Jeremy Seewer, first time winner

Two men walked away from the mud in Indonesia with big smiles, big trophies and bottles of champagne: both Jeremy Seewer and Shaun Simpson put their heads down and rode with all the determination we have come to expect from these two.

For Suzuki Factory rider Seewer, who picked up his first GP victory, the small island of Pangkal Pinang will always bring a smile to his face. Not only a memory of victory, but a memory of the very warm local people, who also celebrated his win.

“My first GP victory,” Seewer said. “Something special, and something we worked hard for, for so many years. The conditions were tough, but we did what we had to.”

Seewer never thought about not racing, even when the circuit was at its worst. The long trip from Europe, to Qatar, to Indonesia gave him more than enough motivation to travel home with the hardware.

“We came all this way to Indonesia, it cost a lot of money for the teams, and you have to ride. In my opinion we had a lot of luck with the rain. I mean the first moto wasn’t too bad, but the rain came, and the second moto was tough. We had some luck, because it rained all week and then two days it didn’t rain on Saturday and Sunday. Somehow, the luck was on my site. I didn’t make any mistakes and just kept calm, that was the key I think.”

What really caught Seewers imagination though was the enthusiasm from the local people. On more than one occasion the locals gave their love to the GP paddock, and Seewer was on the end of much of the adulation.

“We arrived on Monday and went for a run on Tuesday morning. It’s a bit like slums, they have nothing, but they are so happy. They all called out to us, hello sir, hello mister, they were so happy to see us. They are happy people without having anything. We Europeans need to learn from these people, because we have everything and still we complain. It’s really good to see these people.”

Seewer will now head back to Europe, do some testing, more riding, and head to Argentina with the same motivation he had in the opening two rounds. The taste of victory champagne more than enough to see him work harder than ever.

If round two showed anything about Jeremy Seewer, it showed he is in it for the long run, and his consistent, and reliable performance is just what might be needed to crown him MX2 world champion in September.

Author:

Geoff Meyer