Fork Rent Suzuki GP of Spain Report
Who would have guessed it scorching temperatures in the UK and rain in Spain?
For the Fork Rent Suzuki team of Jason Dougan and Jake Nicholls it was certainly not what they were expecting when they arrived at the Bellpuig circuit in Spain for the second round of the World Motocross championship.
Saturday is normally the day for timed practise and qualifying but due to torrential rain it was cancelled which put the team in a strange situation as both riders only had one timed session on the Sunday morning to qualify for the main races.
Unfortunately this didn’t go to well for Jake who couldn’t get to grips with the very unusual format and just missed out on qualifying.
Jason Dougan put in his best qualifying position of his young career in 11th place; Jason looked comfortable at the beginning and put in some good solid laps.
With only a few laps to go Jason out did himself and put in his fastest lap and secured a main event starting place.
Everyone knew it was going to be tough as the MX2 starting grid is stacked full of talent, the gate dropped in moto one and Jason made a great start in around 7th place. With the adrenaline pumping through his body the young Fork Rent rider went wide to pass a few slower riders and found himself stuck in deep mud. This put Jason back ten places but he battled on and finished a well deserved 15th.
In race two the gate dropped, in what seemed a second early and Jason was left standing. Jason knew it was going to be a tough second race but knuckled down and charged on regardless. By lap fifteen he was back in a point’s position and was battling with Tom Church and Gareth Swanepoel. Both these riders have been challenging for GP and British championship wins so Jason knew he had to be on top form to stay ahead. By the final lap Jason was still battling hard in nineteenth and secured two more world championship points.
Grand Prix Overall position 19th
World Championship Standing 24th
Team Manager – Mark Chamberlain
“This weekends Grand Prix in Spain was tough not just for us but for every team out there.
The rain made things difficult from the start and then the cancellation on the Saturday made things very difficult for the riders to focus on qualifying in only one session.
Jake is learning something new at every event and when he does qualify his performances will take another leap up the ladder and this will come very soon.
Jason’s performances have been great and I’m very pleased, his results are improving week after week. We have another GP in Portugal this coming weekend and everything looks good.”
Team schedule –
Grand Prix of Portugal at Agueda 22nd April
Grand Prix of Italy at Mantova 6th May
Grand Prix of Germany at Teutschenthal 13th May
More information on the team can be found here –
Suzuki Racing
