The FIM Motocross World Championship awakens from a summer slumber this weekend with the 11th round of 15 taking place at Lommel in Belgium for the Grand Prix of Limburg.
For Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2, it is the first of the five remaining events in the 2010 campaign and will be followed by trips to Czech Republic, Brazil, Holland and Italy.
And, for Ken Roczen and Arnaud Tonus, the sand, bumps and physical demands of Lommel are not unfamiliar as the team's technical base is housed within the same GRP HQ of the factory MX1 squad only a few kilometres up the road. Many laps of testing and training during the winter months across the Belgian ripples mean that the German crew can head into this weekend quietly-confident of getting up-to-speed from the outset.
Roczen will be looking to consolidate second place in the World Championship standings and knows he faces a tough threat from Dutchman, fellow teenager and sand-specialist Jeffrey Herlings this weekend. Herlings is just one adversary in an immensely competitive MX2 division in 2010 but Roczen has been consistent and impressive on the new fuel-injected RM-Z250 in what is just his second World Championship season (and first full term). The 16 year old has accumulated three pole positions and six podiums and has come within minutes of Grand Prix victory on at least two occasions only to be denied by misfortune.
"For sure Lommel will be hard but I am actually looking forward to it," he said after having made recent tests and finishing on the podium in the ADAC MX Master last weekend in the sand of Tensfeld. "My sand riding has improved a lot since last year and maybe even from earlier this season. We made a few changes to the bike last weekend and also during this week and I am very happy with how the engine feels in the sand. It will be good to get the GPs going again and I know Lommel pretty well so I am hoping for a decent weekend."
Twelve months ago at Lommel, Arnaud Tonus barely registered on the leader-board with 18th place. In the two previous sandy outings of 2010 at Mantova and Valkenswaard the 18-year-old Swiss has shown his admirable improvement in the terrain by posting sixth and ninth and holds eighth position in the category standings. In what has been an impressive first year with the team so far, Tonus is an odds-on bet to demonstrate his evolving talent come Sunday's two 35 minute and 2 lap motos.
Lommel is a familiar course to many of the Grand Prix fraternity who base themselves in the Benelux region during the season for practice and training. The flat and challenging layout is renowned for its physical and technical demands and rewards the most skilled and fittest exponents of sand-riding. Lommel itself has improved each year as a Grand Prix infrastructure with upgrades to the viewing and spectator experience. New banking zones should greet visitors to the 2010 edition of Belgium's flagship off-road event.
Unfortunately the general weather forecast for the weekend is not too positive with cloudy conditions on Saturday and showers on Sunday.
MX2 World Championship standings (after 10 of 15 rounds): 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 438 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2), 355 p.; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 355 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 326 p.; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 275 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 268 p.; 7. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 244 p.; 8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2), 243 p.; 9. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 240 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 203 p.
