AXO rider Steve Ramon earned runner-up position overall at a sunny Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of The Netherlands and the third round of the series.

The Belgian took his Suzuki to third and second positions in two motos run across a rippled and technical sandy terrain and in front of 22,000 spectators who flocked to the venue close to the city of Eindhoven: he built his speed and attack through the lines of the Dutch course - even leading the second moto for a healthy distance period, sealing his first podium finish of the 2010 season.

The result also buried any bad memory of the accident that caused a neck fracture at this event in 2009 and this result leapfrogged him to third in the World Championship standings, 19 points from second place.

Steve Ramon: "This is my first podium of the season and I knew my speed was good from the first two GPs. My starts were not good again today and it was hard to come from back in the depths of the top 10. I came up to second place in the first moto but it cost me a lot of energy and towards the end I got a little bit tired. I lost my concentration and Philippaerts passed me. In the second moto my riding was good again and I was having fun out there. I was leading for a while and when I saw Antonio crash I knew I had to go for it. Again, at the end, my arms felt the pace and I have to give credit to Antonio who was very good today. I am just very happy about this results and looking forward to the next race!"

Good results came also from Ken De Dycker on the Yamaha of the Monster Energy Ricci Team, who was sixth at the end of the day and from Davide Guarneri, who ended a tough race week end in ninth overall at his debut in the MX1 class.

Encouraging results for AXO came also form the Superbike: Max Neukirchner took ninth spot in Race 2 held at Assen (The Netherlands) and Chris Vermeulen was able to score some points at his come back after the operation at his knee, which he underwent some weeks ago.