The Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha team travelled to Ernee in France for round ten of the MXGP World Championship and were motivated for a good weekend after a difficult previous round. With a lot of rain hitting the circuit on Saturday, some MXGP riders decided not to race the qualifying race due to safety concerns and Vlaanderen was one that didn’t take to line.
Despite the rain, the track was in fantastic conditions for the main race day but a bad gate pick made things tricky for Vlaanderen. In the first moto, a crash around the first corner and then again on the opening lap meant he was buried at the back. In the end it was a good recovery ride to come home in fifteenth.
Looking for more in moto two but things didn’t go his way after another rider crashed leaving Vlaanderen nowhere to go. Due to some brake issues, he was left with no choice than to retire from the race.
The team will get ready for round eleven of the series heading to Germany this weekend and will hope for better results as well as more luck on their side.
Calvin Vlaanderen (19th overall): It was a frustrating weekend in Ernee. With all the drama unravelling on Saturday I had quite a bad gate pick for Sundays races despite being seventh in timed practice. Sunday’s first race didn’t start off well with going down in the first corner, and again on the 1st lap. I came back to 15th but I wasn’t very happy with my riding. The second race again I had some uncontrollable issues, another rider crashed on a blind landing and I couldn’t avoid the bike and went down. After that I had some issues with the front brake and had to pull in. I’m lacking some confidence on hard pack at the moment with having some crashes the last couple weeks. It’s been a rollercoaster the last couple weeks being right at the top and now at the bottom but I’ll pick myself up and try build back to get to the top again.
Photocredits – Motocrossplanet
Autor – Arno van den Brink | Motocrossplanet
