INDONESIAN MXGP “GATE PICK” HEAT RACES CANCELED BECAUSE OF MUD

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“It is difficult riding conditions and the jumps are very soft, so you sink into the take-off. They also have very deep ruts all over the track which are hard to ride in,” Tim Gajser.

Anyone who has traveled to the islands that make up Indonesia know that March is Monsoon season. That means rain…lots of rain.  Guess what? Heavy rain overnight made the MXGP officials realize that Free Practice was all they were going to get out of the Pangkai Pinang race track in Indonesia. In the end Youthstream canceled the heat race for gate pick later in the day and used the free practice times as qualifying times. Of course not every rider tried his hardest in the muddy condition, preferring to save his bike and body for the heat race — as a result the times are all over the map. The five Indonesian riders entered the 450 class were all 2 minutes to 3 minutes a lap slower than the the fastest 450 rider Shaun Simpson. In the 250 class the Indonesian locals stay under a minute behind.

450 CLASS FREE PRACTICE TIMES
(Gate pick determined from these times)
1. Shaun Simpson (Eng)…….2:39.7
2. Jeffrey Herlings (Hol)…….2:40.8
3. Romain Febvre (Fra)…….2:42.1
4. Tony Cairoli (Ita)…….2:43.7
5. Kevin Strijbos (Bel)…….2:43.90
6. Arminas Jasikonis (Lit)…….2:44.2
7. Valentin Guillod (Swi)…….2:44.4
8. Alessandro Lupino (Ita)…….2:45.0
9. Arnaud Tonus (Swi)…….2:45.2
10. Glenn Coldenhoff (Hol)…….2:45.6
11. Jake Nicholls (Eng)…….2:46.1
12. Max Nagl (Ger)…….2:46.7
13. Gautier Paulin (Fra)…….2:47.6
14. Tim Gajser (Slo)…….2:48.4
15. Max Anstie (Eng)…….2:48.5
16. Clement Desalle (Bel)…….2:51.2
17. Evgeny Bobryshev (Rus)…….2:53.0
18. Jeremy Van Horebeek (Bel)…….2:53.0
19. Tanel Leok (Est)…….2:53.7
20. Jordi Tixier (Fra)…….2:56.3
21. Rui Goncalves (Por)…….3:02.0
22. Jose Butron (Spa)…….3:08.9
23. Aldi Lazaroni (Indo)…….4:13.2
24. Farhan Fahrodjie (Indo)……. 4:41.9
25.  Asep Lukman (Indo)…….5:38.7
26. Hilman Maksum (Indo)…….0:00.0
27. Ivan Harry (Indo)…….0:00.0

“I kind of realized that this could happen [using the practice session time as gate pick], so I went out on the track at the beginning and tried to make a good lap before the track got really bad. The race will probably be the same conditions so we will just do the best we can and hopefully will be okay.” Jeremy Seewer.

250 CLASS FREE PRACTICE TIMES
(Gate pick determined from these times)
1. Brian Bogers (Hol)…….    2:16.3
2. Jeremy Seewer (Swi)……. 2:21.1
3. Davy Pootjes (Hol)…….2:22.5
4. Calvin Vlaanderen (Hol)…….2:22.6
5. Adam Sterry (Eng)…….2:23.0
6. Benoit Paturel (Fra)…….2:23.1
7. Pauls Jonass (Lat)…….2:25.0
8. Michele Cervellin (Ita)…….2:27.7
9. Freek van der Vlist (Hol)……. 2:28.6
10. Iker Larranaga Olano (Spa)…….2:30.6
11. Brent Van doninck (Bel)……. 2:30.9
12. Alvin Ostlund (Swe)…….2:31.2
13. Vsevolod Brylyakov (Rus)…….2:35.4
14. Hunter Lawrences)…….2:36.1
15. Bas Vaessen,(Hol)……. 2:38.0
16. Samuele Bernardini (Ita)…….2:38.0
17. Ben Watson (Eng)…….2:38.0
18. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Den)…….2:38.4
19. Kyle Webster (Aus)…….2:41.2
20. Chihiro Notsuka (Jap)……. 2:42.5
21. Magne Klingsheim (Nor)…….2:43.0
22. Aaron Tanti,(Aus)…….2:46.6
23. Ivo Monticelli (Ita)…….2:47.5
24. Jay Wilson (Aus)…….2:48.0
25. Stephen Rubini (Fra)…….2:48.0
26. Thomas Covington (USA)…….2:50.1
27. Ivan Petrov (Bul)…….2:51.0
28. Jorge Prado (Spa)…….2:53.2
29. Rizky Kusparwanto (Indo)…….2:53.8
30. Conrad Mewse (Eng)……. 2:54.9
31. Joshua Pattipi (Indo)…….2:57.3
32. Arjuna Wicaksana (Indo)…….3:01.5
33.  Muhammad Alfarizi (Indo)…….3:02.7
34. Anton Gole (Swe)……. 3:04.6
35. Caleb Ward (Aus)……. 0:00.0