Sunday May 30th 2010: Track Veldhoven (Holland):
This is my first day back on a 2stroke after a 3 year layoff. I was racing in the Belgium Amateur Championships MX1-MX3 class.
It was on a deep sand track, just the way I like it. Normally I ride a Suzuki 450 four-stroke but I changed to this bike for the first time this year to ride a Suzuki 250 2stroke. It is a stock bike with only a PPS exhaust which brings great performance to the stock RM250.
I had had no training on the 250 2stroke, but I felt confident to ride the bike.
In the training (practice) it was going well, I had no problems against the 450 four-strokes and thanks to the WP-suspension my riding was going super smooth. I was looking forward to the 1st race.
In the first race I had a mid-pack start and rode a smooth tempo up to 3th place. I put a wheel in on the other only 2 stroke rider Vincent Genot on his KTM. When I passed him, I was trying as hard as I could to catch the 2nd place Suzuki 450f rider Roel Guerts, After a multiple lap battle with him, I moved into second place. I did not have enough time to catch the leader Jan Lauryssen, so I finished 2nd and was very happy with myself.
The second race I had a really good reaction at the start and was leading the field, but I mis-shifted my bike and 3 other riders passed me. By the 5th lap I was back in 2nd and was trying to close the gap between me and leader Jan Lauryssen, the Suzuki 4stroke rider. At the end of the race, I was getting close to his wheel, but I could not find a place to pass him. I finished a very close second place.
I look back with a big happy smile about my 2010 2 stroke weekend .
Podium standing:
1) Jan Lauryssen (Suzuki RMZ 450)
2) Mike Vanderstraeten (Suzuki RM 250)
3) Roel Guerts (Suzuki RMZ 450)
and other 2stroke rider Vincent Genot finished 4th overall on his KTM 250 2stroke.
I hope to impress the folks at Maico international with this report. I have raced the European Championships and International races but due to sponsorship problems I had to go back to the amateur championships. I had contacted Maico in the beginning of the year and they said they would contact me in August to test the Maico MMX 700. I would kill to ride for Maico for the 2011 MX season at several International races and maybe some MX3 World Championships. Maybe you could put a good word for me with the Maico people.
There are a few pictures I am including with this report. Two are very nice where you can see that I took advantage in the deep sand. The more lightweight 2 stroke allowed me to jump farther than the 4 strokes!
Thank you for allowing me to write this report for your website.
Best Regards
Mike Vanderstraeten
