Strijbos grabs more points at Bulgarian Grand Prix24 April 2012 |
 Kevin Strijbos took his HM Plant KTM UK 350SX-F to twelfth position overall across the fast, hard-pack terrain of the Sevlievo circuit for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria and continues to hold a slot in the mid-top ten of the MX1 class of the FIM Motocross World Championship after two of sixteen rounds.15,000 spectators came to the excellent venue in the centre of Bulgaria and some two hours east of the capital Sofia. Occasional showers on Saturday in practice and qualification made the Sevlievo muddy slightly rougher and slicker but warm sunshine dried the terrain and increased the speed on Sunday. The team experienced contrasting fortunes throughout the weekend. Kevin Strijbos lamented a lowly qualification position in 17th but Elliott Banks-Browne captured a personal best finish of 5th in the MX2 sprint on Saturday. In the European 125cc two-stroke category (the series opening with the first of seven rounds that will run concurrent with the Grands Prix) James Dunn was unlucky to be involved in a collision in the first moto but gained a superb podium result on Sunday morning for the second race. With the elite of both MX1 and MX2 classes running similar lap-times extra emphasis was placed on the starts and this aspect of the day cost Strijbos distance and positions. The Belgian rode to twelfth and tenth for his overall ranking. Despite a low-key event, Stribos is still just eight points away from the top five of the MX1 points table. In MX2 ‘EBB’ was tussling with Jake Nicholls for a slot in the top ten during the first moto until the Brit was forced to retire with a dislodged fuel pipe. His poor luck continued in the second race when he crashed, losing control on one of the steep downhill sections and needed a scan to provide the ‘all-clear’ on a painful elbow. Sean Mitchell struggled with the course and failed to pick up any points. HM Plant KTM UK now head across to the east coast of Italy and another hard-pack circuit, Fermo, for the Grand Prix of Italy next weekend. Kevin Strijbos: “It was a difficult weekend, the track was really hard and really fast and you couldn't make so much difference on the others. I didn't have a good qualifying race, only seventeenth, and for this reason I didn'thave a good gate for the races. Today both starts were bad and in the beginning of the race I had to be careful not to crash but after four laps all was better and then I started to push more and more until the end. In the first moto Ifinished twelfth and in the second one tenth. I think that the riding was okbut I made two bad starts.†Sean Rowen Mitchell: “The weekend was difficult for me with the rain and everything else. The track was really hard to ride, but I’ll just keep pushing and keep working and hopefully in Italy it will all turn around. The first moto was not so bad I was running twenty-second for bit and I got a little bit of arm pump and fell back to twenty-ninth. It´s not so good but we have to look at the positive side and just keep working and hopefully I’ll get there.†Elliott Banks-Browne: “The weekend was not so good, I had some bad luck. Saturday was ok, I was fifth in the qualifying race but in the first race on Sunday I was riding eighth until I had a problem with the bike and the race was over. In the second one I got a very good start and I took the holeshot but on the first lap I crashed in the top of the track and I had to come back to the pits and that’s all. Next weekend is Fermo and I hope I’ll do better.†|
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