Dennis in Turbo diesel mode

Photo: Ray Archer

Seventh in pre-qualifying practice was just another confirmation: Dennis Verbruggen is getting back to where he belongs. The 21-year old showed strong pace again in the qualification race putting him in tenth behind the gate. A determined Verbruggen added a 20-points bonus to his championship tally on Sunday. However things might have been more impressive for Marnicq Bervoets’ protegé had he not missed his start twice. Not unlike Kegums last week ‘Crusty’ was again ripping through the field trading his 30+ opening positions for eleventh in both motos. The Grobbendonk-born Belgian is 16th and only 22 points behind number 13 Anthony Boissiere, Catalunya’s moto one winner. Goncalves won the GP, teenage sensation Roczen was second before France’s Paulin.

Dennis Verbruggen: “The first 180° corner offers some possibilities to make up ground in the start. So twice I tried to slice around the outside, but clearly it wasn’t meant to be! As a consequence I had to hunt from behind in every moto. I think I did a pretty good job with my comebacks getting eleventh in the end. Things could have been a lot worse, because I was a bit scared about the state the track would be after levelling works on Saturday. Luckily there were still plenty of lines to overtake. I’m happy with my riding for the moment and I know there’s more to come. In the meanwhile I will keep on giving it my best shot. I’m 16th now, but I now I can claim back another few places in the coming GP’s ! Between now and Lommel we are going to do some work on the gearbox to dial in the bike for the start. I’m absolutely convinced we can solve that problem as well.”

Heat 1: 1 Roczen (GER-Suzuki), 2 Goncalves (POR-KTM), 3 Frossard (FRA-Kawasaki), 4 Monni (Ita-Yamaha), 5 Roelants (BEL-KTM), 6 Guarneri (ITA-Yamaha), 7 Paulin (FRA-Kawasaki), 8 Karro (LAT-Suzuki), 9 Nicholls (GBR-KTM),10 Triest (BEL-KTM), 11 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda) / Heat 2: 1 Goncalves (POR-KTM), 2 Paulin (FRA-Kawasaki), 3 Guarneri (ITA-Yamaha), 4 Roelants (BEL-KTM), 5 Monni (Ita-Yamaha), 6 Bobryshev (RUS-Yamaha), 7 Roczen

(GER-Suzuki), 8 Karro (LAT-Suzuki), 9 Schiffer (GE-KTM), 10 Nicholls (IGBR-KTM), 11 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda)

GP of Sweden classification: 1 Goncalves 47, 2 Roczen 39, 3 Paulin 36, 4 Guarneri 35, 5 Roelants 34, 6 Monni 34, 7 Karro 26, 8 Nicholls 23, 9 Bobryshev 22, 10 Schiffer 24, 11 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda) 20

MX2 World Championship standings: 1 Musquin 371, 2 Paulin 358, 3 Goncalves 348, 4 Guarneri 331, 5 Frossard 284, 6 Roczen 239, 7 Aubin 203, 8 Monni 199, 9 Boog 197, 10 Roelants 180, 16 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda) 107

Dennis ‘Crusty’ Verbruggen fights to seventh!

Photo: CDS

European championship success on the same track and his recent form provided Dennis Verbruggen with plenty of

confidence ahead of the Latvian GP. The sandy, fast terrain 40 kilomentres south-east of Riga certainly favoured his riding. Crusty posted the third time in Saturday’s pre-qualifying and finished ninth in the qualifying race. Grabbing his best start of the season Verbruggen created an excellent launch path for himself in the first moto. The CRF250R mounted rider ran as high as fifth, but lost a few places finally to come home eighth behind Italy’s Davide Guarneri.

Dennis had another good start but seemed to lack some aggression in the early stages of the second outing. However the 21- year old Belgian pulled himself together and quickly made headway recovering from 14th to 7th behind country man Joël Roelants. Verbruggen’s eighth and seventh culminated in a seventh place overall, making him the highest placed Honda rider of the event. He also replicated his team mate Desalle today in getting his best result of the season so far. The MX2 GP was won by the Portuguese ace Goncalves in forn of Frenchies Musquin and Paulin. Dennis Verbruggen is currntly 18th in MX2 standings, equal on points with Sword.

Dennis Verbruggen “I was feeling fine all weekend and long and finally I managed the top ten result that I have chasing for a while now. My start in the first moto was awesome and that allowed me to climb up to fifth. (grinning) Maybe that was even a notch above my own expectations, because suddenly I encountered a stress attack! I dropped back to eighth, but I was consuming quite a lot of energy as well since I was so tensed. Again I had a good jump from the gate in the second moto and I was about tenth. After that I think I rode a bit too conservatively and lost some places because of that. Still I knew how Physical Kegums can be and the warmth made it quite uncomfortable as well so conserving some energy played to my advantage later on. I was able to catch up and finish seventh.”

Dennis digs deep

Photo: CDS

A DNF in the qualifying race relegated Verbruggen to a disastrous 38th spot on the grid. However two impressive comeback rides earned the LS Motors-Honda rider 17 valuable championship points. Moreover no one gained more positions today than Crusty, making up 25 places in the second moto. The former European champ was 13th overall and is now 21st in standings, equal on points with fellow Honda rider Koungsith Vongsana.

Dennis Verbruggen: “I was a bit too forceful in the qualifier and went down twice. So that was it, I thought because I was dead last and was getting lapped after only four minutes and decided to concentrate on the races. My gate pick was horrifying so I had only one choice left: give it absolutely everything. I fought hard and got 12th and 13th. It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure, because I had to dig damn deep! Still I’m really thrilled because I’m getting close to my best shape and my riding is good as well. I was able to focus well and made hardly any mistake.”