Suzuki Racing
Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Steve Ramon won the second moto and took second place overall on his factory RM-Z450 across the red, jumpy and lively Canelinha circuit for the Grand Prix of Brazil and the final round of 15 in the 2009 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship.
Team mate Ken De Dycker was fifth in front of a vast 60,000 crowd and has finished with the same ranking in the series standings.
Inclement weather initially ruined the weekend with the Saturday’s programme of practice and qualification cancelled under dark skies and relentless rain. The action meant that the impressive course would not see wheels turned until Sunday morning with a brief timed session deciding the positions in the gate for the afternoon’s motos.
Ramon was eighth quickest and took a slot in the middle of the start line while De Dycker had the fifth pick. Ramon started brightly on both occasions under blue skies and hot sunshine; a complete change of weather. Dense humidity also created a complete different set of racing conditions to what the majority of the paddock expected: The track dried and became rough and bumpy in many sections.
Former World Champion Ramon struggled a little with set-up in Moto1 and drifted from a leading position back to seventh. De Dycker was beaten to third by David Philippaerts in the final two laps. But 29-year-old Ramon altered some settings for the second race and after seizing the holeshot and winning a brief tussle with De Dycker for the lead, sprinted away for his first moto victory since the GP of Spain in 2008. His team-mate had a relatively lonely ride to fourth spot for his last GP turnout on a Teka Suzuki machine.
In the MX2 category, Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Ken Roczen captured his fourth podium result of a breakthrough season as runner-up at Canelinha. The German excited the paying public with his electrifying part in a three-rider chase for the win in the second moto and eventually went 2-2 for his rostrum appearance. Despite missing four rounds due to his age - he only turned 15 at the end of April - Roczen has taken fifth place in the standings; the best position yet for the RM-Z250.
The RM-Z450 has won two MX1 Grands Prix in 2009 and been present on the rostrum on nine occasions despite small injury niggles for De Dycker and Ramon’s neck fracture at round four causing him to miss almost half the championship. In the final points table, De Dycker is fifth - and the best qualifier with four pole positions -while Ramon is 10th.
Teka Suzuki WMX1 still has racing commitments this season with one more round of the United Telecom Trophy Belgian Championship remaining and Ramon’s participation as a member of Team Belgium for the 63rd Motocross of Nations at Franciacorta, Italy in two weeks.
Steve Ramon:
“Today was a little bit difficult for me. I had some problems with arm-pump in the first moto but we made some changes to the set-up before the second race and I took the holeshot and could ride easy. It gave me a great feeling to win again and I am really happy, especially to end the season in this way.”
Ken De Dycker:
“It wasn’t such a good GP and I didn’t feel strong enough and could not hold the bike like I wanted. I wasn’t so sure of what I could do, so it was difficult to find a rhythm that was good enough. The track was rough and then smooth in places and it was tricky to get some control on the race. I have had a good two years with the team. We have had some decent and some bad races but overall I was really happy being a part of the team and I want to thank everybody for their hard work to support me.”
