The fifteenth round of the MX2 World Championship in Lommel turned out to be a weekend to forget for Nicolas Vennekens. On the brutal sand circuit, the young Belgian rider was plagued by a series of technical issues and struggled to find his rhythm, which prevented him from achieving a solid result.
From the very first sessions on Saturday, things didn’t feel right. Vennekens experimented with several bike setups in an attempt to adapt to the challenging conditions, but he was unable to find confidence or flow in his riding.
Sunday’s first moto started with bad luck: Vennekens crashed in the start and had to begin the race from the very back. He began working his way through the field but was forced to retire after a few laps due to mechanical issues.
In the second moto, things initially looked more promising. Vennekens found some rhythm and began to ride more comfortably, but midway through the race disaster struck again — his bike stalled and wouldn’t restart for nearly a minute. Just half a lap later, the machine stalled again and due to this he was forced to retire!
Nicolas Vennekens:
“It was a very tough weekend. From the start, I just didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. We tried everything, but nothing really worked. In the first moto, I crashed at the start and then had a mechanical issue that forced me out. In the second moto, the riding finally started to feel better, but then the bike stalled again and that ruined everything. It’s frustrating because things were improving, and then it all went wrong again. Hopefully we can put this behind us quickly and come back stronger.”
Nicolas and his team are now focused on analyzing the technical problems in preparation for the next Grand Prix. The next round of the MX2 World Championship takes place in Uddevalla, Sweden, on August 17–18.
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media
