SMETS MOVES TO 4TH IN MX1 SERIES
04 July 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Suzuki rider Joel Smets would have walked the podium yesterday at Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden if a crash in the first moto hadn''t wrecked his overall points tally, but he has moved up to fourth in the series.

The Belgian rode to a smooth and composed runner-up spot behind Josh Coppins in the second moto and was feeling confident on the hard, bumpy and dusty Swedish terrain.

He lost the back end of the RM-Z450 on the second lap while holding fourth position behind Ben Townley in the opening race. The Belgian slid to the edge of the track and into a ditch. Losing valuable race time retrieving his machine, Smets completed several laps far behind the rest of the field and eventually decided to pull into the pits.

Starting the second moto he leapt into second after the first lap and although he was unable to keep in contact with Coppins, he was sufficiently far ahead of Ben Townley to relax. His placement represented his best race finish since Japan. It is the second time in one week where the former five-time World Champion has encountered bad luck in one moto while securing decent points in the other. At St Jean D''Angely last week, a silencer worked itself loose and caused Smets to be disqualified due to noise regulations. Thanks to Danny Theybers (MTM Suzuki) and Kornel Nemeth (Kurz Suzuki), Suzuki had four RM-Z450 machines in the top 10.

Smets has moved up one position to fourth in the World Championship and lies 28 points behind Townley.

Coppins took his first ever double this afternoon from Townley and Stefan Everts. Smets was ninth overall.

Yoshitaka Atsuta guided the Motovision Suzuki Racing RM-Z450 to 11th but took his third highest points haul of the season with 12th and ninth positions. The former Japanese Champion is starting to become more consistent with his good starts and was running in the top six during the formative stages of moto 2. Atsuta still remains a distant 16th in the standings but is only 19 points from 13th place.

Kevin Strijbos missed the event after complications with his left arm has necessitated further recovery time. The Belgian suffered some forearm inflammation this week and with his GP speed flagging due to a less-than-ideal physical condition the decision was made by rider and team to use the majority of July to practice and regain some confidence and speed. The 19 year old will be back for the Grand Prix of Wallonie at Nismes.

The first ever FIM Women''s World Cup took place today and the best placed Suzuki rider was Sweden''s Sandra Adriansson who claimed seventh and sixth over the two 20 minute and two-lap motos.

The World Championships now look forward to a free weekend before bags are packed once more for the trip to South Africa and Sun City for the 11th round of 17 in the 2005 schedule.

Joel Smets:

''It is a little weird because since France the results have been bad but I have had a good feeling on the bike. We had some bad luck with the silencer in St Jean and the result did not show how much I was enjoying myself on the bike. I had the same sensation after the first moto today. I felt like I did not deserve that crash. The back wheel just slid away and I don''t think that I made a mistake or did anything wrong.

''In the second moto I was riding consistently, not making any errors and finding some nice lines; it did not cost me too much energy to finish second. Josh was the fastest today and he deserved to win but I think I would have earned second, third at least. It is good to finish the weekend with a positive result rather than crashing or not finishing in the second moto, which leaves a bad taste. My riding is ok and we are still improving every week with the bike. Second place in the Championship is quite far away but I believe that everything is possible. I feel good going home knowingthat I a m still one of the top guys and tha t gives a good sensation for the next few weeks and the baby that it coming.''

Yoshitaka Atsuta:

''Qualifying was pretty bad yesterday; I sucked basically! I was right outside in the gate and it made things difficult. I still managed to get away ok in the first moto but it was so hard to pass riders because everyone was using the same line. I took some points for my position but it was not a good race. I had a better start in race two and got up to sixth. Some people overtook me and I tried to push but I could not get any higher in the top 10. The points were good today.''

MX1 Moto1: 1 Joshua Coppins, NZL (Honda) 40:13.675. 2 Ben Townley, NZL (KTM) 40:14.111. 3 Jonathan Barragan, SPA (KTM) 40:46.799. 4 Stefan Everts, BEL (Yamaha) 40:57.900. 5 Steve Ramon, BEL (KTM) 41:04.649. 6 Tanel Leok, EST (Kawasaki) 41:11.943. 7 Ken de Dijcker, BEL (Honda) 41:18.030. 8 James Noble, GBR (Honda) 41:20.139. 9 Pascal Leuret, FRA (Honda) 41:22.137. 10 Antti Pyrhonen, FIN (TM) 41:23.605. 12 Yoshitaka Atsuta, JPN (Suzuki) 41:26.154. 14 Danny Theybers, BEL (Suzuki) 41:28.339. 28 Joel Smets, BEL (Suzuki) 35:25.327.

MX1 Moto2: 1 Coppins 40:40.278. 2 Smets 40:47.524. 3 Townley 40:50.744. 4 Everts 40:51.590. 5 Ramon 41:00.072. 6 Noble 41:36.809. 7 Leuret 41:38.303. 8 Theybers 41:39.733. 9 Atsuta 41:40.086. 10 Nemeth 41:51.598.

MX1 Overall result: 1 Coppins 50. 2 Townley 42. 3 Everts 36. 4 Ramon 32. 5 Barragan 30. 6 Noble 28. 7 Leuret 26. 8 de Dijcker 23. 9 Smets 22. 10 Leok 22. 11 Atsuta 21.

MX1 World Championship Standings (after 10 rounds) 1 Stefan Everts, BEL 411. 2 Joshua Coppins, NZL 366. 3 Ben Townley, NZL 346. 4 Joel Smets, BEL 318. 5 Mickael Pichon, FRA 299. 6 Steve Ramon, BEL 264. 7 James Noble, GBR 188. 8 Pascal Leuret, FRA 185. 9 Ken de Dijcker, BEL 171. 10 Brian Jorgensen, DEN 166. 12 Danny Theybers, BEL 161. 16 Yoshitaka Atsuta, JPN 135.

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