Tough Weekend for Team STR KTM at Ernée
12-06-2013
Ernée, France. 8-9th June 2013. After the successful weekend at Foxhills, the team travelled over to Ernée in France for the eighth round of the World Championship, with Adam Sterry also making the trip for the second round of the EMX250 Championship. The hard-pack circuit is of a typical French variety with big up and down hills and some pretty sketchy take-offs and landings. With the track itself being set on one hillside with the majority of the fans located on the other, it makes for a superb atmosphere, especially when the home fans have their countrymen at the front, fighting for the honours.
EMX250 Qualifying
Sterry was on fine form taking a well-earned 7th in group A which would give him a decent, 13th gate pick for the final on Sunday.
MX1 Qualifying
Barragan made a great start in 7th, but he crashed after a jump and the pursuing Paulin landed straight on top of his bike, leaving him no option but to retire. Karro got buried at the start and had to fight his way through to 22nd before learning that he had been disqualified by the unusually strict officials for "not respecting the yellow flag".
EMX250 Final
After his good starts at Foxhill, a confident Sterry took a fantastic hole-shot in a field full of high quality riders on high-quality machines and although he lost a couple of places on the first two laps, he looked comfortable running at the pace of the front few. However Yamaha ride Klingsheim made an aggressive pass on the young Brit, taking his front wheel and dumping him on the ground. After remounting in 15th he crashed again and suffered damage to the ignition cover, forcing him to retire.
MX1 Race 1
Both riders made poor starts with Barragan in 24th and Karro dead last. Barragan looked more aggressive than of late and swiftly moved through to 19th but could only manage to gain another two places by the end to finish in 17th. Despite still encountering pain from his wrist, Karro still pushed hard throughout the race but couldn't quite make it into the points, finishing in 21st.
MX1 Race 2
Barragan went down along with a number of other riders on the first turn, suffering damage to his bike and after circling for a couple of laps he pulled in to the pits and retired. Karro managed to avoid the first corner carnage but was still left down the field. He fought his way into the top twenty and as the race entered the latter stages, he closed in on a group of three riders in front but after receiving a face full of roost he was finding it difficult to see through his goggles and had to discard them. Without goggles his job was now even more difficult and he could do nothing other than cruise home in 19th.
Adam Sterry said: "I was looking to get a decent result in Ernée after building my confidence last week and I felt good in practice and also in the qualifying race, where I took 7th. I was really happy with my hole-shot in the final and after losing a couple of places I felt comfortable until I got taken out and after getting hit again by another rider I had to retire with a hole in the ignition cover.
“It's disappointing not to finish after taking the hole-shot but I'm growing in confidence every time I ride my bike and the more I spend time in this environment, the more I move in the right direction."
Jonathan Barragan said: "This was my worst result of the year. My speed was good all weekend and I was riding well. I was more aggressive and my lap times were better but I had bad starts and didn't get as many points in the first race as I wanted. This was then combined with a problem with the bike in the second race after the crash on the first corner."
Matiss Karro said: "I had bad starts and didn't get into the races as fast as normal but I thought I rode ok in both, although I'm not happy with my finish positions. The track was hard on my wrist which didn't help but I will take the week off to give it more time to recover and hopefully get better results in Italy next week."
Team Manager, Steve Turner said: "It was a really tough weekend but Adam looks better every time he rides and after making a few changes to his bike a few weeks ago he is now delivering great starts. Jonathan was much more aggressive this week which was good to see but still didn't get much luck. Matiss finished the weekend in one piece without suffering any ill effects from his wrist, apart from the obvious discomfort after such a short time since he injured it. We go to Italy now and hope we get a bit more luck and turn the corner, results-wise."
