FOURTH OVERALL FIINISH FOR STRIJBOS
27 August 2006 - Suzuki Racing

Kevin Strijbos finished fourth overall today and increased his gap over Steve Ramon in the MX1 World Championship standings

Strijbos rode in front of 18, 243 spectators at a windy, cloudy and showery Desertmartin circuit for the Grand Prix of Northern Ireland and the 13th round of 15 in the 2006 FIM Motocross series.

Desertmartin was its usual formidable, rough, rutted and treacherous self. A sandy and changeable course blending both high-speed with numerous dips and jumps, requiring both bravery and a degree of caution when attacking the huge lumps in the dark red sifting soil.

Strijbos, who had only managed two outings on the RM-Z after his practice crash at Namur three weeks ago left the Belgian with a torn groin, completed a steady initial race in fourth. He watched his team mate hit the ground and was soon overtaken by a charging Ken de Dycker but opted for safety and gained eight points on a lagging Steve Ramon by the end of the 40-minute affair.

The advantage was further improved in Moto two when Strijbos pushed to the limits of his stamina for another top-five finish.

It was a forgettable day for Ramon: The Belgian missed pole position by just 600ths-of-a-second on Saturday and seemed set for a decent result as he led the field on the opening lap of the first moto. He was quickly ambushed by Josh Coppins and Stefan Everts though and a crash on lap six dropped the Belgian into the lower half of the field. He used the remainder of the race to creep inside the top 10 but another slip meant that he was lapped by Everts on the final circulation and passed the chequered flag in 11th.

Moto two ended prematurely - again on lap six - when a heavy fall going through the whoops saw the former World Champion vanish for several laps until he gingerly made it back to the pits. Ramon had bashed his head and hurt the right side of his back. He was groggy and in a lot of pain.

Ramon’s aim to steal second from Strijbos in the World Championship has now also been hit. His younger countryman and Motocross of Nations team mate holds a 40-point gap with just two races and 100 points left to win.

The World Championship will head back to mainland Europe and the penultimate round of the series with the Grand Prix of the Netherlands at the flat and sandy Leirop circuit next weekend. A break will then take place before the 15th and final race of the season at Ernee in France.

Kevin Strijbos:

“I feel like I did a good job today. I started well in the first race and everything went well. I had some arm pump but I was expecting some discomfort as my last race had been at Namur and I have missed a lot of practice time. I was tired today and more so in the second race. I took some painkillers that left me a bit sleepy and that didn’t help me push. I saw Steve had crashed hard which wasn’t good but my World Championship situation has come out of this weekend quite well.”

Sylvain Geboers - Team Manager:

“Steve is in a lot of pain and the crash on the whoops was pretty hard. He is feeling it most in his back at the moment and we hope things will be ok when he is checked out by doctors in the next day or two.”

MX1 Moto1: 1 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), YAMAHA 40:50.848, 2 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), HONDA 40:51.570, 3 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), HONDA 41:49.453, 4 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), SUZUKI 42:00.134, 5 Gordon CROCKARD (GBR), HONDA 42:17.876, 6 Kornel NEMETH (HUN), SUZUKI 42:42.323, 7 Manuel PRIEM (BEL), YAMAHA 42:50.315, 8 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), KTM 42:52.162, 9 Antti PYRHONEN (FIN), TM 42:53.132, 10 Cristian BEGGI (ITA), HONDA 42:56.631. 11 Steve RAMON (BEL), SUZUKI 40:53.309.

MX1 Moto2: 1 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), HONDA 40:51.512, 2 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), YAMAHA 41:17.162, 3 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), KTM 42:56.188, 4 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), HONDA 41:06.483, 5 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), SUZUKI 41:11.089, 6 Manuel PRIEM (BEL), YAMAHA 41:18.150, 7 Kornel NEMETH (HUN), SUZUKI 41:21.703, 8 Tanel LEOK (EST), KAWASAKI 41:31.939, 9 James NOBLE (GBR), HONDA 41:33.569, 10 Antti PYRHONEN (FIN), TM 41:37.503. 27 Steve RAMON (BEL), SUZUKI 12:47.404.

MX1 Overall Result: 1 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), HONDA 47, 2 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), YAMAHA 47, 3 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), HONDA 38, 4 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), SUZUKI 34, 5 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), KTM 33, 6 Manuel PRIEM (BEL), YAMAHA 29, 7 Kornel NEMETH (HUN), SUZUKI 29, 8 Antti PYRHONEN (FIN), TM 23, 9 Tanel LEOK (EST), KAWASAKI 22, 10 Gordon CROCKARD (GBR), HONDA 16. 19 Steve RAMON (BEL), SUZUKI 10.

MX1 World Championship Standings (after 13 of 15 rounds): 1 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), 639, 2 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), 458, 3 Steve RAMON (BEL), 418, 4 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), 409, 5 Tanel LEOK (EST), 387, 6 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), 306, 7 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), 249, 8 Pascal LEURET (FRA), 242, 9 Manuel PRIEM (BEL), 239, 10 Cedric MELOTTE (BEL), 224.

MX1 Manufacturers Standings: 1 YAMAHA 639, 2 SUZUKI 523, 3 HONDA 494, 4 KAWASAKI 391, 5 KTM 384

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