuit dried out in moto two. Kemea Yamaha Official MXGP rider Valentin Guillod rode faster in the first moto, but suffered in the second race after a series of minor mistakes, to finish outside the top 10 in the final European round of the 2016 MXGP World Championship. Van Horebeek started and finished the first moto in fifth, holding his speed after a heavy thunderstorm rolled through the north of the Netherlands earlier in the morning, turning skies dark and flooding the sand track that organizers built atop the Assen TT Circuit, normally a home to motorcycle road racing events. Paddock and track drainage systems struggled to cope with the extra water, and three classes of racing before the first MXGP moto turned the Assen sands into a deep and soupy pudding that grabbed at wheels and forced riders to wrestle around the track much more slowly than in training. By the second MXGP moto the sun and track maintenance crews had dried and smoothed out most of the topsy turvy portions of the track, and Van Horebeek was steady in third until the final five minutes, when a deep rut in the waves section sent the Belgian off his YZ450FM and into the muddy sand. He finished sixth, missing the podium but keeping points in the World Championship. In Febvre's first moto the 2015 FIM Motocross World Champion started outside the top 10, and crashed twice as the deep ruts grabbed at his foot pegs. Many other riders also went down all day in solo crashes, and Febvre spent much of the remaining laps chasing through while others struggled. In the end he finished 14th, but spent a large amount of energy to bring himself back into the points. For the second moto he rode more consistently, starting 12th and working up to fifth over 19 laps, two more times around the circuit than in moto one. Guillod rode both motos steadily on Sunday, finishing 10th in the first moto and 13th in moto two. But a series of small, solo mistakes by the Swiss rider in the afternoon made him chase back repeatedly, rising and falling in the top 20 as the race wore on to finish 12th overall. With his finish on Sunday, Van Horebeek gains one point in the World Championship standings on Russian Evgeny Bobryshev, and remains sixth overall with two rounds remaining. Febvre remains fourth overall, but slips 10 points further back from German Max Nagl, while Guillod slips two spots to ninth, 16 points behind Belgian Clement Desalle. Jeremy van Horebeek Jeremy Van Horebeek 5th and 6th for 5th overall. Championship position: 6th "The track was pretty bumpy, and in between the first and second motos they lowered the waves a bit. But it was overall a pretty good weekend. In the second moto I knew I needed to finish second to be on the podium, and I tried, and I didn't make any mistakes until the last three laps. It's a bit of a bummer, but we did everything right, and we're still fifth on a day like today. I'm happy." Valentin Guillod Valentin Guillod 10th and 13th for 12th overall. Championship position: 9th "For sand conditions my results are pretty good, and also with the crazy rain and weather. I had a great first moto, but unfortunately I crashed with five laps to go." "In the first race it was really deep, and sometimes the bike got stuck in the ruts, which made it really difficult to ride. In the second race they did a lot of work on the track, especially on the waves section, and that made it a bit easier to ride." Source: Yamaha Motor Europe N.V. Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
Headlines
|