Back this year in the World Championship after several seasons in the European series, team Bud Racing Kawasaki and Mitchell Harrison continue to gain experience for 2020.

Involved in the last two rounds of the championship in Turkey last weekend and then in China, team Bud Racing Kawasaki discover new countries and experiences as this two events are treated like ‘oversea races’ which mean than the bikes are send from Europe in crafts while riders and staff fly to the events. The teams have limited parts and material for these races, compared to the European races where the racing truck is there with a lot of tools and parts, so everyone has to do with what they bring in their luggage!

The mechanics had a tough weekend as Mitchell’s bike had some troubles during this sunny weekend in Turkey.

Mitchell Harrison was affected by some technical issues, and was unable to enter the qualifying race on Saturday. Last behind the gate for the races he couldn’t get any good start but thanks to his pugnacity he came back thirteenth in the opening race and was twelfth in the second one when the bike had troubles and forced him to retire.

After a good qualifying race on Saturday, Brian Moreau was tenth behind the gate, and battled with his American teammate during the first moto. He scores a fifteenth place, and lost all his chances when he had an early crash in race two; back in eighteenth position he scores nine points before flying to Shanghai with the team for the last GP of the season.

Mitchell Harrison: “It wasn’t a good weekend for me with bike issues, which give me a bad gate pick for the races. In the first moto I came back thirteenth which was not so bad from where I started and I was riding in twelve in the next race when the bike stopped. I’m not where I want to be; it’s really hard to perform when you don’t have a good gate pick, the start is so important. I want to stay positive, all we are working now will pay next year, we are just progressing every weekend. It’s cool to discover new countries, just hope to end the season in China on a positive note.”

Team Bud Racing Kawasaki is pleased to confirm Mitchell Harrison for the 2020 MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship.

Team Bud Racing Kawasaki did his come back this year in the MX2 World Championship, in a learning season for their riders. Joining the team in April Mitchell had to discover everything in Europe, and made good improvements trough the season as he starts to score regularly top ten results since Germany. Dedicate to his sport, the 21 years old American rider is currently seventeenth in the series and with a few more months of European experience he will be stronger when the 2020 World Championship will kick off end of January. “It’s been an amazing experience racing here, I came over here in April not knowing what to expect and the Bud Racing Team treated me like a family member and it’s cool to have another year with them and a chance to fill in on the podium with them, so very exited! Next year I will know most of the tracks and I will be more adapted to the bike, we already work on that between the races but now we’ll have a full winter to do that. The racing is amazing here, the tracks are unique, different than in the US but I like that” said the likeable native from Michigan, who is excited to travel to the last two rounds of the series in Turkey and China.

For team owner Stephane Dassé, giving another chance to Mitchell was one of his goal as everyone in the team enjoy working with him. “We’re happy to work with him next season, he came late in Europe and had to discover everything. He improves a lot through the season, has a good mentality and we think that after a good preparation during winter and some more European experience he will be able to get strong results. We’re happy to enter again the MX2 World Championship with him, and he will have two top level young team mates to compete and fight for the win in the European EMX 250 & EMX 125 series and French championship; who will be announced very soon,” explains Stephan who is still working on the final line up of his team

Starting the season after all his rivals, Mitchell Harrison improves his results through the season and is now in the top twenty of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship, while Brian Moreau shows regularly his impressive speed but struggles to confirm his potential during the races.

With two back to back races in Italy (Imola) and Sweden (Uddevalla), no one had time to relax inside the Bud Racing Kawasaki team with a lot of travels and races under hot conditions. The artificial track built inside the ‘Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari’ didn’t really suits to our boys as Mitchell put a few points (five) in his luggage while Brian didn’t got any even if he shows good speed with a second position in the timed practice period! Both had a better feeling with the natural track of Uddevalla, and once more Brian was one of the fastest MX2 guys on Saturday with a fifth position in the free practice session and a third in the timed practice period! His gate pick for the races was not that good with a fourteenth position in the qualifying race, while Mitchell who always need time to learn the tracks he discovers each weekend scores a nineteenth position. On Sunday Mitchell Harrison once again rode two good races after poor starts. After chasing forward to fifteenth in moto one, he made a series of solid moves in race two to advance from eighteenth on the opening lap to tenth at the finish to claim thirteenth overall. Scoring points in seventeenth of the last eighteen motos, Mitchell is now seventeenth in the standings and can enter the top fifteen with two more races to go (Turkey and China). Brian Moreau again showed his speed when he outfoxed the series third-placeman in a race-long duel in race one to advance from fifteenth to twelfth. He got another decent start in race two, but crashed out of thirteenth early in race two and didn’t score points.

In the final round of the European 250 Jimmy Clochet struggles with the track and even if he qualified he couldn’t take points and ends the series in fifteenth position with a second position in France as best result of the season.

Mitchell Harrison: “We continue to work with the team on the settings of the bike, and I feel more and more comfortable. We made another step in the right direction, we’re working to prepare next year as I get more and more used to the tracks in Europe. We have two more GP’s to go and I will do my best to show what I can do in Turkey and China.”

Brian Moreau: “It’s so frustrating to show good speed in practice session, and not being able to confirm in the races. I make too many mistakes and again crash this weekend in the second race; the first one was good as I charged to come back twelfth, just behind a group of riders fighting for the seventh position. In the second one I was eleventh when I crashed after two laps, not easy at the moment to keep focus during the races.”

The World Championship stopped last weekend in Lommel, for the most demanding round of the season. With its deep sand the Belgian track is one of the most difficult track, and when you have four different classes in action during the weekend it’s even worse than you can imagine!

For the fourth time in his young career Brian Moreau was visiting this track where he got a podium result in the 125 class a few years ago, but his weekend didn’t start that well this year. He was penalised during the timed practice period and lost his tenth position. Twenty-eight behind the gate, he couldn’t get a decent start but his race was solid as he came back eleventh at mid period; then believe it or not he hit a big stone – not sure there’s two stones in the sand at Lommel – and damaged the bike, forced to retire! He will get his revenge in the second heat, as he did a solid race to score a eighth position, his second ‘top eight’ result after Loket one week ago.

As always it’s a new track and new conditions that our American rider Mitchell Harrison discovered this weekend, always happy to travel all over Europe. Mitchell will learn a lot watching the best sand specialists and his results will be better and better all weekend long; fourteenth in the qualifying race, he will score a twelfth and a thirteenth position despite an early crash in race two. The track was rougher than ever, but he came back from twenty eighth to thirteenth. Next race for Mitchell & Brian will be the GP of Italy (Imola) in two weeks time.

This week-end, the GP structure and BUD racing staff will be at big youth event named « Rookies cup» with Quentin Prugnières and the 500 kids racing this event !

The third and last MXGP of the ‘East Tour’ offered some good moments to team Bud Racing Kawasaki, with a top eighth result for Mitchell Harrison and a great Saturday for Brian Moreau. They have now ten days and a French Elite next weekend to finalize their preparation for the long trip to Indonesia!

Home of a GP since more than twenty years now, Teutschenthal offered some novelties this year, as the FIM want to reduce the average speed on the tracks after too many injuries in the last World Championship rounds. The track was rougher and more technical as they didn’t flat it too much between the races, and the racing was better and more safe!
Mitchell Harrison had his best GP since joining the series in April as he claimed eighth overall with eighth- and tenth-placed moto finishes. And the American did it in style after gating sixteenth and eighteenth! A rapid series of passes during the early laps of race one saw him quickly through to ninth and after twelve minutes he advanced yet further to eighth, remaining unruffled through the closing laps as he successfully answered every challenge from the current world number three. Race two was less spectacular but equally effective as he made regular passes throughout the race.

The GP motos were less fortunate for his teammate Brian Moreau, who was excellent on Saturday with third-fastest in time practice. He got his career-best qualification race with a fifth-place finish, but was unable to post similar performances on Sunday as he fell on the opening lap of each race and miss the points. Youngest rider of the class Brian proves that he has the speed and the potential to score at least top ten results, but needs to be more patient during the first circulations.
Racing the European 250 Jimmy Clochet was also unlucky as he crashes early in both races; he had to retire in the first moto after jumping on another bike, and not much better for race two as he was involved in the start crash and came back twenty-one.

Next weekend the team will line up in the penultimate round of the French Elite championship, while Quentin Prugnières will enter the last qualifying race of the European EMX85 in Slovenia.

Mitchell Harrison: “I felt amazing all weekend and my riding showed that; I was just missing good starts to do even better. I’m so happy with my Bud Racing Kawasaki; the chassis, engine and suspension are really good and I feel I’m really learning over here! I had good speed all weekend and just kept pushing and pushing. It was a really good track, a lot like High Point back home in the States with a lot of ruts and opportunities to pass and suited my riding style; if you were smooth and patient with the track it treated you well but now we need to work on the starts. I’m really excited to head to Indonesia; I’m sure it will be a cool experience.”

Brian Moreau: “Saturday was a really good day! I had a good practice session which gave me the third gate pick; I know that I could have been even better as I made several mistakes. My jump of the gate was good in the qualifying race and after the first corner I came out fourth. I didn’t take any risks and raced most of the race in that position until Jacobi passed me near the end. The track was very technical; I didn’t make any mistakes on Saturday, but couldn’t repeat that on Sunday as I crashed early in both motos. That’s frustrating, I feel sorry for the team who put so much efforts and I learnt a lot this weekend.”