There are few other riders who have enjoyed a podium finish as much this season as when Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Jeremy Van Horebeek walked the rostrum in Sweden two weeks ago.
The Belgian has endured a difficult second term on the works YZ450FM – his third year in MXGP – and didn’t have the best of luck in Kegums, Latvia last weekend when two mediocre starts and a second race crash put him seventh overall.
Just one trophy for the 25-year-old in 2015 after picking up 12 top three results the previous campaign is a harsh return for the 2013 Motocross of Nations winner. “There was a lot of pressure from the beginning [of the season] because of last year – which was just the perfect season – and then I broke my foot,” he admits. “I had to come back from that and struggled mentally: ‘why is this happening to me?’ and all that. Finally I just regrouped and I have been working really hard. It hadn’t really paid off in the last few weeks but now it is happening. I am still not satisfied I know I can do better.”
“I should have been on the podium in Maggiora and Teutschenthal but because of stupid things it didn’t happen,” he adds. “There were some details to get right. I was struggling with my starts and my set-up.”
Van Horebeek insists that the free weekend before the Grand Prix of Czech Republic – scene of his first and only win in MXGP to-date – in two weeks time will be spent with some “hard testing”. The Belgian is understood to be very close to renewing his Yamaha contract and staying with the Michele Rinaldi-run team for 2016 alongside Romain Febvre who has committed for another two seasons to remain blue.
