Suzuki unveil World MXGP Team & 2018 RM-Z450
By TMX Archives on 5th Feb 17
With the gate drop for the opening round of the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship less than a month away, Suzuki have released images of the never-seen-before 2018 RM-Z450WS which will be ridden by Kevin Strijbos and Arminas Jasikonis in the World MXGP class this year.
The have also presented the rest of the Suzuki World team which included riders from the 85cc, EMX250 and the MX2 class, in a squad that is brimming with potential.
Led by General Manager and 10 times World Champion Stefan Everts, the team is looking to bring success to the Suzuki brand:
"I am very excited of course, it's my second year with Suzuki and I am so happy and honoured to be able to present this new RM-Z450WS.
It is a great bike, it looks fantastic and it is new motivation for everybody involved to take the brand back to the top step of motocross. Of course there is still a lot of work to do in the future for myself and the team but having this backup from Japan and this new bike is something great for everyone.”
Leading the team will be the experienced Kevin Strijbos, and he will be looking to back-up his Lommel victory from last year on this new RM-Z450WS.
I'm excited with the bike and looking forward to it, I had a good off-season staying in shape and although I had a bit of illness recently, I still feel good.
"Having a kid has certainly made things strange because I still want to ride, but it's not the most important thing in the world to me now. Even if I have bad day, when I see my kid smile, it makes me feel better and I hope being relaxed will help take some pressure off and allow me to be more comfortable on the new bike.”
For Lithuanian Arminas Jasikonis, this will be his first full year under a factory awning after what ended up being a successful audition filling-in for Ben Townley in 2016 and he sees it as a great honour to be a part of this ground-breaking project: "I am really excited for this new year.
"The new bike is something special and a lot of people are really going to be excited to see it. This is my first full year as a factory rider, coming from a small country and a small team, so I am really pumped and excited and I think we are going to do well.”
