Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek courageously battled through to fifth position at the Grand Prix of Leon in Mexico and ended his first FIM Motocross World Championship on the works YZ450FM on a positive note with yet another result of distinction. The Belgian competed at the MXGP season finale in South America with damaged ligaments in his right ankle and just one week after confirming his status as runner-up for 2014 in the premier class thanks to a points-scoring finish in Goias, Brazil.
On this occasion JVH was able to find a groove with the new, flat and hard layout in Leon even if some of the bigger jumps were problematic for the Czech Republic Grand Prix winner due to the heavy landings and repercussions for his injury.
The 24 year old endured some stomach cramps in the first moto but was able to set a decent speed and pulled past Steven Frossard and Shaun Simpson to capture an encouraging fifth place. The same ranking was achieved in the second race. ‘Jere’ was unable to resist the speed of Motocross of Nations team-mate Kevin Strijbos while in fourth and rode at a sensible pace and rhythm for ‘5s’ across the board.
JVH ended his second season in the blue ribbon MXGP class – and first with Yamaha – with a truckload of silverware thanks to eleven successive podium finishes and twelve in total. From that slew of success came his maiden MXGP victory at Loket in July and of course elevated profile as ‘number two’ for 2014.
In Leon DP19 Yamaha Racing’s David Philippaerts made sure of tenth position in the MXGP standings in his first campaign running YZ450Fs under his own team banner. The Italian battled through to twelfth overall in Mexico and after struggling with a stomach sickness. In the first moto he made a top ten start and then scrapped for track space with Milko Potisek for almost the entire distance, eventually losing the duel with the Frenchman and taking thirteenth. Later on he was again with his brand-mate and this time bagged twelfth place.
Bike it Yamaha Cosworth’s Rui Gonçalves collected another top ten finish on the YZ450F run from within the British set-up. The Portuguese flew to eleventh and ninth positions in the races for ninth overall even if the 29 year old was also suffering with stomach problems. Yamaha 2B’s Potisek rode to eleventh overall with a best result of eleventh in the second moto. Potisek was yet another to complain of illness.
All of Yamaha’s runners in MXGP will not have time to consider holiday plans just yet. Van Horebeek still has designs on the Belgian Championship to add to his Italian crown lifted during the pre-GP season period. He will then spearhead his country’s three man team at the Motocross of Nations in Latvia on September 28th where he will wear the number of defending world champions. Philippaerts will also be riding for Italy and searching for a second consecutive podium celebration at what is regarded as the biggest and most important annual event in motocross. Gonçalves will assume his familiar role as the leading representative for Portugal.
Jeremy Van Horebeek
“I’m super stoked about what I did today. Two days ago I was still wondering if I should race or not. We re-grouped and I said to the team “I want to ride but the main thing is not to hurt the ankle again”. This is why I am only fifth today because I eased off the gas in the second half of the motos. I wanted to be smooth and not take any risks. It is what it is…I have the medal for second place in the championship so I don’t care too much about today. Overall it has been a wonderful season. I’m still young and I made some mistakes. If I want to be world champion then I need to cut those out; it is something I will work on for next year. I want to say a big thanks to the team and everyone around me for helping [me] get to this second place.”
David Philippaerts
“I’m very angry about today. I had pain in my stomach and had to visit the toilet quite a lot. I didn’t like the track and just could not ride like I wanted. It was a stupid Grand Prix for me. I’m happy with tenth in the championship but we had problems this year and if I hadn’t broken my ankle then I might have been able to stay as high as eighth. So I’m a bit disappointed also. Anyway we started this big project at the beginning of the year and we will look ahead to make everything better.”
Rui Gonçalves
“It was a tough weekend. I have been ill since Brazil and had to take medication all week due to fever; I think it was something to do with the food. Anyway I came here lacking energy but I wanted to fight for some good points and that’s what we did. My starts were not there today. I didn’t know if it was me or about not finding the good rpm at this altitude. It was the same for everyone. I put some good laps in at the start of the first moto and made positions but had to slow a bit at the end because of my tyre choice. In the second moto we chose better and I was following Frossard for pretty much the whole way. I couldn’t get close enough to make the pass. I gave all what I could today. 2014 hasn’t been the best season of my career but I still learnt a lot. I worked hard with my mechanic and together with the team. I cannot thank them and him enough for always being behind me. Now to the Nations and I hope to get some good points there.”