Leok did his new mount full justice straight away, piloting it to pole position during qualifying practice, nearly half a
second clear of the next best rider, Sven Breugelmans on the factory KTM. It was Breugelmans who led the gang into the first
corner, with Tanel sitting in third position. He moved into second spot almost immediately, and clamped onto Breugelmans' rear
wheel. The leading two separated themselves from the rest of the field by the proverbial country mile, and there was never any
doubt that the eventual victor would be one of these two riders.
Unfortunately for the Estonian Express, a clod of mud on his goggles forced him to toss these at the end of lap one, and this
made things very difficult for him. As soon as he got close to Breugelmans, he would be on the receiving end of handfuls of
sand with all the consistency of grinding paste in his eyes, not exactly the most recommended thing to inspire confidence on
the roughening track.
For the rest of the race, Tanel and Breugelmans would yo-yo together. The Belgian would sometimes break free somewhat, and
Tanel would come back to challenge strongly. With three laps to go, it seemed as if Tanel had the measure of Breugelmans as
he moved onto his rear fender again, but a mistake cost him some seconds, and he lost the tow. In the end, Breugelmans rode
to a deserved victory with Tanel in second position.
Tanel got his best start of the season in race 2. Second into the first corner, he emerged from the second corner as the race
leader. He proceeded to lope away, and all looked well for a maiden victory for the fourstroke Kawasaki.
The events of the first race had left the seeds of trouble in the second, though. Going into the race, Tanel was complaining
about blurred vision. This contributed in part to a crash that he suffered whilst in a comfortable lead. After the crash Tanel
had to battle with a worsening slipping clutch on the bike, and in the end he reluctantly rode into the pits whilst lying in
fourth position. His zero score cost him dearly, as he has now dropped down to third position in the championship standings.
Despite the setback, Tanel was more than happy with his first outing on the bike. "I like the bike very much," he said. "I can
no go for the holeshots with the other guys, and the bike is much stronger than the 250, even as good as that is. I am looking
forward to my first GP on the bike."
Main Photo: Tanel Leok
Credit: Tytan T
The guys from
motocross planet also have film of the bike
to save them some bandwidth right click on the link below and save it
https://66.235.201.178/media3/kx450.wmv
