Team #Suzuki Press Office – May 10.
The hilly, swirling hard-pack layout of Talavera de la Reina was the sun-kissed setting for Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Jeremy Seewer to score ninth overall on his RM-Z250 today at the Grand Prix of Spain.
The sixth round of 18 in the FIM Motocross World Championship visited the undulating course for the second year in a row and a 20,000 crowd filled the compact pockets of space around the three principal slopes.
Tough for overtaking due to its windy and curling nature, the Spanish track was certainly scenic and by the end of race day contained some deceptively wicked bumps. Suzuki International Europe motored into the paddock with its full RM-Z250 wing as the sixth Grand Prix of the year was again home to a full European Championship support programme that saw Brian Hsu and Bas Vaessen again in action for the third outing of nine in the EMX250 contest.
Seewer fought back from a so-so start in the qualification heat race on Saturday to ensure the ninth-pick of positions in the gate for the MX2 motos on Sunday. The young Swiss made a better job of his getaway in the first race but was desperately unlucky to get caught in a tangle with Max Anstie when the Englishman swiped his front wheel away, and only just re-started before Benoit Paturel – who also fell - in last position. Seewer set a decent pace to fight back through the field and 10th place by the flag was satisfactory reward for what was a strong push.
The toll of his recovery clipped some of Seewer’s energy in the second race. A much better start saw him troubling the top-five and although he suffered a small crash was able to regroup and make sixth place his own. The ‘#91’ is still seventh in the MX2 Championship standings and is two points from sixth.
In the EMX250, Hsu and Vaessen endured a terrible opening to the weekend on Saturday when both fell in the opening corners and moments of the first moto. Both youngsters had to pick up, restart and attempt to come through the pack. Hsu made it to 22nd and Vaessen to 26th so they missed out on championship points. In the second race on Sunday morning, Hsu was higher-up the order in the crucial first moments of the race but then suffered a technical problem that ended his participation on lap three of 15. Vaessen battled through to 18th for three points.
Hsu holds 13th place in the points table and Vaessen is 16th. The Grand Prix of Great Britain on May 24th will form round seven of MXGP and take the series to the expanses of the Matterley Basin circuit near England’s south coast.
Jeremy Seewer:
“I felt pretty good on the track and my speed was there all weekend. Today I had some bad luck because in the first race I had a really good start into third place but then Anstie crossed the line and I hit his rear wheel. I was far behind and used a lot of energy to come back to 10th on a track that is not easy to pass. My riding was good though. I almost got the holeshot in the second moto but Ferrandis dragged me wide. I was around sixth-or-seventh, following Lieber when I made a small mistake and crashed. My strength went a bit after that and I focussed on keeping the sixth place safe.”
Brian Hsu:
“We had some problems yesterday and I had to go to the LCQ which I won easily and it actually helped me learn the track a bit better but it meant a low position in the gate. The first race start was pretty good even though someone then took away my front wheel and I restarted dead-last and ended up just outside the points. Today my start was so good but on the third lap somebody hit me from behind and by the next lap I was having problems with the engine and the power was fading. I had to stop then. It was not a good weekend overall.”
Bas Vaessen:
“Yesterday somebody crashed in front of me at the start and I went straight into them. I tried to come back and pushed for a few laps but then crashed again. I then was stuck in the position where I was and couldn't really get any further forward. In the second moto everybody was riding like a train! I tried going inside and outside but couldn’t pass and I was overtaken myself. There was a lot of racing going on. The track was pretty slippery in places and grippy in others so it was hard to charge into every corner. I need to learn a little bit more about that.”
MX2 Moto1: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:17.908; 2. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:05.881; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:15.416; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:19.547; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:23.827; 6. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:26.871; 7. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:34.683; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:54.741; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:57.055; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), +0:57.866.
MX2 Moto2: 1. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), 34:33.751; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:01.325; 3. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:06.706; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:15.296; 5. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:23.992; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), +0:31.913; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:36.142; 8. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:36.861; 9. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:38.351; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:48.732
MX2 Overall Result: 1. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 40 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 39 p.; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 38 p.; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 34 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 32 p.; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 29 p.; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 28 p.; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 26 p.; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 21 p.
MX2 World Championship Standings (after 6 of 18 rounds): 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 261 points; 2. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 205 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 177 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 169 p.; 5. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 169 p.; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 162 p.; 7. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 153 p.; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 151 p.; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 149 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 123 p.
EMX250 Overall Result: 1. Maxime Desprey (FRA, KAW), 50 points; 2. Damon Graulus (BEL, YAM), 44 p.; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Nick Kouwenberg (NED, HON), 35 p.; 5. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Davy Pootjes (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 25 p.; 8. Ander Valentin (ESP, YAM), 23 p.; 9. Simone Zecchina (ITA, KAW), 21 p.; 10. Iker Larranaga Olano (ESP, KTM), 20 p.; 23. Bas Vaessen (NED, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 3 p. 40. Brian Hsu (GER, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 0 p.
EMX250 Championship Standings (after 3 of 9 rounds): 1. Nick Kouwenberg (NED, HON), 117 points; 2. Maxime Desprey (FRA, KAW), 112 p.; 3. Adam Sterry (GBR, KTM), 108 p.; 4. Damon Graulus (BEL, YAM), 105 p.; 5. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 91 p.; 6. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, KTM), 80 p.; 7. Ander Valentin (ESP, YAM), 70 p.; 8. Davy Pootjes (NED, KTM), 62 p.; 9. Simone Zecchina (ITA, KAW), 60 p.; 10. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 55 p.; 11. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 47 p.; 12. Ken Bengtsson (SWE, KTM), 42 p.; 13. Brian Hsu (GER, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 42 p.; 14. David Herbreteau (FRA, KAW), 36 p.; 15. Steven Clarke (GBR, HUS), 33 p.; 16. Bas Vaessen (NED, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), 32 p.
