Webmaster posted on August 17, 2010 09:21
Having recently moved to Europe in order to contest the Motocross World Championship, and Lierop just a few weeks away, Dean Ferris knows he needs to quickly work on his deep sand riding skills. With this in mind a determined Ferris headed to round 4 of the Belgian Championship this past weekend, held on the very rough and sandy circuit of Keiheuvel, in order to gain some vital experience.
A high-side crash in qualifying put Ferris in 26th place on the grid, but with a field of over 50 international riders the young Australian was not deterred and looked forward to the two 30 minute races.
In the opening moto Ferris got a decent jump out the gate and raced around lap one in a solid 13th position. By the mid way point the Australian was in 12th position and holding comfortably onto the back of Leok as the two Honda riders posted consistent lap times. With 6 laps remaining the clutch cable snapped, leaving ferris battling in the tight and rutted turns, and unfortunately in the closing laps this caused him to stall the engine twice.
At the end of the long moto the number 111 machine of Ferris crossed the line in 16th position.
In the second moto Ferris was boxed in on the start and then heading into turn one was hit by another rider, sending him to the ground hard. Re-mounting and getting going Ferris was out of contention for any result and used the moto for valuable practice and experience in the tough conditions. Ferris clawed his way through to 20th position at the finish flag.
“I loved it today. I just had to smile when I was out there in that second moto, the track was the gnarliest track I have ever ridden. The bike was literally bottoming out over the bumps!! The highlight of my weekend was chasing Leok in the first moto, I felt comfortable and was surprised that physically I didn’t feel more tired pushing the pace. In the coming weeks my plan is to just keep practicing on the sand tracks and working on pace and technique ahead of Lierop.
If all goes to plan I should be able to test the Martin Honda race bike in the week before the Lierop GP, so hopefully we can find some good settings ahead of the race.” Explained Ferris.
Results
Moto 1
1 CAIROLI Antonio
2 STRIJBOS Kevin
3 RAMON Steve
4 NAGL Maximilian
5 DE REUVER Marc
6 GUARNERI Davide
7 VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy
8 LEOK Tanel
9 MARTENS Yentel
10 PRIEM Manuel
11 ROELANTS Joel
12 ROOS Patrick
13 POURCEL Sébastien
14 VAN NOOTEN Jurgen
15 BARRAGAN Jonathan
16 FERRIS Dean
Moto 2
1 RAMON Steve
2 DE REUVER Marc
3 NAGL Maximilian
4 ROELANTS Joel
5 DE DYCKER Ken
6 STRIJBOS Kevin
7 LEOK Tanel
8 BRAKKE Herjan
9 VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy
10 MARTENS Yentel
11 ROOS Patrick
12 GUARNERI Davide
13 PRIEM Manuel
14 VERHOEVEN Bas
15 PETROV Petar
16 VERBRUGGEN Dennis
17 KRAS Mike
18 REIJNDERS Stuwey
19 VAN VIJFEIJKEN Rob
20 FERRIS Dean
Overall
1 RAMON Steve 45
2 DE REUVER Marc 38
3 NAGL Maximilian 38
4 STRIJBOS Kevin 37
5 ROELANTS Joel 28
6 LEOK Tanel 27
7 VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy 26
8 CAIROLI Antonio 25
9 GUARNERI Davide 24
10 MARTENS Yentel 23
11 ROOS Patrick 19
12 PRIEM Manuel 19
13 DE DYCKER Ken 16
14 BRAKKE Herjan 13
15 PETROV Petar 9
16 POURCEL Sébastien 8
17 VERHOEVEN Bas 7
18 VAN NOOTEN Jurgen 7
19 FERRIS Dean 6
20 BARRAGAN Jonathan 6