SEEWER TALKS HISTORIC SWISS MOTOCROSS GP

2016-08-05 07:25
Less than one week after a momentous home race at Lommel, Team Suzuki World MXGP and MX2 will be in action once more with the first Grand Prix of Switzerland to enter the FIM Motocross World Championship since 2001. A new-build circuit at Frauenfeld-Gachnang will welcome the triumphant crew for round 15 of 18 in the 2016 series and will see Jeremy Seewer set to fill a starring role for the very first time in front of GP-starved Swiss public.

Kevin Strijbos drank winner’s champagne and bathed in the glory of a first overall victory in nine years last Sunday in Lommel and Seewer could be in store for the same sensation this weekend. It will be the recently-turned 22-year-old’s maiden taste of competition in front of largely partisan support, particularly as ‘#91’ heralds from the same region of the country (Zurich).

“I have a little bit of an idea what to expect because many Swiss press and fans have already been asking me about it for some time,” Seewer said. “I’m excited, I’ve been looking forward to this for almost a year. I think it will be amazing and I will just need to try and enjoy it because it won’t happen often in my career that I can fight for a win and a championship in front of – almost - my hometown. I hope there will be many spectators and I hear that some nice banking and viewing areas will be in place.

“It is quite a big story for me so far and when talk of a Swiss GP came up again there was a feeling of ‘this will never happen…’,” he continued. “We don't have enough GP ‘appropriate’ tracks, enough places with paddock space or the permissions to run this kind of event, but these people [2016 organisers] have made it happen. This season has been going well for me so it is like a new chapter. I cannot really know what to expect entirely but I think it will be amazing.”

The grassy Frauenfeld ‘stage’ is situated northeast of Zurich and on largely flat ground ensuring decent viewing possibilities for the crowd and a raft of spectators that have seen Swiss motocross surge in potency with the emergence of riders like Seewer, Arnaud Tonus and Valentin Guillod. The new facility will host the first visit by the principal classes of Grand Prix motocross since 2001 and the trip to the scenic setting of Roggenburg.

“I know the area because I was racing there almost every year for the Swiss Championship on a track that is just a few kilometres away,” Seewer explains. “So the ground will be the same and it is a similar grassy type of soil as Matterley Basin in the UK. It is a shame we are on a flat piece of land for the track in a country with so many mountains but, like I was saying before, we might have some good motocross tracks but not many that can host a Grand Prix and all the set-up! So I’m sure we’ll have a good paddock and facilities at this new venue; we’ll see on Saturday. I expect some decent soil that is quite sticky and grippy and not too hard. I hope we’ll have some nice ruts and it will be technical.”

Seewer is second in the MX2 championship and 87 points behind leader Jeffrey Herlings and over 100 points ahead of Pauls Jonass in third position with just 200 left to win in the remaining four dates on the ’16 calendar. From 14 Grands Prix, Seewer has accumulated eight podium finishes (including the runner-up ranking in Lommel); by far his most prosperous season in just three years of being a Pro racer. With Herlings expected to be absent due to injury for the third fixture in a row, Seewer has the chance to ‘turn the screw’ further on the Dutchman. In 2014 and 2015 the MX2 championship chase has gone down to the last round of the season and involved mere points in the dispute for the crown. “I’m not thinking about [Herlings’ absence] too much but it is always interesting what he does and doesn’t do,” Seewer reflected. “I just try to do my thing. Of course it might easier if he is not there but…I don't mind. I always try to beat my opponents; it doesn't matter if it is Jeffrey, Dylan [Ferrandis] or Max [Anstie] or whoever.”

The MX2 tussle could again reach a thrilling climax and Seewer is aware that he is right in the mix. Is a late and unexpected run for the No.1 plate still on the cards? “It is,” he admits. “I made a good result in the sand of Lommel and showed the hard work we have done was all worth it. I know the championship went all the way to the end with Tixier and Gajser for the last two years but I don't want to think about it too much! Of course I’d like to get closer and closer and we’ll see.”

Alongside Seewer and his team-mate Brian Hsu will be EMX250 Lommel winner Bas Vaessen who has the chance to secure a top-three placing in the European Championship in what will be the final round of the series in Switzerland. In MXGP Strijbos will be buoyant after his resurgence in the sand and Arminas Jasikonis also notched a career-best in MXGP with a first top-10 finish last weekend in what was the 18-year-old’s second appearance on the works RM-Z450.

The long-term weather forecast predicts hot and sunny conditions for Frauenfeld this weekend.

MXGP World Championship Standings (after 14 of 18 rounds): 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 607 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 504 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 490 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 464 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 445 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 417 p.; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 292 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 277 p.; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 273 p.; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki World MXGP), 264 p.; 27 Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Suzuki World MXGP).

MX2 World Championship Standings (after 14 of 18 rounds): 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 597 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 510 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 403 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 393 p.; 5. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 378 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 366 p.; 7. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 320 p.; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 319 p.; 9. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 294 p.; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 280 p.; 33. Brian Hsu (GER, Suzuki World MX2),), 31 p.

EMX250 Championship Standings (after 9 of 10 rounds): 1. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 404 points; 2. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 323 p.; 3. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki World MX2),), 286 p.; 4. Anton Gole (SWE, HUS), 236 p.; 5. Kevin Wouts (BEL, KTM), 217 p.; 6. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 210 p.; 7. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 201 p.; 8. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KTM), 197 p.; 9. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, KAW), 167 p.; 10. Mike Stender (GER, SUZ), 130 p.

Source: Team Suzuki Press Office

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