After his spectacular charge to fourth place in the previous day’s Qualifying race Haarup was determined to do even better on race day and was again quickly on the move to advance from seventh to fifth during the early laps of race one until he slipped off accelerating out of a right-hander to drop back to twelfth. Undeterred by the temporary setback the Dane was quickly on the move again to move back into the top eight by lap seven and continue his charge to clinch fourth place on the very last lap. Starting sixth in race two the Kawasaki rider immediately saw the chance of mounting the podium as he charged up the leaderboard; after twelve minutes he was already fourth and relentlessly closed the three-second gap to the rider ahead, securing his first podium since the opening round of the 2020 season with a scintillating inside pass ten minutes from the end of the moto. He has also advanced to fourth place in the championship standings.
Mikkel Haarup: “Already yesterday I could feel I had a good flow around the track and like in the weekends before I was improving every session; after fourth in the Qualifying race I could see my pace was there for the podium but I didn’t want to take it for granted so I kept working and really pushed for it. I made some nice passes both motos but I made it difficult for myself in race one when I slid out when fifth so I had to come back from twelfth to fourth. I recovered well between the races and could push all of the second race too. I’m really happy, not just for myself but for the entire team and everybody around me; this was a team effort and we’re only just getting started. It was so good to be back on the podium. It’s difficult to describe the emotion; you work so hard for it and I just tried to enjoy every moment up there but tomorrow is a new week and we carry on working; I can see I have even more and want to be up there with the guys right at the front. “
Words: Kawasaki
