SMETS CONFIDENT IN SWEDISH QUALIFYING
03 July 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Suzuki''s Joel Smets will enter the gate for today''s Grand Prix of Sweden in 12th position.

The RM-Z450-mounted Belgian was just over two seconds away from the pole time at a hot and sunny Uddevalla circuit, venue of round 10 of the 17-race FIM MX1 World Championship.

Smets placed ninth and fifth in the two free practice sessions and was feeling comfortable on the hard-pack, stony terrain but pushed too hard in the 30 minute official chrono and was unable to enter the top ten.

The 36 year old, who is set to become a father for the second time in the next two weeks, tried out a shorter swing arm as well as several tweaks to the Kayaba suspension this afternoon.

Motovision Suzuki Racing''s Yoshitaka Atsuta changed very little on his RM-Z450 during the course of the day but was disappointed with his qualifying effort that left him down in 25th. The Japanese rider blamed an over-anxious approach that hindered his lap-times.

Joel Smets:

''As strange as it may sound, I am actually feeling comfortable. Free practice was going well but maybe I was trying a little bit too hard in qualifying and not taking my time to look at the lines and stuff. After the morning session, I thought it would come very easy but I pushed too much. I was riding both bikes in every session and we were experimenting with swing arms and suspension: That was difficult because when I come to a race I want to focus more on my riding and my lines rather than the bike. However I am ready for tomorrow and prepared to fight for every centimetre. Twelfth is not what I was expecting but with the long start straight here it is by no means a disaster and I really feel that a podium is possible tomorrow.''

MX1 Timed Practice classification: 1 Tanel Leok, EST (Kawasaki) 1:54.12. 2 Joshua Coppins, NZL (Honda) 1:54.791. 3 Ben Townley, NZL (KTM) 1:55.418. 4 Ken de Dijcker, BEL (Honda) 1:55.419. 5 Stefan Everts, BEL (Yamaha) 1:55.459. 6 Steve Ramon, BEL (KTM) 1:55.511. 7 Paul Cooper, GBR (Honda) 1:55.821. 8 Jonathan Barragan, SPA (KTM) 1:56.246. 9 Luigi Seguy, FRA (Yamaha) 1:56.291. 10 Kornel Nemeth, HUN (Suzuki) 1:56.310. 11 Antti Pyrhonen, FIN (TM) 1:56.504. 12 Joel Smets, BEL (Suzuki) 1:56.792. 25 Yoshitaka Atsuta, JPN (Suzuki) 1:59.031.

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