The Swiss Grand Prix, the third round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, was held today at the historic Schollenholz circuit in Frauenfeld, 40 kilometers north of Zurich. The track, which has hosted Grand Prix races since 1981, has a particularly hard and rocky surface, made slippery and heavy by the rain that fell from late Saturday afternoon, throughout the night, and until the first Sunday’s moto. After finishing morning’s warm-up in 4th place, Calvin Vlaanderen, 13th in qualifying race, failed to find the best start at the starting gate of the first race, dropping just outside the top 15. Jeremy Seewer, with a strong start, was 4th on the holeshot line but was unable to find a good feeling with the track and after six laps was 14th behind his teammate, who climbed up to 10th place, that he managed to keep till the checkered flag, while the Swiss managed to finish 12th. Both Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team riders performed well at the start of second moto, with Calvin 7th at the end of the first lap and Jeremy 10th. Eighth after two laps, the Dutchman was more comfortable than in race one and fought to the finish, maintaining his position, while Seewer finished the race 16th. The Swiss Grand Prix concluded with Vlaanderen finishing ninth on the day, consolidating the same championship position, while Jeremy finished 15th overall at his home race.
Calvin Vlaanderen: “Overall pretty solid weekend, I think I made some progress throughout with my riding and the bike set up; for us it was the first race in this condition with this bike so we learned a lot and then it was positive, the second race I finally fought a bit better and I could push and yeah I’m just missing that top five start, the key is to get that start if you wanna fight for the front but anyway, I’m quite happy with my riding and the bike was feeling very good, so on to the next gp.”
Jeremy Seewer: “The track condition doesn’t help, if it were a nice weekend with good weather I think we could do better but as soon as it gets slippery I just can’t do it, I do my best and try to keep my head up and wait for some improvement at some point. Starts where for sure not too bad.I know that once it got slippery it would get more tricky, I know from experience.”
