Karro in the points at home GP

28 June 2009 KARRO IN THE POINTS AT HOME GP The Hollywood script is well-known and well worn - that of a hometown boy made good. The story usually goes about a talented, but somehow challenged hero who leaves his home shores, battles adversity and his own demons and finally returns, to triumphantly to win a major sporting event, produce a magnificent play, sing a major concert, win the world curling championships or whatever theme blows the producer's hair back. Matiss Karro's story has many of these elements, but as life goes, Latvia is not Hollywood, and circumstances conspired against the teenager a tad too much to produce a feel-good ending that would do credit to a movie script. The Latvian teenager had indeed left his home shores and tackled the big-wide world of world championship motocross racing as a fresh 15 year old. Now, two years later he has a junior world title and a few top 10 GP results under his belt, and naturally, the attentions of his countrymen were focused on him like a spotlight as the first motocross Grand Prix to be held in Latvia drew closer. Alas, alas, this is where the script went slightly off the rails, for it was only a few weeks before that Matiss seriously injured his thumb, which kept him on the sidelines and pacing up and down like a caged lion for a good number of weeks. He chanced his arm a bit sooner than recommended in a British Championship event to try and maintain his championship standing, and as misfortune would have it, crashed heavily again with the selfsame digit taking the brunt of the impact. With his home GP in mind, Mati ss and his team decided to forego the German GP a week prior, and with precious little riding time under his belt, CurlyKarr (TM) made the short jaunt from his Riga residence to the GP track of Kegums, where the action would be. The teenager roundly admitted during the slew of TV interviews that he had been subjected to that his riding fitness was not up to scratch. How could it be, when injury kept him off the bike for so long. Even so , the curly top hides nothing if not a steely resolve, and Matiss is never one to shy away from a challenge, so his legions of fans could still hope that a miracle would happen. The most optimistic of his fans may have had their faith tested by the events of Saturday, however. Barely a few metres into the qualifying race a rider went down heavily ahead of Matiss and there was nothing he could do but plough into the carnage on his MVR-D Suzuki. With the peak of his helmet pointing skyward like an anti-aircraft gun he got going again, but by now he was dead last and the pack for all intents and purposes in a different postal zone. During the course of a short 20 minute race there was no t much that he could do but ride out the laps and accept his 33rd qualifying position. The Kegums track sports a full-on 180 degree turn after the start, which very clearly favours those riders with good starting gates, and Matiss definitely felt himself the orphan of the pack, having to start way out on the far side where one could scarcely see him with a telescope. These are the kind of conditions where his determination kicks into high gear and he moves in line with the movie script. From a position way outside the top 10 he cur through the field like a tax officer through an expense claim, and when the pack passed the timing truck for the first time, he was already on fourteenth position. His riding style when on a charge can best be described as delicious, and he raised his fans high on the back of a plucky ride. He actually worked his way up to ninth position, but as the minutes wore on, the heavy pace, his still-weak hand and the track, which would have mage a pretty goo d instrument of torture during the Soviet era, started to get to him, and when riders of the quality of Evgeny Bobryshev and Marcus Schiffer came battering at his castle walls, the defenses cracked. Still, Matiss kept going and delighted his fans with a strong 13th position finish, well in the points zone. IN race two, the Riga Raider charged his way form the outside of the start into 19th position round the 180 degree turn. His surge was, if anything, even more impressive this time, and again he worked his way up to a top 10 spot. This time he held the position until just 3 laps form the end, and then again his lack of race fitness put the noose around his neck, and Jeremy Van HOrebeek and Jose Butron took advantage of his unhappy circumstances. Even so, with 12th position, he had still collected a nice basked full of points. Even after missing 4 GP's Matiss is 25th in the world standings with a top 20 spot still in sight. He will remain in the Baltic for a few days, and will on Tuesday travel to the home town of trainer Avo Leok to participate in the Somerpalu summer race. As the final titles roll, the moviegoers leave the cinema. The hero didn't pull off and against-the-odds win, but he did exhibit guts and courage by the bucket load. The scene is set for the Hero of Kegums II, and with the hero only still 17 years old, the series can go on to rival Rocky for the number of follow-ups.   RESULTS All GP results are available on the official website of the motocross world championships. This report is available online.   AT THE LEAD OF A VERY FAST GROUP MATISS WAS POPULAR ALL WEEKEND (Pics - Reinis Olins) Mail server hosting by www.mxhosting.be   MEDIA SPONSOR MANAGEMENT

Posted via email from motocrosscanada's posterous