Five minutes with Mike Vanderstraeten
He's back with a vengeance... Although you wouldn't always say so! Driving is still just as easy for top class Mike Vanderstraeten (27). This weekend the two-time VLM Inters A champion stood on the podium in the organization of his own team, Fun MX. So it's high time for a chat.
Actually, it has been since 2016 since Mike completed a full season. Yet it did not take long before the rider from Balen took up a position in the front ranks again. In Molenbeersel, in the first round, Vanderstraeten was back on the podium for the first time in the current championship. Last weekend it was a success on the beautiful circuit in Lummen where the ex-MX rookie took his first final podium!
How did your home race in Lummen go?
Mike Vanderstraeten: “After a bad start in the first moto I was able to finish in 4th place. I also had a poorer start in the second series, but in the end I still finished 3rd. A nice ending for our own organization. A home race like that is always a bit harder, before I could go home I had to clean up the cross first. (smiles) But surely more pilots will recognize that? All in all, I think we were lucky that the rain only started during the second heats. I think that's why almost all the pilots stayed until the end.”
Your comeback is going very smoothly. You see improvement almost every week.
Vanderstraeten: “That's right, step by step it's getting better and better every week. The bike feeling and race rhythm in particular are the most important for me to get back to my best level. The excess kilos will then be lost and your fitness will follow automatically. This year is mainly a transition year to get back into 'good shape' for 2020.”
Driving is still very easy for you, does that scare you?
Vanderstraeten: “The fact that it seems easy may be because I feel really good on the Yamaha. That engine just suits me very well. At the beginning of the season I was outside the top 10 in terms of results. Now I know how to keep myself more and more within the top 5, with a 3rd place already.”
Yet you deal very calmly with the (high) expectations that people here and there have about you?
Vanderstraeten: “The year is still long. My main focus is to keep improving every week no matter what the results are. Results will become more important again next year. Now I want to have fun and build up well.”
Thank you for your time, good luck this year!
Vanderstraeten: “That is very much done, see you at the cross.”
Photos: Dieter Jans
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