Birthday Boy Leok 5th in British GP

BIRTHDAY BOY LEOK 5th IN BRITISH GP 31 MAY 2009 Well, it was not quite his birthday. Not yet. That joyous day was to be on the day after the race, but if he were the kind to count the days, Tanel Leok would already have thoughts of cake, candles and cool drink in his head as he lined up for the start of the British GP on the last day of May. Fortunately for his team and fans, the Estonian Express is not thus inclined. When it comes to racing, he is all business, and with a top world ranking to fight for, he had plenty on his plate as the world championship circus hopped across the channel for the seventh round of the series at Mallory Park in England. Tanel has always taken well to British conditions, and showed every sign of continuing the trend during Saturday's pre-qualifying practice session. He posted the fourth fastest time, a mere 2/10th's of a second from pole position. Unfortunately for the 23-year-old-for-the-last-time, the qualifying race had its share of troubles in store for him. An altercation between his bike's front brake and a rock was decided in favour of the rock, and the bent front disk rendered his front brakes as usable as a chocolate tea pot. Moreover, the front brakes bound up sporadically, which made progress interesting, to put it euphemistically. As a result of these impediments, Tanel managed no more than to finish 19th in the qualifying race, a pretty good result considering the circumstances. Starting from the 19th gate in a star-studded field is no surefire recipe for a good start, and sure enough, the Yamaha Red Bull De Carli machine was well out of the top 10 as the pack rounded the first bend. Tanel made short work of a few of the warriors ahead of him and pretty soon found himself in 12th position. As he got into the cream of the class, the progress slowed somewhat, but nevertheless he managed to bully his way through to 8th by race end. Tanel used the grunt of his blue missile to barge into 10th position by the start of race 2. He was involved in a number of sharp battles for each position gained. Frenchman Gregory Aranda provided some stubborn resistance, but the Estonian Express is known to latch onto those preceding him with all the tenacity of a bulldog with a rump steak in his mouth, and after a few laps, Aranda could hold the pressure no more. The next to fall was former world champion Mickael Pichon, and before the race was called in, Tanel had advanced all the way to 6th. In a day that delivered some really strange and erratic results from a number of riders, Tanel was credited with fifth overall. Despite this, he dropped to 8th in the world standings, but with a manageable gap all the way to third. On Monday he will surely allow himself a few moments to celebrate the big day, then it's back to the grindstone in preparation for the French GP at Ernee next weekend. TANEL IS QUITE ADEPT AT CUTTING THE CAKE Mail server hosting by www.mxhosting.be This report is available online. RESULTS All GP results are available on the official website of the motocross world championships.

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