Top results for Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki at French elite

Two weeks after Valence, the season really opened this weekend in Brittany for team Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki, with the opening round of the French Elite Championship. Despite a lack of racing and training due to injuries and surgery, Valentin Teillet and Dylan Ferrandis dominate the event and lead the MX2 classification.

For the first time in his career Valentin Teillet is leading an International series, and for the young hopeful it has been a long week of doubts! Unable to ride and train during two weeks after his arms surgery, Valentin had some pain in his arms but enjoyed the rough and technical track of Romagné. Runner-up during most of the MX2 race, he got the leadership when his team-mate crashed and later stalled his engine! In the super final mixing the twenty fastest riders of each class, Valentin confirmed his heat win; in the top five among the 450 at the start, he came second behind Boog during most of the period to finish third overall and first MX2 rider. Second in the standings is Dylan Ferrandis; coming back after a four months break due to a shoulder injury, Dylan was leading most of the MX2 race but crashed twice in the last five minutes. That cost him a win and even a podium result, as he lost too much time to re-start his engine and finished in sixth position; in the super final Dylan was close to his team-mate at the start, but then lost a couple of positions when he crashed. Second MX2 rider of the super final, he is second in the standings.

Livia Lancelot was doing her first ever attempt to qualify in the French Elite, among almost eighty riders. The track was mainly dry for the qualifying session, and Livia posted the twentieth fastest lap to get a place behind the gate. She had a great start and was in the top twenty when some riders pushed her out of the track; with a painful knee Livia went back in the pits. On Saturday afternoon David Herbreteau, the 85cc recruit of the team, dominate a regional race and confirmed his potential.

Valentin Teillet:”I’m very happy with my results, it was unexpected as I had surgery to my lower arms just after Valence and I was not sure to ride her. I had too much problems with arm-pumped and we took the decision to skip Lacapelle international, that was finally the good decision. Twice I finished first MX2 rider here, I couldn’t expect more! I have a great team behind me and we have a really good bike, we were both in the top five at the start of the super final among the 450! I was second during most of the period; Paulin passed me only a few laps before the end, and we can be confident for the rest of the season.”

Dylan Ferrandis:  “It was my first race since four months, after my shoulder surgery, and physically this race was not easy as I just started riding one week ago. I had a great start and I was riding easily in the MX2 race, but two laps before the end of the period I made a mistake and crashed; I was still leading, but in the next lap I made another mistake and damaged my clutch level so I couldn’t use anymore the clutch. I stalled the engine and lost too much time in this incident, and finished sixth. In the super final I came second behind Boog, but I was pretty tired and during the second lap I made a small mistake and crashed; I finished eighth, that’s disappointing but I know that I’m not ready physically and the goal was to score points. The first GP is in one month, we have still four weeks to be ready.”

Livia Lancelot: “I qualified twentieth, the last qualifying position and I was happy but expected to do well during the race. I had a pretty good start in the first heat, but in the first corner some rivals were not so fair and pushed me out. I had pain in my knee so I stopped there; I’m disappointed, the track was top this morning, then with the rain it was more physical and I would have like to race on a dry track.”

Stephane Dassé: “It was a great day for us, both Valentin and Dylan rode very well and we were happy to see them so strong; as everyone know they didn’t had so much time to prepare this event, but that was not a problem. They both got a great start in the super final, they proved how competitive is our 250. Valentin and Dylan bring a new motivation in the team, that’s nice to work with young kids and it’s difficult to explain why but I’ve a great feeling for this season.”

Race Team 2012

This is the presentation of the new team Rockstar / Bud racing / Kawasaki 2012 featuring David Hertreteau (85cc), Livia Lancelot (women) and our GP riders Dylan Ferrandis and Valentin Teillet.

Podium for Teillet, win for Herbreteau in Valence

Team Rockstar Energy Bud Racing Kawasaki started the 2012 season on a positive note, as Valentin Teillet finished runner-up in the MX2 class at Valence International, the first pre season event of the season. With an 85 class win for new member David Herbreteau and a strong performance for Livia Lancelot, the team scored good results seven weeks prior the opening round of the World Championship.

Valentin Teillet was Kawasaki’s only official representative in the MX2 category, as Dylan Ferrandis is still recovering from his shoulder surgery sustained in December. The energetic Valentin came through his debut with flying colours, as he charged hard all day to secure second place overall. After recording fastest time during the morning qualification Teillet shot into the lead from pole in the opening moto and led for ten minutes before relinquishing the lead as he started to suffer with the inevitable early season stiff forearms. A similar ride in race two left the 21 year old securely in charge of second overall on the day and he sensibly took no risks in the combined MX1/MX2 race which concluded the day’s programme, doing sufficient to maintain his overall placing in the MX2 class.
There was a race in the race between Livia Lancelot and long-time rival Steffie Laier; Steffie won the first battle, and Livia the second one among some of the fastest MX2 riders of the planet!

New young talent David Herbreteau was on another planet in the 85cc invitational race. Posting the fastest lap in the timed practice session, 1,8 second ahead of his rivals, the kid had some troubles with his gate at the opening race but came back from last to fifth! Only seventeenth at the second start, he took the lead in the third lap to win easily the second race and the overall.

Valentin Teillet: “It was a good weekend. It’s just a pre-season race but I took it seriously, as did most of my rivals. I got good results in the practice sessions with the pole position in the qualifying, and grabbed two holeshots today! That is really positive, but unfortunately during the races I had some troubles with my arms and couldn’t stay with Tonus. Second overall in not bad; we could saw that we worked well with Jacky Vimond and the entire team, and now we have several rounds of the French Elite series to finalize our preparation for the GPs.”

Livia Lancelot: “That was a pleasure to race on such good conditions, and I’m pleased with my results. We battled with Steffie all weekend long, we had good time and I was happy to beat her in the second race. We were there mainly to test the bike before the Women’s French series, and it was great to see that we worked in the right direction with the team. We just change some settings on Saturday, and even if the track was rough I had a great feeling with the bike. I will enter in two weekd the opening race of the French Elite Championship, I know that it will be tough to qualify but I want to try. Racing against faster riders is for me the best way to make progress.”

David Herbreteau: “We did some adjustments on the settings of the bike on Saturday during the practice sessions, and Sunday was good for me even if I didn’t enjoy so much my riding in the timed practice session. I had some troubles at the start of the first race, but I was able to come back fifth; I found some good lines, and that helped me also in race two when I started mid pack. It was my first race on the Kawasaki and with Bud Racing, and everything went well; we worked well with Jacky this winter, he helped me to improve my riding and I want to thanks all the team and our sponsors for their support.”