After the French GP Simpson drove down to Portugal whereas team mate De Dycker chose to return home. In Saint-Jean d’Angély Simpson was unable to replicate the great form he showed in qualification on Sunday, but Shaun is determined to get some more top-10 results under his belt this weekend!

Between Agueda and La Baneza, the location of the Spanish GP, De Dycker will join his GP colleagues who will travel to the from one race to the other by camper. We grabbed the opportunity to sit down with Ken in Belgium and get his opinion on the coming Grand Prix.

You’ve put together some fine moto results in Portugal, third last year, two seconds in 2009. What do you think about the track?

Ken De Dycker: "It is a track that I've gone well at in the past and I hope to fight for a top-5 and mix it up some more with the frontrunners. My speed is good for the moment, I just lost too much time passing slower guys in France and obviously I need some better starts! Often the track is wet In Portugal and Agueda becomes very technical. Slower tracks tend to suit me better anyway.”

The track in Agueda is on the calendar since many years. Going through the stats I even found a particularly significant red race for you there. Can you remember what I am talking about?


Ken De Dycker:  (looking examiningly) “Let me think. The red dirt is always there of course and it sure looks awesome in pictures... It’s also where I got my first top-3 moto, back in 2006 and my first moto top-5 in 2004. That was also on a Honda! Having said that, I enjoy the jumping in Agueda and I don’t mind how it becomes very bumpy after a while. But I think they should tweak the track a little bit, to keep it fresh you know. The place hasn’t really changed since I first went there.”


What have you been up to this week?

Ken De Dycker: “I did moto on Tuesday and Wednesday, cycling on Thursday and a lot of my regular physical routine. However I have been careful to take some rest as well. I’m keen to find out about the weather this weekend, because to people in Belgium and Holland going to Portugal sounds quite exotic. But as far as I can remember we always had rain at some point in Agueda!”

With these back-to-back GP’s do you have to be more careful about recuperation compared to GP’s where you had more time in between?
Ken De Dycker: “It’s not necessarily like that. You have to listen to your body and you have to pace yourself because the season is long. I dug deep in Saint-Jean d’Angély and at the start of the week it was obvious during training that my heart rates were a bit higher than usual because of fatigue. But everything is okay now and I’m ready to rock!”