Successful Husqvarna debut for Mathias Van Hoof
After a lot of testing throughout the winter and good preparation, last weekend the first enduro race of the year finally took place. For Belgian Inters vice champion Mathias Van Hoof, it was also his first race on Husqvarna. Enter, however, became a positive trial by fire for Mathi!
As has been the case several times this season, the Belgian pilots will be guests in the neighboring countries of the Netherlands and France. This weekend the competition was held in Enter in the Netherlands. After many doubts as to whether the match would go ahead or not due to the rain, the organization had provided an excellent match. A paved parking lot, a dry connecting route and on top of that 3 tests with 95% dry attachments made for a very successful season opener.
The new official Husqvarna pilot got off to a good start. However, there was a bit of nervousness during the first 2 tests, which often happens to pilots on the first race after the long winter break. After 2 rounds, the Herentals player started to get into his rhythm better. I've had quite a good winter. Being able to remain injury-free, which allowed me to train a lot and properly. At the end of January I was also able to complete a good training camp in Spain and France with my two teammates. However, the first 2 rounds did not go quite as hoped. I started a little too eagerly, resulting in some small slips. On the last lap I made some minor adjustments to the bike and things started to go better. I noticed that the conditions in the match are always different from those in training. “
After a day of 7 hours of racing and about 200 km, the floodgates opened completely in the last hour. The last cross test was transformed into a mud bath. The final test started with a small gap in 5th place. “I knew I was close behind Cedric Cremer. The last test was short, but due to the heavy rain I still tried to make up for something. This also worked, I made up 12 seconds, but was just 1 second short of place 5. After the many mistakes at the beginning of the race, the final result was still quite good. I will remember the positive and will work in the coming weeks to correct the mistakes I made for the next matches. “A 6th place in the fiercely contested Prestige class was ultimately the result for the Husqvarna pilot.
Photos: John Leenders, Remco Ditmar
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