The success trail continued for Jeremy Van Horebeek at a warm and stuffy Uddevalla today as he finished runner-up in the Grand Prix of Sweden. From the twelve rounds of the premier MXGP class of the FIM Motocross World Championship so far the Yamaha Factory Racing star has used his works YZ450FM to add eleven consecutive trophies to his shelf back in Belgium. The sloping and fast inclines of Uddevalla provided the latest setting for JVH to demonstrate his smooth and rapid synergy with the Yamaha as 21,000 people (weekend figure) looked on.
The Italian crew rolled into a busy paddock at Uddevalla well accustomed to the set-up of a site that has been a regular on the Grand Prix schedule since the beginning of the century. The team found an altered layout however with the direction of the track reversed, duly adjusted jumps and a brand new start area and fast first turn. The changes gave the time-honoured circuit a ‘refresh’ but the frustratingly varied Swedish dirt offered no surprises. In places the surface was slippery and unpredictable. In others it was treacherously bumpy and rough. The ground forced some experimentation with set-up and Van Horebeek was quickly in tune with the new challenge thanks to the fastest lap-time in Timed Practice on Saturday.
Setting off from fifth place in the gate on Sunday he charged as hard as he could to register third position. It was a result taken from an intense stalk with countryman Clement Desalle and Kevin Strijbos with Steven Frossard also for company and involved an energetic and difficult trawl through the Uddevalla ruts. In the second moto Van Horebeek tweaked the set-up of his YZ450F and was a quicker and more consistent threat at the front, keeping within reach of Antonio Cairoli and comfortably ahead of Max Nagl.
Van Horebeek has now totalled 482 points this season. Meaning second position in the championship and a deficit of 45 to Cairoli in first place while retaining a gap of 12 over Clement Desalle who is next in the list and crashed out of the second moto in Sweden.
DP19 Yamaha Racing’s David Philippaerts posted seventh overall at Uddevalla. The Italian took his YZ450F to tenth and seventh positions in the two motos. His tenth place was gained despite losing a protracted tussle with Max Nagl in the first sprint and he rode solidly inside the top ten in Moto2. The former world champion has now risen up to eighth in the MXGP standings. Meanwhile Bike it Yamaha Cosworth’s Rui Gonçalves was ill coming into the Grand Prix. The Portuguese did not score any points in the first moto but started well and circulated to eleventh in the second race.
The 2014 MXGP schedule is heading to the end of its central European-based phase. Grands Prix in Finland, Czech Republic and Belgium remain over the course of the next month – beginning with the trip to the shallow sand and loam of Hyvinkaa this week – before races in Brazil and Mexico finish the FIM Motocross World Championship schedule in September.
Jeremy Van Horebeek
“It was difficult today and normally I like this track because the type of ground suits my style. I don’t know what happened in the first moto. I was fighting with myself and the bike and it did not go the way I wanted. I had to be happy that I still finished third. We sat together with the team to make some changes for the second moto and they worked because I could be really smooth and fast and we’re here on the podium again. We still have a lot of races ahead this year but I’m proud of what I am doing so far.”
David Philippaerts
“I’m very happy because I didn’t like the track at all; it was very hard with long bumpy lines. Today was pretty good anyway and it is good that now I’ve been in the top ten for four races. This is important for the championship and also for my position; to be a top ten rider in the world with a private team is great for me. We will now focus for Finland which will be another difficult one: sandy and bumpy.”
Rui Gonçalves
“One weekend soon I will be able to be 100% fit and healthy! Tough day today and I knew it would be like that coming here feeling sick. I just tried to do the best I could and the second moto was again something we can look on to take away from this.”