Monster Energy Yamaha’s Joel Roelants continues to build into his rookie MX1 FIM Motocross World Championship season and showed decent speed around Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands and the third round of the 2013 series.
The technical level of the Dutch sand was not as high as usual, as the sand did not churn into the normal myriad of bumps and holes. With the MX3 and Women’s World Championship events also filling the timetable the surface resisted the amount of continuous use. The skies remained bright through Easter weekend but cold winds reminded the 27,000 crowd that winter has only just officially finished.
Roelants plagued the running order of both races nearer the higher end of the leaderboard. His charging style saw numerous close calls and several small mistakes in the first moto as he finished fourteenth. A more restrained approach delivered tenth in the second sprint but for the Belgian it was a classic case of ‘final results not reflecting potential’ in what was just his third event for the team and on the YZ450FM.
Steven Frossard was unable to compete after suffering a cracked metacarpal in his left foot on Tuesday, sustained as a result of another rider veering across and into the former championship runner-up while training. Frossard rode on Sunday but caused movement in the fracture and elected to undergo surgery today to pin the break and hopefully enter the paddock for the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks.
Some bright news for Yamaha at Valkenswaard came through Kiara Fontanesi’s impressive double moto win and overall victory for a comprehensive opener to her FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship title defence. The Italian went 1-1 on her distinctive Monster Energy YZ250F.
Monster Energy Yamaha will be back in action in two weeks at Arco di Trento north of Lake Garda for round four of eighteen.
Joel Roelants
“I felt really good in the first heat and my speed was really good also. I passed many guys but managed to crash four times and make huge mistakes without going down. I think without those crashes I could have been in the top five. I told myself for the second heat ‘keep it upright for the first fifteen at least’. I got a steady pace going but when I wanted to charge I could find anything. I think it was the effect from the first heat. I know that if I had ridden here like I do in training then I would have been in the top five both times for sure. The result is quite frustrating but there are some bright points from the first race. I fought for every point.”
Steven Frossard
“I cannot believe my luck. I was hit by a guy who somehow managed to turn into me on straight while I was riding and his footpeg smashed into my foot. I had a small crack but the bone has moved after riding yesterday and it took me five minutes to get my shoe on this morning. The best option was to fix it straight away and put a pin inside so I should hopefully be back for Italy in two weeks.”
Kiara Fontanesi
“It is not easy to come back and go 1-1 again at the first race so I’m really happy. After winning the world championship last year I wanted to come here and do well so there was some pressure but I started in a good way. The track was really hard and different compared to last year. It wasn’t like I expected it to be and I didn’t like it much as it was flat and difficult to pass. A difficult day but in the end a perfect result.”