Tom Soderstrom in the top fifteen at the Grand Prix of Sweden

06-07-2010

Tom Soderstrom from the Yamaha van Beers Racing Team finished inside of the top fifteen at his home Grand Prix in Uddevalla, Sweden last weekend.

In the first moto he worked himself up to twelfth position but in the second part of the race he lost a position to finish the moto in 13th position. In the second moto he was riding inside of the top fifteen for a long time but in the second part of the race he lost his rhythm and dropped back to seventeenth position in which he finished.

Tom was motivated to do well in front of his home crowd. He felt at home on the circuit on Saturday and had a lot of self confidence when he prepared himself for the qualifying heat. He started around twentieth position but he stayed calm and worked his way up to seventeenth position during the race. Because the track was really fast it was difficult to overtake so Tom had to be satisfied with seventeenth position.

In the first moto he took a good start and came out of the first corner in fourteenth position. He found his rhythm straight away and was following the riders in front of him. In the middle of the race he passed two riders and moved up to twelfth position. Soon after he dropped back to thirteenth position but Tom kept his head together and held on to finish the race in thirteenth position.
The start of the second moto was again good and at the end of the first lap he came by start/finish in sixteenth position. In the beginning of the race he moved into fifteenth position and managed to held on to this position for quiet some time. Just after the middle of the race he lost his rhythm and this cost him some positions in the later part of the race. He finally crossed the chequered flag in seventeenth position.
Tom finished fourteenth overall and sits in 22nd position in the World Championship Standings.

Ceriel Klein Kromhof:

The weekend started not that well for Ceriel. In the practice sessions he felt pain in his knee which he injured at the Grand Prix of Latvia. However in the qualifying heat he took a good start but disaster struck the rider from Daarlerveen in the first lap. His rear brake pad blocked the disk which locked the rear wheel. Because of this problem Ceriel was forced to retire from the race.

Despite his bad starting position he managed to take a decent start in the first moto and came out of the first corner in 24th position. He found his rhythm straight away and worked himself up to seventeenth position. His charge trough the field ended when he had to throw away his goggles. Ceriel tried everything he could to keep the pace as high as possible but lost several positions and dropped back to 21st position. In the final lap he managed to pass another rider to finish the race in 20th position which was good enough for 1 World Championship point.

In the second moto he got a poor start but in the first lap he managed to pass several riders and at the end of the lap he came by start/finish in 19th position. In the third lap he made a small crash but disaster struck Klein Kromhof soon after. He twisted his knee in a rut and had to retire from the race.
Ceriel finished in 26th position overall and after ten rounds he sits in 31st position in the World Championship Standings. The next Grand Prix will be held at Lommel in Belgium on August 1.