Round 1 Highs and Lows

The first GP of the is now in the History books and what a GP its was, lets take a look at the Highs and Lows of the Dutch GP.

Lows

1. Martin Barr – A desperately unlucky first GP in 2008 for Martin who had the speed to score a top result. A crash in the first corner of his heat left Martin in not an ideal situation, then just as he was clawing his way to the back of the pack he lost his front wheel in a rut while trying to pass another rider. Last again Barr made his way up to 14th battling with Stephen Sword and with 6 riders right in front of them it looked like the U tag Yamaha rider would still qualify , but then disaster struck as Martin tipped over in a slow corner and struggled to restart his Yamaha. With a lot of top riders in the LCQ Barr again gave it his all and was running 5th in the timed session (top 6 qualify)with only a couple of minutes to go but a few riders put another quick lap in and Martin was pushed down to 8th place and 2nd reserve by 0.5 sec, heartache for Irish Star and to rub salt into the wound 1st reserve Joel Roelants got to ride both races and even lead the 2nd moto! Running 2nd in the British Championship Barr showed he has the speed to do some damage this year and if he can stay on board in his heat races he will be mixing it up with the top GP riders this season.

2. GPKR Kawasaki - Both Seb Pourcel and Kevin Strijbos had a weekend to forget, the deep sticky conditions left both riders complaining of a lack of set up time with their bikes. With 2 weeks until Spain both riders and mechanic have a a lot of work to do to rediscover the form of 07.

3. Carl Nunn – Nunn was off the pace all weekend on his Suso suzuki and it was only his gopod start and wise head that even got him through to the GP motos from his heat race. In the Motos Nunn went down at the start and never really showed the speed everyone knows he is capable of. Hopefully Carl can find his 2006 form or it will be a long year for the double British Champion.

4. The Weather - heavy rain made the track extremely rutty on Saturday which meant for the rest of the weekend many of the riders were having a tough time racing the track never mind each other.

Highs

1. Ken De Dycker – the giant Belgian took his first ever double moto victory at this level and proved that the erratic speed of last season may have disappeared the former British champion looks at home with his new suzuki and his true potential could bear fruition in 2008

2. Tyla Rattray – The South African KTM man is back to top form. Styla looked awesome from the first practice and caught and passed Cairoli in his heat and both races. The head games were already beginning in the press conference between the two!. Rattary wants the World title badly this year and with aspirations to race in the US next season. His double win not only helped his MX2 title challenge but also his chance of a top ride in the US next season

3. Shaun Simpson – Roger Magee has got to be a happy man - in 3 short years Roger has taken Shaun from GP qualifier to top 5 GP runner, 6th overall despite a bad start and fall in the 2nd moto was a fantastic start to the year. Shauns speed this season is incredible and his results at the weekend proved his pre-season form was no fluke. Red bull KTM have taken notice including Stefan Everts, - this could only be the beginning for the talented KTM UK rider.

4. Billy Mackenzie – Scottish riders appear to be taking over in the UK at the minute and Billy Mackenzie looks like he could take it one step further ands go for the world title. Despite a late race fall in the first moto while running 3rd, Billy came home a fantastic 2nd place in the back yard of the Belgian and Dutch sandmasters in race 2. He looks very comfortable on the CAS honda and looks to be in the best form of his career, with the next round is in Spain where he won his first GP, you know he will be looking a similar result in 2 weeks!

5. The Crowd - A colourful crowd of 26,000 braved the dodgy weather to create a great atmosphere for the first GP and were rewarded with a dry and sunny Sunday for the main races. GP racing appears to be moving forward again in 08 and we look to have a great and unpredictable year to look forward to.

By: Jonathan McCready, Photos: Paul McCready