STRIJBOS 3RD ON BULGARIAN MX1 GATE - TEAM SUZUKI NEWS SERVICE
03 June 2006 - Suzuki Racing

Team Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos has clocked the third quickest lap-time after another hot MX1 Timed Practice session at Sevlievo for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria this afternoon.

The 20 year old Belgian, who has already taken two podiums this season, headed the timing screens in both free practice periods but was pipped by Brian Jorgensen and Jonathan Barragan during the official chrono.

The Sevlievo course, composed of lengthy uphill drags and steep downhill plummets, was fast and difficult as the hard terrain yielded many slippery spots after constant watering to contain the dust.

Strijbos was comfortable on the dirt and hardly altered the RM-Z450; only opting for a sprocket change to cope better with the inclines tomorrow.

Steve Ramon was ninth after a few suspension tweaks and was foiled in his attempt to post a last final lap after Yamaha’s Cedric Melotte hit the ground in front of him.

Jorgensen claimed his first ever MX1 pole position and enters the gate first for tomorrow’s motos with the weather forecast predicting rain and cooler conditions on Sunday.

Kevin Strijbos:

“Third position is not so bad. Jorgensen was a second and a half quicker and I really don’t know how he managed that. I tried hard but I was having a few problems through some of the corners compared to first and second practice and that was costing me time. Overall I am happy though. The bike is working well and we did not make any changes. I will try a 49 sprocket tomorrow because going up the bumpy steep hills at high rpm the bike is not pulling, so with this I should be able to hook another gear.”

Steve Ramon:

“Today was pretty good but qualifying could have been better. I wanted to do my fast lap towards the end but I made a mistake on one flyer and then Melotte crashed in front of me and blocked the line on another. The track is hard and when it is watered then it is really slippery; the starts will be important.”

MX1 Timed Practice Classification: 1 Brian JORGENSEN (DEN) HONDA 1:52.163, 2 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA) KTM 1:52.780, 3 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL) SUZUKI 1:53.600, 4 Stefan EVERTS (BEL) YAMAHA 1:53.627, 5 Tanel LEOK (EST) KAWASAKI 1:53.707, 6 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL) HONDA 1:53.812, 7 Julien BILL (SUI) YAMAHA 1:54.192, 8 Pascal LEURET (FRA) HONDA 1:54.236, 9 Steve RAMON (BEL) SUZUKI 1:54.416, 10 Gordon CROCKARD (GBR) HONDA 1:54.628

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