SMETS 5TH IN ZOLDER MX1 QUALIFYING
02 April 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Suzuki''s Joel Smets took fifth place in timed practice for the opening round of the World MX1 Championship in Flanders today as injured team mate Kevin Strijbos suffered in 18th place.

Smets started the day by setting the fourth best lap time in Free Practice. The 35 year old was then sixth in the afternoon and the former five-times World Champion never left the top five during the official chrono.

Under sunny skies and warm temperatures, the entirely man-made and shortened-for-2005 track at the Belgian Motorsport facility quickly became a very rough and physical prospect for the riders of the MX1 class.

The bumpy course hardly helped the cause of 18-year-old Strijbos who was nursing his injured right ankle through proceedings: The Belgian is likely to need a pain-killing injection before the races tomorrow.

Joel Smets:

''I am satisfied with my riding. I think at my age, one fast lap is probably not going to be my strong point any more, so fifth is good enough. The track is very rough and difficult: Half of it is sand and the other half is imported-soil that is like clay and is drying out; it is like two different tracks in one. It is not easy setting up the bike because you have to find a compromise.''

Kevin Strijbos:

''It didn''t go well today. The track is really difficult for me with the ruts and stuff. Eighteenth is not good. I will try to make a good start from there tomorrow and if I can get in the top ten, then I should be able to hold that position for 40 minutes.''

MX1 Timed Practice: 1 Mickael Pichon, FRA (Honda) 1:42.097, 2 Steve Ramon, BEL (KTM) 1:42.292, 3 Ben Townley, NZL ( KTM) 1:42.454, 4 Ken de Dijcker, BEL (Honda) 1:42.523, 5 Joel Smets, BEL (Suzuki) 1:42.817, 6 Marvin van Daele, BEL (Honda) 1:43.076, 7 Antti Pyrhonen, FIN (TM) 1:43.307, 8 Paul Cooper, GBR (Honda) 1:43.528, 9 Stefan Everts, BEL (Yamaha) 1:44.088, 10 Tanel Leok, EST (Kawasaki) 1:44.148. 18 Kevin Strijbos, BEL (Suzuki) 1:45.197.

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