STRIJBOS & SUZUKI SWEEP BELGIAN MASTERS MX

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#STRIJBOS & SUZUKI SWEEP #BELGIAN MASTERS MX


Team Suzuki Press Office - September 17.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki's Kevin Strijbos raced to an impressive double victory at the final round of the Belgian Masters of Motocross at Mont-Saint-Guibert on Sunday.

His good form from the last couple of weeks in the World MX1 Championship was immediately evident in his first outing of the day; and a holeshot in the qualifying race and a start-to-finish victory was a good way to start the day.

The Mont-Saint-Guibert track is one of the most-impressive in the series, known for a spectacular layout in an active quarry South-East of Brussels. And even though the region saw a lot of rain in the days before the event, the track was in ideal condition for the field of Grand Prix riders to race on.

In the opening race, Strijbos again rounded the first turn in the lead and managed to build-up a comfortable lead on Shaun Simpson (Yamaha). Ken De Dycker (KTM) - who was already crowned as Champion of the series at the last round - was gaining momentum on a 250 two-stroke, but pulled out mid-race before he reached the top three of Simpson and Febvre. Strijbos was able to control the remainder of the race to take the win as fellow Suzuki-man Steve Ramon finished eighth.

The second heat was a carbon copy of the first, with another holeshot for Strijbos and Simpson chasing in second. The Belgian was able to create a gap again and control the race to take the overall victory. Ramon didn't have the best start but found his race rhythm again and worked his way towards eighth again, for seventh overall.

Kevin Strijbos:

"It was a good day which turned out quite easy for me. After taking the holeshots I could just focus on the lap-times in both races. I found a good rhythm in which I could create a good gap between me and Shaun and from then on I could control the race. I'm pretty happy to end the season like this! "

Strijbos can take some time off now as the team will prepare for the Motocross of Nations in Teutschenthal in Germany. Team-mate Clement Desalle will defend the colours of Belgium there, but the team will also provide rides for Japan's Yohei Kojima and New Zealand's Reese Carter and Cody Cooper.


Race 1 Result: 1. Kevin STRIJBOS (Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 2. Shaun SIMPSON (+3,489), 3. Romain FEBVRE (+38,104), 4. Petar PETROV (+40,895), 5. Jeremy VAN HOREBEEK (+42,213), 6. Tanel LEOK (+45,266), 7. Marc DE REUVER (+1:10.476), 8. Steve RAMON (+1:12.899), 9. Cedric SOUBEYRAS (+1:30.338), 10. Kevin FORS (+1:31.178).

Race 2 Result: 1. STRIJBOS, 2. SIMPSON (+12,258), 3. VAN HOREBEEK (+24.598), 4. FEBRVE (+33,799), 5. PETROV (+48,082), 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (+54,296), 7. DE REUVER (+55.287), 8. RAMON (+1.01.906), 9. Marvin VAN DAELE (+1:09.987), 10. FORS (+1:42.815)

Overall Result: 1. STRIJBOS 50 pts., 2. SIMPSON 44pts, 3. FEBVRE 38pts, 4. VAN HOREBEEK 36 pts. 5. PETROV 34 pts, 6. DE REUVER 28pts, 7. RAMON 26pts, 8. LEOK 24pts, 9. VAN DAELE 22pts, 10. FORS 22pts.