TEKA SUZUKI SET FOR SEASON CLOSER IN BRAZIL
The 15th and last round of the 2009 MX1 World Championship will take place at the new Canelinha circuit for the Grand Prix of Brazil this weekend and Teka Suzuki World MX1 rider Ken De Dycker will be pushing with his RM-Z450 for a final classification in the top three of the standings.
The first trip to the South America this century for the FIM series will also bring the '09 campaign to a close. De Dycker, boasting two victories from the last three meetings, needs to outpoint David Philippaerts by four to rise from fifth spot and move above the Italian in the table to finish in the top three for the second year in succession.
"I am determined to do well and prove my speed, like I did in Lierop two weeks ago," he said. "The only goal left for me this season is to try and break into the top three of the championship."
"It is a long way to go for the final GP but I am motivated to end the season in the right way," added De Dycker who will culminate a two year association with the team across the Atlantic.
Steve Ramon travels to the only flyaway event of this year's calendar having taken second place last Sunday in the penultimate round of the Belgian Championship and also knowing that his work for 2009 will not be complete come the chequered flag for the second time on Sunday. The former World Champion will be representing his country and aiming for yet more podium spoils at the 64th Motocross of Nations in Italy two weeks after the sortie in Brazil.
"My riding is going well at the moment and I feel good on the bike, better than in Lierop," he said. "I have only seen a few photos of the track and it looks like the sort of place that I can get on with."
With 17 points more than the two riders ahead of him the 29 year old can still break into the top 10 of the championship despite having missed half of the schedule due to a neck fracture sustained in the second moto of the Benelux round in April. "It is not really something I am bothered about, not that I don't want to finish as high as possible but that I stopped look at the standings a long time ago," he admits. "This is the last GP of the year so I just want to go there for at least a podium and maybe go for the win."
Canelinha faces its World Championship inauguration this weekend and therefore is an unknown quantity for what will be a reduced paddock presence. The springtime climate means that cool and damp conditions are likely to be found at the venue 80km north-west of the resort haven of Florianopolis. The course appears to be typically jumpy and the photographs seen to-date indicates that it is situated within a green and scenic landscape. Brazil is five hours behind CET.
