MXGP swings back into action this weekend with round 13 of 18 in the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship and Team Suzuki World MXGP and MX2 teams primed for the slippery and fast hard-pack terrain of Loket for the Grand Prix of Czech Republic.

After recovering from his left wrist injury and successfully coming through the fifth round of the ADAC MX Masters German series at Tensfeld last weekend, Kevin Strijbos is again ready to steer the works RM-Z450 in the premier class at a venue where he scored the motorcycle’s (and his) first GP victory in 2005. The Belgian will be partnered on the factory machinery by 18-year-old Lithuanian newcomer Arminas Jasikonis; the youngster drafted into the team to replace Ben Townley, who will miss the rest of the season due to internal injuries suffered in a testing crash three weeks ago.

Loket has been a regular site on the Grand Prix trail. The picturesque layout close to the spa town of Karlovy Vary and near the German border deep in the west of the country is splayed over a steep hillside adjacent to the small hamlet. What Loket lacks in technical demands in terms of bumps and ruts it usually makes up for with a fine, hard and slick soil that pushes throttle control and traction to the fore. Several big step-ups and step-down leaps are also part of the circuit complimented by a long start-straight drag race to an uphill left-hand turn.

MXGP has endured a three-week pause in the calendar and now begins a rush to a season-ending ‘double’ in the USA in early September. The respite was enough to allow Strijbos to recover from the damaged capsule in his wrist – that caused him to miss GPs in France, Britain and Italy - and get back on the bike in time to run motos in Germany. While the 30-year-old is happy to be racing once more, he is cautious over his possibilities for the weekend and is also mindful of his home event the following week in the sand of Lommel that should be the hardest physical Grand Prix of the season.