WORLD STAGE FOR SUZUKI RM-Z450S
19 September 2006 - Suzuki Racing

Team Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos has finished runner-up in the 2006 MX1 Motocross World Championship with team mate Steve Ramon third

This was the best result for the new RM-Z450 machine – with third and sixth places respectively at the final 15th round in France.

After a damp and dark start to the Grand Prix, Sunday dawned foggy but the thick mist soon lifted for a bright afternoon in which 16, 537 spectators crowned the steep hillside and natural amphitheatre. The track had been worked on by the organisers and was considerably drier than the ooze of Saturday. Then it became rough and remained quite slippery and rocky.

In the first moto, Strijbos hunted down Yves Demaria for several laps until the Frenchman slowed and third position was a formality. He then completed a lonely race with Jonathan Barragan too far away in second and Tanel Leok a comfortable distance away in fourth. Ramon struggled after a poor start and getting held up behind Mickael Pichon’s crash. He fell and was later circulating with his peaked smashed off. He finished seventh giving Strijbos more than enough of a points-cushion to confirm his runner-up position this season. Ramon lost only a handful of points to Ken de Dycker, who was fifth.

The second race witnessed another poor start for Ramon who could not make any in-roads on Jonathan Barragan in fifth and finished with sixth place. Strijbos was again circulating alone in third but was soon caught and passed by Tanel Leok and had to accept fourth.

Strijbos and Ramon have registered 14 podium results between them. Strijbos climbed the rostrum six times compared to Ramon’s eight visits but the younger Belgian is one of only three riders to defeat a mighty Stefan Everts in a race this season: There were only 3 Grands Prix from 15 when the RM-Z450 was not present on the front of the podium. Suzuki have also captured second place in the Manufacturer’s Championship

Team Suzuki will have a full line-up next week for their final engagement of the season at the 60th Motocross of Nations at the Matterley Basin circuit in Great Britain. Ramon and Strijbos form two parts of Team Belgium with the latter steering a new, development RM-Z250 in the MX2 class of the historic competition.

Kevin Strijbos:

“In the first race everything went good and I could push hard but got a bit tired at the end. In the second heat my riding was fine and I was thinking about that second place in the Championship. I wanted to go faster but couldn’t do it. I am happy to have finished second and the team have worked really hard. Now I will be looking to make some improvements in the winter and go for that title next year.”

Steve Ramon:

“It was not a good day and I am not satisfied. The starts were not good at all. In the first heat I was right behind Pichon when he crashed and then fell a few corners later so it was really difficult to come back. I wasn’t riding like normal and could not turn into the lines like I wanted. I tried to push in the second moto but it was not possible to ride smooth and it was a tricky day. I am not really happy with third in the Championship. I wanted second at least. First was the goal, as always, but second was reachable before the crash at Desertmartin. I suppose the podiums and results are not bad but only really Sweden stands out for me as a good Grand Prix.”

Sylvain Geboers - Team Principal:

“It is satisfying to end the year second and third in the Championship and we should be happy being best of the rest. The results have not been that great towards the end of the season and the riders maybe have to work harder on their physical condition; I would have liked to see a bit more. We know where we have to work for next year and we will try to go up from second and third to the front.”

MX1 Moto1: 1 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), YAMAHA 39:47.108, 2 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), KTM 39:51.102, 3 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), SUZUKI 40:07.412, 4 Tanel LEOK (EST), KAWASAKI 40:19.092, 5 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), HONDA 40:21.300, 6 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), HONDA 40:24.067, 7 Steve RAMON (BEL), SUZUKI 40:34.921, 8 Brian JORGENSEN (DEN), HONDA 40:39.115, 9 James NOBLE (GBR), HONDA 40:42.359, 10 Pascal LEURET (FRA), HONDA 40:44.357.

MX1 Moto2: 1 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), YAMAHA 39:50.449, 2 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), HONDA 39:58.905, 3 Tanel LEOK (EST), KAWASAKI 40:09.011 ,4 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), SUZUKI 40:18.803, 5 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), KTM 40:21.388, 6 Steve RAMON (BEL), SUZUKI 40:23.135, 7 Kornel NEMETH (HUN), SUZUKI 40:37.938, 8 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), HONDA 40:49.130, 9 James NOBLE (GBR), HONDA 40:52.217, 10 Gordon CROCKARD (GBR), HONDA 40:57.143.

MX1 Overall: 1 Stefan EVERTS (BEL), YAMAHA 50, 2 Tanel LEOK (EST), KAWASAKI 38, 3 Kevin STRIJBOS (BEL), SUZUKI 38, 4 Jonathan BARRAGAN (SPA), KTM 38, 5 Joshua COPPINS (NZL), HONDA 37, 6 Steve RAMON (BEL), SUZUKI 29, 7 Ken DE DYCKER (BEL), HONDA 29, 8 Kornel NEMETH (HUN), SUZUKI 24, 9 James NOBLE (GBR), HONDA 24, 10 Gordon CROCKARD (GBR), HONDA 20.

MX1 2006 Final World Championship Standings: Everts, Stefan (BEL) 739, Kevin Strijbos, (BEL) 529, Steve Ramon, (BEL) 483, De Dycker, Ken (BEL) 463, Tanel Leok, (EST) 443, Jonathan Barragan, (SPA) 376, Josh Coppins, (NZL) 330, Manuel Priem, (BEL) 278, Pascal Leuret, (FRA) 267, James Noble, (GBR) 226.

Manufacturer’s Standings: Yamaha 739, Suzuki 599, Honda 576.

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