Assen (Holland), 1 September 2015:Lone Wilvo Forkrent KTM representative Adam Sterry went into the final round of the EMX250 Championship at the MXGP of The Netherlands with a slim chance of taking the overall title yesterday. With a deficit of 33 points, the 18-year old knew he would need more than his fair share of luck and a faultless ride if it was to go his way on the super-soft sand of the Assen track.
Race 1: After posting fourth fastest in morning qualifying, Sterry had a good gate pick but made a poor start by his standards and was down in 10th. He quickly moved through to seventh with all three of his main rivals ahead of him. The front group started to pull away from the rest of the field and Sterry began to look for a way to improve his position, however as he went for a pass on Desprey he hit the deck. After restarting in 11th he fought back to seventh but crashed twice more, leaving him to cross the line in a disappointing ninth place and handing the championship to Kouwenberg in the process.
Race 2: Sterry made a good start in third and looked sharp as he moved forward into second place. He was lapping two seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field and soon closed in on the leader, but as he went for the pass he hit the deck hard. After picking himself up in fourth he settled back into a good rhythm although not at the same impressive speed as prior to his crash, so he could only manage fourth at the flag which was just enough to secure third in the championship.
Commenting on his weekend, Adam Sterry said: “After a good MX2 round in Mantova last week I was feeling confident heading to the final EMX250 round in Assen but race one was a disaster. A bad start and three crashes left me down in ninth at the finish. In race two I moved position on the start and it paid off, as I was third round the first turn. I made the pass for second and worked on closing for the lead. I went to make the pass for the lead and landed square on top of a bump, which ended up high siding me. I came home fifth for third in the championship. It wasn’t the final result we wanted. Too many mistakes and some bad luck meant it just never felt like it was meant to be. I feel I let the side down but I gave it my all and will continue to do so. I want to thank the whole team for being behind me through the good and bad, I couldn’t ask for anymore. I look forward to the final few races and will be trying to end on a high.” Summarising, Team Manager Steve Turner said: “Another up and down weekend but at least Adam finished on the championship podium. We came to win this title and we didn’t succeed because in the end we have the same result as last season, but we still made a lot of progress. The bike is much better than last season and Adam is a lot faster than he was a year ago. There were four fast guys, all on fast machinery and each of them expected to win but in the end it was the most consistent rider Kouwenberg who took the title. He wasn’t the fastest but he was solid and made very few mistakes, whereas Sterry, Graulus and Desprey won a good proportion of the races between them but succumbed to the pressure and threw their bikes down the track on too many occasions.”
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