The series moved to the iconic track at Lommel in Belgium for round 14 of the FIM World Motocross Championship last weekend. With high temperatures and the extremely demanding track, it was going to be a tough weekend for the Wilvo Forkrent KTM team.
After MXGP rider Jake Nicholls was ruled out with too much pain in his back during qualifying, it was left to lone pilot Adam Sterry to fly the flag for the team in the penultimate round of the EMX250 Championship.
Qualifying
During qualifying, Sterry was unable to put in an error free session and had to be content with fifth fastest in Group A giving him ninth gate pick for the main races.
Race 1
Sterry stormed out of the gate in race one taking the holeshot and making it firmly game on. He looked smooth and fast as he made his way round the first section extending a small gap before heading into the whoops.
The whoops looked to be his nemesis as he struggled to master the demanding section which allowed van Berkel to close in on him. Lap after lap the 18-year-old pulled a small gap back, but then lost it again in the same section which meant he also eventually had to give away his position as Olsen and van Berkel forced their way through. He did mange to master the troublesome section mid-race but the damage was done and he had to settle for third place at the finish.
Race 2
Making another great start in race two getting into second place quickly, Sterry looked confident until the second lap when he went down as he tucked his front end in when he tried to corner sharply fighting for the lead.
Remounting in 22nd place, he set about trying to rebuild his race but looked decidedly uncomfortable on the unbelievably rough track which meant he could only manage to get through to 12th at the finish. His 3-12 finishes gave him fifth overall, which was enough to move him into second place in the EMX250 Championship with one round remaining.
Commenting on his weekend, Adam Sterry said: “A disappointing weekend in Lommel. I didn’t ride like my normal self in the sand! I’ll take the positives from it though – I had good starts in both races and managed to get second in the championship back.
“I know how fast I can ride and when I can race like that all the time, well that will be a big piece of the puzzle solved. We are working on it, so I hope to bring that to Mantova in a few weeks.”
Team Manager, Steve Turner commented: “It was a tough day for the team again with Jake having to sit out the races because he was suffering too much pain from his injury sustained in Latvia.
“He added: Adam never really looked that comfortable all weekend and it showed in his results. He made great starts but didn’t convert them into great results. It’s pretty frustrating as he rode the best I’ve seen him last week and the worst I’ve seen him this week. The positive thing is that when he learns to cope with the mental side of competition at this level there is plenty more to come from him.”
