Pesek anticipates big challenge in 2009

Lukas Pesek is expecting another huge challenge in the quarter litre class this year, staying with the Auto Kelly – CP team on Aprilia machinery for a second successive campaign.

As a race winner and fourth placed championship finisher in the 125cc class in 2007, Pesek moved up to 250cc competition last year but found the going tough, despite his previous stint in the class as a youngster with Yamaha in 2003.

Pesek’s 2008 campaign was a difficult one as he suffered numerous DNFs and achieved only a handful of top ten finishes en route to 15th place overall.

Summarising his off-season experiences to date, he stated, “My physical preparations have been different to last year because now I have more 250cc experience, so I have built up my muscle mass in order to have more strength on the bike. I have been using a motocross bike a lot, which is very good because it is hard work on the bike. It is harder work than on a road bike, so I have been improving with that. I have also been working on specific areas of my body such as my hands and arms.”

He continued, “I have also been on a supermoto bike, I have been skiing and doing as many sports as I can, because I don’t want just one sport in my life. I like to try everything. I only took one week off after Valencia at the end of last season and then I immediately started preparing for 2009 because I know this is a very important year for me.”

Anticipating the level of competitiveness he expects from his team and his Aprilia package the Czech rider commented, “One of the good points is that my team has stayed the same, with the same staff. But one thing which is not so good is that we are keeping the same model of bike as last year, which is an LE, not a factory bike, so I think it will be quite difficult to be in the top ten.”

“I expect there to be around 13 or 14 factory bikes for me to compete against, so I would like to stay in the top ten and then I could say that would be a good job. I also want to fight around the front when I can, up towards the top five.”

When asked about who he expects to be the main 250cc players in 2009 Pesek played it straight with his predictions, pointing to the top three finishers from last year who remain in the class, following the promotion of Mika Kallio to MotoGP.

“I think Marco Simoncelli and Alvaro Bautista will be the main men again, along with Alex Debon,” he noted.