Australian Dean Ferris was able to take his pacey YZ250F to second place overall in the FIM Motocross World Championship Grand Prix of Portugal at Agueda for what was the sixth round of seventeen in the series.
Hot sunshine bathed the 15,000 attendance at the impressive and popular venue south of Porto and the decent weather – combined with excessive watering from the circuit organisers – formed a bumpy, rough and difficult hard-pack. The physical demands of the surface meant it was one of the hardest circuits this season.
Ferris picked up his second trophy of 2013 after posting results of 6th and 2nd in the two motos. ‘111’ could have accrued even more points had it not been for a slow speed crash in the first race that caused him to drop from a fairly comfortable runner-up slot. After impressing on his Monster Energy Yamaha debut at Qatar Ferris is now at full fitness in the distant wake of his collarbone break prior to round three and looking to expand his collection of silverware from sixth in the MX2 table.
Dean Ferris
“This actually feels better than the first podium in Qatar because I was really sick there and couldn’t really soak up what it meant. This one is a bit more special. I’ve been coming back from injury and battling forward for the past six weeks and I’m pretty much fully fit now. I was in a tough battle throughout that whole second moto and that is probably the fittest I have ever felt in a Grand Prix.
“I actually messed up my start in the first moto and somehow ‘made it happen’ through the first two turns to end up second behind Jeffrey. I had broken away from third and had a few seconds over them when I had a silly tip-off in the turn before the step-up. It took me a while to get the bike up because the clutch lever was stuck in the ground. I was trying to keep it running. After that I couldn’t really get forward any more because there were about seven riders all going the same speed
“I was pretty tough on myself afterwards because I had thrown away a lot of points and could have been a comfortable second but moto two was much better. The start helped and I tried to push hard to break away but must have made a big mistake somewhere because Tixier got very close for around fifteen to twenty minutes and it was very cat-and-mouse. Near the end he started being a bit defensive because Coldhenhoff was right with him and that gave me a bit of a gap. I was chasing my lap-times and watching the pit-board but I didn’t even know I was on the podium until I finished so it was a nice surprise with a 6-2. In the off-season I knew I could be a podium guy and hopefully now with some confidence I can establish myself as a regular.”
Three Monster Energy Yamaha riders filled positions in the top seven.
The Grand Prix of Brazil at Beto Carrero (for the second year in succession) will constitute round seven of the championship and take place in two weeks time.
Source: www.yamaha-racing.com
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