LEOK 6th IN GP OF BENELUX
6 SEPTEMBER 2010

Much as one would not bet against, say, the Spanish football team beating the national squad of Swaziland, for instance, anyone that has a vague knowledge and understanding of motocross would not bet against Tanel Leok producing a strong ride in a GP on a deep sandy track. The penultimate motocross world championship event of 2010 was just such an event, taking place, as it did, in the sands of Lierop, Holland.

The Estonian Express, bolstered by the support of a decent-sized contingent of Estonian fans as well as the feeble cries of your reporter, posted the third fastest time in the qualifying session, but a troubled qualifying race during which he tasted some dirt at the start, kept him to ninth in the qualifying heat. Tanel started in the top 10, but after a few laps a gap had developed between Marc De Reuver and Ken de Dijcker ahead of him and the LS Motors Honda rider. His body language on the bike hinted at an inevitability that he would set matters straight, however. He was oozing determination and confidence, and the visual clues proved to be true. He disposed of both riders, and only had to yield a spot to newly-crowned world champion Antonio Cairoli, before he crossed the line in fourth position.

In the second race, the Red Bull-backed rider had a somewhat lesser start, and thundered into the forest in 10th position. The march forward repeated itself, and pretty soon he was in fifth position. Needless to say, the track was by now rough, rutted and choppy, and the differences between the top riders and the not-so-top riders became clearly delineated. By the time he was in fifth, there was no doubt that the riders till ahead fell in the former category, Even so, he started homing in on Steve Ramon and Max Nagl, in the full knowledge that a pass on either of them would in all probability yield him an overall podium finish. Unfortunately, in trying to forge the pass, Tanel crashed again, and on a track such as this, losing race rhythm is a mortal sin. He remounted in seventh position, and the gap to the riders ahead was just too great for him to bridge in the remaining time.

Though Tanel showed all the speed that our knowledgeable person in paragraph one would have hoped for, the second heat crash tied his aspirations of an overall podium finish in a knot. As it was, he finished sixth overall, on level points with former world champions David Philippaerts. He is steady in sixth position in the world standings, and will be looking to defend this position at the final GP of the season at Fermo, Italy, next weekend.

THE SHADOWS CAST BY THE FOREST MADE THE RUTS TRICKY TO NEGOTIATE (Pic CDS)

This report is available online.