Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha rider Calvin Vlaanderen heads to Sardinia this weekend with high hopes and some good preperation for the Grand Prix he won in 2022. The South African/Dutchman might not be coming off a victory, but he has shown signs of being consistent in his first two major races of the 2023 season.

Vlaanderen did of course win in France during the pre-season and his opening MXGP round in Argentina brought him 11-10 scores for ninth overall, and then in The Netherlands last weekend he finished with a very solid 4-3 for third overall behind Jeffrey Herlings and Romain Febvre.

After winning the Dutch Masters title last year, Vlaanderen came into the 2023 opener at Harsfen with the number one plate looking to defend his crown. At the opening round which took place at the weekend, Vlaanderen showed great pace but his starts weren't there on the Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha and that's the area to improve.

“It was a fun day of racing at the first round of the Dutch Masters. I always enjoy these races with a good atmosphere and many Dutch fans. The track was busy in practice and it was difficult to get a clean lap, I managed to get an okay lap and went second in practice. In the first race I got squeezed going into the first corner and lost my balance and landed on the floor so I had to fight from last place and came back to fourth. In the second race I had a very average start coming out around seventh but I found a good flow and managed to pass the riders in front. I was behind the leader trying to find a way to pass and I put it down... I picked myself up in third and that’s where I finished. It was good training for the next GP’s coming up.”

In the first race, a first corner crash saw him dead last but he cut his way through the field to get back up to fourth – good damage control. Race two saw him down in seventh on the first lap but he charged up to second and was right up Herlings rear wheel before a crash dropped him to third. It was a great preparation race for the MXGP races fast approaching starting with Riola Sardo this weekend.

As mentioned above, the MXGP World Championship kicked off at the beautiful Argentina track which presented a high speed but challenging race track with plenty of squad edge bumps to challenge the best riders in the world.

The Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha team are fully focused on Vlaanderen this year as the sole rider and the first challenge was the MXGP qualifying race which offers points this year as one of the changes in the 2023 season. It was a good start to the weekend with Vlaanderen getting a good start and was able to bring home sixth for five championship points.

“That is the first GP done and dusted. I had good speed all weekend long but was let down by my starts today. In the first race Jeremy (Seewer) crashed and I had nowhere to go so I had to go over him. My bike got stuck on his bike and cost me time. Coming through the pack I had another small crash which cost me more time so I ended up eleventh. In the second race I didn’t feel so good directly in the first laps. I had some sketchy moments and thought it’s best to bring it home safe in tenth. Overall, I’m quite positive with where I am speed wise and physically. I need to work on the starts and we’ll be there fighting for top fives each weekend. Thanks to my team, Stefan and Nick for the hard work.”

The first moto didn’t go according to plan as Vlaanderen didn’t get a good start buried in twenty-first after colliding with another rider on the opening lap. CV10 set about working his way through the pack at a deceiving race track but rode well to get all the way up to eleventh just missing out on the top ten but his lap times were good which was encouraging.

It was a better start in race two which saw Vlaanderen thirteenth at the end of the first lap but was able to make passes on Guillod, Forato and Coldenhoff who had a big crash to come home a solid tenth. 11-10 was good enough for ninth overall and on the day but sits eighth in the championship due to the new point scoring system this year.

The team will now prepare for round two of the MXGP World Championship which heads to the rough sand track of Riola Sardo on the 25th and 26th of March. Vlaanderen and the Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha team have great memories from that GP last year after taking home an impressive win. 

Calvin Vlaanderen: Definitely nice being back and last year was special for me winning the qualification race and the two motos on the Sunday. It is a new year and there is some pressure and expectations. We will see how it goes. It will definitely be tough, and the track is pretty flat compared to last year and I hope they leave it like this, because everyone can go fast when its flat.