Indonesian GP – Update

Indonesian GP

Track conditions have improved for the riders here on Sunday morning, with hardly any rain in the last 24 hours. A little this morning, but the track has held up and its looking like we will have racing today.

Big problems at the Grand Prix of Indonesia on Saturday as the track had become impossible to ride. Saturday had been cancelled for the MXGP and MX2 riders. Grid positions for today will be from the practice yesterday morning. Good news for Herlings who will start second, bad news for Julien Lieber who didn’t ride yesterday mornings MX2 practice.

There are a lot of local fans here that have come to watch so hopefully they will be able to see some good racing today.

Bottomless ruts, a lot of mud and in many rider’s opinions impossible to do two motos, even tomorrow. We talked to a few riders about the track and what they expect. More rider comments later.

Tim Gajser: The track here is very muddy but with all the rain they are having, I am not surprised. It is difficult riding conditions and the jumps are very soft so you sink into the take-off. They also have very deep ruts all over the track which are hard to ride in. It is a shame I couldn’t race this afternoon in qualifying as I just started to feel better on the track towards the end of free practise. Hopefully we will have no more rain and this will help with the race tomorrow.

Evgeny Bobryshev: The track is tough; the mud is soft and very sticky. I didn’t feel I was riding completely at my best out there as I was getting a feel for the track. We are heading into the race with times from practise, so this is not the best time for me as I didn’t put a fast lap in as I would have done in qualifying. If they do some work on the track overnight and we have no more heavy rain then it will be a lot better to race in tomorrow.

Max Anstie: “It is a bit of a mess. We come half way around the world, and it’s a bit unlucky with the weather, although it is the rainy season. I think it rains every day for six months. It’s really muddy and really sticky and the track is already destroyed and we have only done one practice. It’s a bit like a beach race to be honest, people going everywhere. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. It’s going to rain tomorrow, so not too many people are going to make it around. I don’t think we will be able to finish 30 minutes. In practice my bike was so heavy. Maybe we do a two lap race and see who can survive.”

Hunter Lawrence: “I was just getting used to the track, warming up, finding my rhythm and then I was told that they could take my lap time. It’s unfortunate but with the racing I’ll just go out and try to circulate without crashing, that’s the big key. It’ll be interesting for sure.”

Michele Cervellin: I am disappointed we are not racing qualifying this afternoon but hopefully we will have no more rain and the track will be ok tomorrow. It is a lot wetter here then I thought it would be. I managed to put in a ok time for free practise so I will go out there tomorrow and work on improving this for my team.

Chihiro Notsuka: The track is a lot muddier here then I thought it would be, it is not quite what I expected Indonesia to be like but I don’t mind riding in the mud so this is ok for me. I am focusing on improving my result from last week as I wasn’t so happy with that so I am just going to go out there and ride by best tomorrow.

Jeffrey Herlings: “The track was pretty bad, so much rain here. Hopefully they will take the time from times this morning, but if they take it from the championship points, then I am not looking that good. It’s going to be difficult with a bad gate pick. The track was really bad, soft, many lines, nearly impossible to ride. I think two 35 minute motos many guys will crash or blow up their bikes. The track is just brutal.”

Bas Vaessen: “I’m just going to try and stay on two wheels, that’s the main point. If you can stay on two wheels and finish you will get a high position near the end so that’s the main goal.”

Pauls Jonass: It was really bad, every lap was getting worse and worse. To do two motos on a track like this. I think it’s impossible. I think if we go out now, we can’t do it, because the ruts get so deep and the mud is so sticky and they say more rain this afternoon. We will see what happens.

Arminas Jasikonis: “I didn’t crash and I made the most laps out of everyone. It was quite deep but it was fun to ride. I’ve missed my race bike a little bit so was happy to do the laps. Last lap I tried to do a fast lap at the end and got sixth place for tomorrow so my mood is good and I’m looking forward for tomorrow.”

Jake Nicholls: It’s pretty deep. You know it could be really good, but it’s a new track and bottomless. I think they tried to rip it and obviously when you rip it, the ground is light and it goes straight into it. The mud isn’t a problem. Obviously it keeps going down, it if was like quicksand you could just ride over the top, but it’s very sticky and a lot of mud on the bikes. It just grabs the bikes and the bikes are so heavy and we are going so slow. We could blow the bikes up, but we need to get these bikes to the next round.

Kevin Strijbos: I was fifth, I rode easy and tried not make mistakes and came up fifth. We shall see what they decide about tomorrow and if they do both motos or just one moto. Hopefully the rain can stay away and if it does, they can fix the track and I think it can be pretty decent.

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