OPENING ROUNDS OF THE FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIPS DOUBLE SUCCES FOR THE BUD RIDERS

After many weeks of training and a couple of races in Spain earlier this year, the MX season finally start for team 9MM Energy Drink Bud Racing Kawasaki who won two rounds of the French Championship, in Ernée (Juniors class) and Plomion (Women series).

More than 300 riders were in Ernée for the first round of the French Elite, and the sun was there so racing conditions were perfect on such a nice track. The team was involved in the Junior and MX2 classes, and it’s in the Junior class that they celebrate wins as the Coenen brothers dominate both races. Winning both one race and scoring a second position in the other one, Sacha and Lucas were tight in the points but as he won the second moto it’s Lucas who got the red plate as leader of the series. Lucas had a tough opening moto, coming back from sixteenth to second but crossing the finish line more than 40 seconds behind Sacha who dominates the race. In the second heat Lucas had a great start and won ahead of Sacha, with the third rider forty seconds behind the winner

For Quentin Prugnières this race was the first one in the MX2 class against many GP riders, who come there to prepare the Russian GP. Eighth in his qualifying group, Quentin confirmed his ability on the 250 during the first race, with a eighth position. The second moto was different as he hit another rider who crashed in front of him; nearly last when he was back in the race, Quentin came back seventeenth. If we consider only the riders who do the French series, he ends his first Elite race fourth overall.
Quentin, Lucas et Sacha will be on June 26th in Great Britain for the opening round of the European Championships.

Amandine Verstappen was not in Ernée, but she was in Plomion for the first race of the Women championship. It was a perfect day for her, as she was the fastest in the timed practice period, got both holeshot and won both races! The holeshot was important to avoid stones, and with this double win Amandine will be the woman to beat once again next weekend in Huismes for the second round of the series.

BUD Racing Kawasaki is very proud to announce his 2021 race Team ! 4 titles 2020 champions in the Team !

Young but very strong riders with multi 2020 champions to join Team BUD Racing Kawasaki for 2021 International & French championships !

The riders age will be very young for the 2021 race team but all are very strong and with high goals for the future. All the riders have signed multi year agreement with the Team to prepare the future for Kawasaki.

Norwegian sensation Haakon FREDRIKSEN who just turned 18 last week, 2020 Norwegian champion and 3rd at European EMX250 championship is confirmed to be the Team leader to contest the EMX250 class aboard the all New very performant KX 250 2021.

French 2020 Junior 125 champion & 2019 French 85cc champion Quentin PRUGNIERES (15 years old) will continue with the Team but will step to the 250 class to compete the European EMX250 championship and learn for his 1st year in this very competitive class.

Amandine VERSTAPPEN French 2020 Women champion will also continue with the Team in 2021 to keep his title but also to race the entire World women WMX championship with goal to reach the podium.

In 2021, Team BUD Racing Kawasaki will increase his line up by creating a supported “BUD Racing Junior Team” and the very talented twins coming from Belgium Sacha & Lucas COENEN (not yet 14 years old !) will join the team for a multi years agreement, they will compete the 2021 European EMX125 championship… Sacha literally dominated the French 85cc championship in 2020 and clinched the title showing amazing speed !

The TEAM will not only race the EMX championships but the riders will also compete French Motocross/supercross championships in their respective class as well as the Beach Races / Sand championship when the championship will finally start this winter. To finish, the Team also plan to travel to USA and join BUD Racing USA workshop / structure to compete some of the American Supercross & Motocross highest level races with the kids.

The Team will continue with Thierry Van Den Bosch to be the Team’s coach and to take care of the whole rider’s training and program. Thierry is multi time Supermoto champion and very experienced multi winner coach at MXDN with French team the last few years. Riders & coach will spend lot of time at the sandy “BUD racing Training camp” to prepare the season but will also travel to USA & Spain to complete the preparation.

Amandine Verstappen French champion, Lorenzo Locurcio moto runner-up in Spain

And one more! This weekend Amandine Verstappen offers another French title to team BUD Racing Kawasaki, while Lorenzo Locurcio got a second-placed moto finish in the eighth round of the FIM European EMX250 Motocross Championship, where he scores more points than ever this season. In the 125 class Quentin Prugnières also claimed at the intu-Xanadu entertainment complex near Madrid his best result of the season with a fifth position overall.

After a double win in Fublaines a few weeks ago, Amandine was again dominant in Ecublé as she won both motos to stay undefeated this year. For sure it was a short championship with only two rounds, but Amandine won all the motos to get her second consecutive title.

In Spain, fifteenth out of turn one in the first moto Lorenzo was already through to eighth by lap two and, posting lap times in the same window as the leaders, took over sixth place four laps from the end but he had no opportunity to advance further as the riders ahead of him had escaped early in the moto.. Advancing rapidly from a better start in race two he had stormed to third place within two laps; the race-long leaders had already sprinted ten seconds clear but the ebullient Venezuelan once again maintained his momentum, taking over second place with a thrilling pass three laps from the end to get his best season result with a second place in moto 2 ! he misses the overall podium by just a single point. He has consolidated his seventh place in the championship standings prior to the two final rounds next week in Belgium.

Pierre Goupillon run top six for most of the 1st race but made a mistake and crashed at the end of the race; his bike was damaged in the impact and forced him to continue at a significantly reduced pace simply to finish the race and collect a single championship point. Once more gating inside the top five in race two his luck ran out already on the opening lap when he was involved in a further collision and was last when he rejoined the race; at the finish he had charged through the pack to eleventh place.

In the 125 class Quentin Prugnières did his best performance of the season, thanks to better starts than usual. Tenth after the opening lap in the first moto, Quentin did a strong race to come back sixth; with a better start in moto two, as he was seventh in the opening lap, Quentin had a great rhythm in this moto and scores a fourth position, only five seconds behind the race winner! Fifth overall, our 15 years rider is now ninth in the standings during his first season in the 125 class.

Lorenzo Locurcio: “My start was not the greatest in the first moto but I came back to sixth. In the second moto I got a better start around tenth position and came through to second after a big charge and a lot of passes. It was a good weekend; I’m happy to get my best moto result of the season with a second place but I’m a little bit disappointed to miss the podium by just one point!”

Pierre Goupillon: “The timed practice session was OK with the eighth position and in the first race I was sixth for most of the race but with two laps to go I crashed together with another rider. Unfortunately my front wheel was damaged; I tried to fix it again but I had to slow down to finish the race. Second moto I was third from the start but in the fourth corner I collided with another rider again. I was last to restart and came back to eleventh; it was not really what I was expecting today.”

Quentin Prugnières: “It was a pretty good day for me, and it could have been better with better starts. We’re working on starts, today I was more consistent than in the previous races and got my best result of the season. Now the goal is to do even better in Lommel for the last two rounds of the series.”

Another title for Quentin Prugnières and Bud Racing!

During his first season in the 125 class Quentin Prugnières confirmed his potential, as he claimed the 125 French title at only 15 years old and confirmed the expectations of Stephane Dassé and the Bud Racing Kawasaki team.

Not so many riders claimed the 85 title and just one year later the 125 one, but this weekend Quentin entered in the history of French motocross! Leading the series coming to Rauville la Place, Quentin did a strong opening race as he increases his leadership with a second position ahead of his last rival for the title. His second moto was even better, as despite a bad start he won the race to clinch the title with panache.

The final round of the French MX2 was also at the program; posting the fastest lap time and taking the Holeshot, Pierre Goupillon was the boss in the first race during most of the period, but a crash with two laps to go relegates him in fourth place. More focus in the second race he missed a good start but came back second to secure the fourth position of the day and, more important, the third position in the championship despite missing round #2 due to injury. It was a tougher day for Lorenzo Locurcio, who was hit by other riders during the first lap of each moto; Lorenzo never gave up, coming back from 31st to 11th in race one, and from 40th to 8th in race two. What a strong ride from him!
This week the Bud Racing Kawasaki Team will move to Mantova (Italy) for another triple GP within one week; three rounds of the European 250, and also one round of the European 125 will be at the program.

Quentin Prugnières: “Happy to get the title, just a shame that I missed both starts this weekend! I was able to come back twice in the pack; I’m now use to this 125 class, today I had a lot of fun riding the 125 and the results were good. We’ll continue to work, to get some great results in the European championship.”

Pierre Goupillon: “I missed the heat win in moto 1 when I did a mistake with two laps to go, always frustrating to lose a race due to a stupid crash in a corner. Between both motos we worked mentally with Thierry to prepare the second race, but I missed a good start as I did a wheelie; I was eighth and came back second, and then joined the leader. Happy with this second moto as I didn’t do any mistake and posted the fastest lap, I will go to Italy confident.”

Lorenzo Locurcio: “A tough day for sure, things were out of control as in the first moto some guy cut the track and hit me, I went down. I run out of tear off in the second lap, came back eleventh with the fastest time in this moto. Second moto some guy came from the inside and hit me, we went down and I came back from last to eighth. Speed was good this weekend, just unlucky and now I’m very excited to be in Mantova.”

Victory and Double podium MX2 at home for Bud Racing Kawasaki

Team Bud Racing Kawasaki was on fire this weekend near his team base, as the Bud Racing Training Camp welcome the opening round of the French Elite in Magescq. The event was successful, and the team performed really well as Pierre Goupillon won the MX2 class while team mates Lorenzo Locurcio and Quentin Prugnières both stand also on the podium of their respective class.

It was the first time in the history of the Bud Training Camp that an official competition was organized, reaching the maximum of persons to attend the event, the organizer had to close the gate middle day Sunday as the event was sold out ! On one of his favourite training facility Pierre Goupillon stormed to an overwhelming two-moto victory in the opening round of the Elite MX2 championship, while new team mate Lorenzo Locurcio finished third overall.

The twenty-one-year-old Frenchman Goupillon, who will head the Kawasaki challenge in the European EMX250 series which swings into action in Latvia next weekend, dominated both motos from start to finish and confirmed that he’s ready for the sandy rounds of the European championship. Coming straight from his native Venezuela a few days earlier Lorenzo Locurcio has signed with the team to replace Mitch Harrison, and he displayed strong potential in both races with a fifth and a third position; on the podium of his first race in Europe, he couldn’t have wished for a better start with the team.

In the Junior class Quentin Prugnières posted the fastest lap time in his qualifying group, and did a solid first moto; runner up during the first part of the race he increase the rhythm to overtake the leader with four laps to go. Winner of the first moto Quentin unfortunately crashed in the opening lap of the second moto; outside the top twenty, he came back fifth to finish second overall.

Pierre Goupillon: “I spent many, many hours training on this track this winter and that helped me to improve my riding skills in the sand. We worked hard with our trainer Thierry Van Den Bosch this winter and I’m confident for this season. We saw today that I’m now a sand rider, even if there’s always some pressure for the first race; I had a good feeling all day and I feel ready for Latvia.”

Lorenzo Locurcio: “It’s been a very positive weekend; it’s been a steep learning curve but I have been working hard with Thierry (Van Den Bosch), the bike is good and I’m really excited! It has always been in my mind to come to Europe one day, so when Stephane (Dasse) called me I jumped on a plane. Since I arrived in Europe I have only practised on sandy tracks; it’s never easy to do your first race with the team on this kind of track so I’m very happy with this podium result.”