Let’s face it. Tanel Leok’s kick-off to his 2013 world championship campaign was not exactly the stuff of legend. A number of problems, some bike set-up issues and a dollop of bad luck here and there conspired to keep the Estonian out of the top 10 in the world standings after the two “away” GP’s of Qatar and Thailand, not a state of affairs calculated to place him in a cheery frame of mind.
The third call to arms in the 2013 world series brought the great and the good of the world championship racing fraternity to Valkenswaard in Holland, a mere hop and a skip away from Tanel’s Belgian base. The Easter Monday event brought hordes of people to the track, despite temperatures frosty enough to render extremities break-off brittle. Tanel was pretty confident going into the race. for the weekend before he charged to second overall in a Dutch Championship event at Oldebroek, hounding former house mate Evgeny Bobryshev to the finish flag. The race had a fair spattering of GP talent in attendance, so it was as good a measure as any to indicate that he was ready for top level action.
Valkenswaard is touted as a sand track, as indeed it is, but the temperatures that were frostier than the relationship between the European Central Bank and Cyprus made for a strange experience. Instead of churning up in its normal fashion, the track was frosty and hard under a loose top covering, making for a remarkably slippy-slidey experience. Tanel spend the qualifying period getting used to the conditions, and brought his Route 77-backed MVRD Honda home in 10th position in the qualifying race.
Tanel’s bright read racing kit and his lime yellow/green helmet are as distinctive as an Easter Bunny at a lion convention, and it was not hard to notice therefore that he had conjured up a good start in race 1. That’s a good beginning, of course, but there was still 40 minutes’ worth of hard work to do on a track more treacherous than a North Korean peace minister. He kept all his withs about him, though and produced the turn of speed necessary to maintain his position. When all was done and (literally) dusted, he had crossed the line in fourth position, his best GP result of the year and good for a bagful of points.
Another good start in race 2 slotted the Estonian Express into a top 10 position yet again. The cut-up track and the slanting sun made for challenging conditions, but the world championship strong men soldiered on. Tanel held sway in 8th place for the majority of the race, fending all manner of attacks by a charging Tommy Searle. To sketch a picture of the competitive nature of the MX1 class anno 2013, we can simple state that each of the riders in the top 11 of the race are former GP winners. That’s as broad a spread of racing talent in one race as you are likely to see, and the battles were therefore fierce. A mistake by Tanel allowed Searle through, and the pitched battle had taken it out of him, causing him to lose his rhythm. This allowed a few more riders to overhaul him, and in the end he crossed the line in 11th position, still good for a handsome points harvest.
With 28 brand new points added to his tally, Tanel had done enough to secure 8th position overall on the day. More significantly, it had served to hoist him a few rungs up the world championship ranking, where he now occupies the ninth spot. He was naturally not displeased with this turn of events, and marked this as a turnaround of sorts.