Vlaanderen determined to turn things around after qualification at Loket
The fourteenth qualifying race of the 2018 MX2 World Championship was not an easy one for Calvin Vlaanderen, who crossed the finishing line in 21st place aboard his Honda CRF250RW machine at Loket. The standard bearer of Team HRC in the quarter-litre class of MXGP crashed out of tenth place after a coming together with Pauls Jonass, which put an end to what was a remarkable recovery following a poor start to the moto.
After a fourth and a second place in free and timed practice, Vlaanderen was down in 20th place as the MX2 field stormed past the line at the end of the opening lap but quickly made his way past several opponents, looking quick and comfortable. However, the 22-year-old from Cape Town found himself on the ground on lap five, and he was 31st by the time he was able to jump back on the bike. With great determination, he almost made it back to the top-20 but just ran out of time.
MX2 action will resume tomorrow at 10:25 for the 15-minute warm-up session, which will be followed by the two Sunday motos at 13:15 and 16:10.
Calvin Vlaanderen 10
That’s definitely not the best way to start the Czech round! I actually felt really good on the bike today; we were fourth and second in free and timed practice and I was feeling very comfortable on my Honda. I didn’t manage to get a good jump out of the gate and had a lot of work to do from early on. Racing incidents can happen, but you always hope they don’t happen to you. I’m pretty battered and bruised, but nothing too major. All is not lost, but we definitely need two great starts if we want to battle for a good result tomorrow.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
It was an unfortunate end to what was shaping up to be another great day for Calvin. He was really looking good on his CRF and the second place in timed practice put him in the best position for the qualifying race. His start was not a good one and the last thing he needed was a crash after such a brilliant recovery, but that’s racing. He still has a chance to turn things around, and I’m sure he’ll be more than keen to make it happen.
Qualifying race
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
Československé armády 350/40, 357 33 Loket, Czech Republic - View in Google Maps
