Twelfth place in qualifying for Vlaanderen at RedBud

2018-10-07 09:19
Team HRC’s Calvin Vlaanderen was twelfth in today’s MX2 qualifying heat at RedBud, the track that is currently hosting the 2018 edition of the Motocross of Nations. With Herlings’s third place in MXGP and Coldenhoff’s win in the OPEN class, team Netherlands was first overall in qualifying with four points accumulated – as Calvin’s result was the one that was dropped.

The day started off well for the 22-year-old from Cape Town, who was second overall in the shortened Free Practice session after being snatched out of the lead in the final seconds by France’s Dylan Ferrandis.

With the morning ballot relegating the Dutch team in 21st place for the qualifying heats, Vlaanderen had a poor start to the moto and found himself at the back of the field entering turn one. By the end of the opening lap, Calvin was already up to 17th position; he steadily continued his comeback and moved up to 12th after passing Marcel Stauffer during lap six. Despite trying hard, he could not manage to make up any more ground before the chequered flag was waved.

The two MXoN races involving the MX2 class will get underway tomorrow at 13:10 (MXGP + MX2) and 14:40 (MX2 + OPEN) local time (GMT -5).

1 The Netherlands 4
2 Italy 5
3 France 5
4 Germany 5
5 Australia 11
6 Spain 11
7 Great Britain 12
8 Switzerland 12
9 USA 13
10 Sweden 16
11 Canada 21
12 Estonia 21
13 Belgium 21
14 Austria 23
15 Brazil 24
16 Venezuela 26
17 Czech Republic 28
18 New Zealand 29
19 Ireland 29
Bold denotes a team with at least one Honda rider

Calvin Vlaanderen 10
At the start, my rear tyre spun on the metal grid of the gate, which was particularly wet, and therefore I couldn’t get the best drive and found myself at the back of the pack. I tried to recover as many places as possible, but I couldn’t see perfectly so I was unable to push as hard as I would have liked. I felt very good on the bike today, however, so I think we can aim a strong result tomorrow. I would also like to congratulate my team mates Jeffrey and Glenn for their great results!

Calvin Vlaanderen
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager - MXGP
Calvin’s race was basically decided at the start as he couldn’t get a good jump and found himself way back at turn one. He did a good job to recover some positions, especially as the track was extremely sketchy given the rain that began falling on the first full lap of the moto. He showed in free practice that he’s got the speed to do well so we look forward to seeing what he’ll be able to do tomorrow. The team is working hard and Calvin feels comfortable on the bike, so everything looks good for the races.

Source: Honda Racing Corporation

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