The second event of the World Motorcycle Endurance Championship took place on Saturday 8 June at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The Slovak Maco Racing team, which has been part of the world championship for 22 years, also entered the eight-hour race. However, the novelty was that this time two crews of the Slovak team took to the start.
The first crew competed in the EWC class, where Christoffer Bergman from Sweden, who replaced the injured Croatian Martin Vugrinc in Le Mans, Japan’s Takeshi Ishizuka from Japan and Martin Choy from Bulgaria appeared behind the wheel of the team’s Yamaha R1. The second crew competed under the name JP 43 RACING by MACO in the Superstock class. Former Maco Racing team rider and 2003 world champion American Jason Pridmore and his compatriots Andrew Lee and Michael Gilbert rode the motorcycle. For the 54-year-old Pridmore, the race in Spa was a farewell to his long successful career.
After the qualifications, the crew with the number 14 belonged to the 24th starting position, the Americans, who drove with the number 43, were in the 33rd place. After a bad start, Swede Bergman left last place and a chase began, which eventually earned the Maco Racing team points for 9th place in the EWC class world championship and is currently thirteenth after the second event. The 43 team also had problems at the beginning of the race, but thanks to the pursuit drive, they finally won points for 12th place in the Superstock class at the premiere.
Martin Kuzma, team owner:
“After the race in Le Mans, our team suffered a lot of technical damage, so we went into qualifying in Spa without much pressure and with confidence. Chris doesn’t have a lot of mileage this year, Takeshi went very well, he improved his personal time by 1.9 seconds compared to last year. Since Chris can’t run, Takeshi went to the start, but because of his height, he has a problem getting on the motorcycle, which showed, moreover, our motorcycle didn’t want to start, so we started the race in last place. Our strategy was to go for long stints and we did that, so we climbed upwards and it ended up being 9th in the EWC. Thanks to the whole team for this result, it was a great job, at the pit stop we had the third fastest time of all the teams. We are happy with the points, but it was no glory. That’s why we have to concentrate on the 24-hour Bol d’Or, where we have to collect points and thus save the result of this season.
I am happy to cooperate with the American racers, this team was managed by Denisa Grešková, and Adam Stepien was in charge of the technical part. All three competitors were in Spa for the first time. This track is difficult mainly because of its length. Therefore, in training and qualifying, the drivers primarily learned the track and started the race from 33rd place. In their case, too, a strategy of long stints was determined. Before the first pit stop, the driver did not make it to the pits for gas, but then the losses began and the twelfth place in the class at the finish of the race, with the potential around seventh place. I admire the performance of Jason who at 54 qualified, scored points and although he hasn’t raced for a while, you can see what a great professional he is. The fact that he set his fastest lap of the weekend in his last stint is testament to that. Thank you once again to the whole team, Denise Grešková, who has lived in this rodeo for 22 years, and to all our partners and fans for their support.”