Tenth place for David Vuillemin

MX1, Teutschenthal, Germany, 22 June 2009
Tenth place at the German Grand Prix, David Vuillemin had to recover from bad starts at Teutschenthal, where Gareth Swanepoel suffered a fall in the second race.

A fast, rough and demanding track greeted the riders and variable weather conditions with some showers through the weekend coated the 35,400 spectators who came to Teutschenthal in the former Eastern Germany for the ninth round of the series. On Saturday evening a six year deal was signed to see the German Grand Prix remain at the venue.
Thirteenth in the MX1 qualifying Heat, five ranks behind Gregory Aranda, David Vuillemin was the most consistent Kawasaki rider in the opening moto, as he enacted an error-free ride to come back to eighth position after a great battle with fellow countryman Mickael Pichon. Sixth early in this race, Gregory Aranda lost three places when he crashed during on the fifth lap, and finished tenth behind Vuillemin and Pichon. Team-mates Florent Richier and Gareth Swanepoel were tight together in fourteenth and fifteenth; Florent started in twelfth, while Swanie was only twenty-second at mid-race after recovering from a collision with Leok.
Once more Gregory was the best placed Kawasaki rider at the start of the second moto, as Swanie, and David were stuck in a pile-up in the third corner of the race. Florent, suffering with illness, stopped before the end of the opening lap, and Greg retired at mid-distance after a third crash which worsened his ankle injury. Swanie and David both followed each other in their comebacks, but Gareth didn’t reap his rewards as he had a spectacular fall in a technical section near the pit lane with only two laps to go. He crossed the finish line in seventeenth position, three slots behind David.
Round ten will take place next week in Latvia at the Kegums circuit.
Gareth Swanepoel: “It’s so frustrating, you think that you found the solution when you beat Billy Mackenzie and Brad Andersson during the British championship, as these riders are strong on their home soil. Here it was tough at the beginning; I didn’t felt so good on Saturday and crashed during the qualifying race so I had a bad start gate for today. In the first race I was unlucky as Aigar Leok brake-checked me and I crashed, it was not so fair and then I came back to fifteenth. In the second race I was stuck in a crash at the start and came back to fourteenth but with one lap to go I had a very big crash in the section close to the pit-lane. I was unlucky to crash but lucky to be unhurt, and now I’m waiting for the sand tracks to come around. I think that sand is my strongest point; the track in Latvia seems to be similar to Hawkstone Park so I expect some good results there.”
Florent Richier: “The practice sessions were not too bad as I was in the top twelve, but I felt some pressure for the qualifying race and I scored a sixteenth position. In the first race I was twelfth for a while but lost some places; in fact since my eye injury in France I haven’t been able to train, so I was satisfied with fourteenth. I tried to ride in the second heat but I knew before the start that it would be difficult as I had stomach sickness between the races; I just did one lap and came straight in to the toilet. It was my second race with the factory bike, and I’ve to work on my starts as I always do wheelies with so much power. It’s a great opportunity to ride for a team such as KRT, the bike is amazing; the engine as well as suspension and you have a great technical staff. I will do several other GPs, except Sweden as I have to ride a German race for team Pfeil Kawasaki.”
David Vuillemin: “On Saturday I’d some trouble to get used to the track, today was better but once more I need better starts to score better results. I was in the top twelve for the first one, and had a great battle with Mickael Pichon who increased his rhythm when I joined him; we had some great racing together! The next start wasn’t as good, and I was stuck in the third corner with this pile-up; I came back to fourteenth, to collect tenth position of the Grand Prix and in the standings.”
Gregory Aranda: “Before I came here I knew that it would be difficult, as I twisted my ankle two weeks ago and couldn’t train normally, just one riding session this week. In qualifying it was pretty OK, with good lap-times and an eighth position in the race. I had a small crash in the first moto today but I scored a top ten result, then in the second race I crashed three times and damaged again my ankle in the last one. I had a new engine this weekend and I took three good starts, that’s a positive point as racing is much easier when you can start in the top five. I will stay quiet this week, and will try to ride next week in Latvia.”
Martin Van Genderen (Team manager KRT): “For sure this weekend was not really good for us, we came here expecting that Livia could get some reasonable results and stay in touch with her rivals in the standings. Unfortunately she dislocated again her shoulder, now we have to wait to see what the doctors will tell her. Concerning Florent I was afraid for his eye, but I was happy when I heard that he could race here; his first moto was good with a fourteenth place but he had some stomach troubles like many other people in the paddock between the races, and was forced to retire after the opening lap of the second race. Gareth had more or less the same problem, but both ate separately so it’s difficult to understand what happened there. In the second race he had a good start but after two or three corners he was unlucky to be stopped by the crash, and he wasn’t fortunate again with a terrible crash in the last laps of the race. We are in a bad corner at the moment, and I hope we come out as soon as possible.”

MX1 results
Teutschenthal