The Swiss round of the FIM European Motocross Championship was a resounding success for Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki, with Brian Moreau and Tristan Charboneau taking the race victory in the European 125 and 250 championships.

Before the final round of the 125 series, Brian Moreau remains leader of the championship.
Second in his qualifying group on Saturday, Brian Moreau started his weekend with another podium result as he secured a second position in the first 125 heat. He got another great start in the second race, and took the lead after two laps to win pretty easily his third heat this season. After this second overall success this year he is now leading Italian Facchetti by 19 points before the last round next weekend in Sweden.

Tristan Charboneau, the American who has been racing this year in Europe swept to the fastest time in qualification at the track on the outskirts of Frauenfeld-Gachnang and led the opening moto from start to finish for a clearcut victory. Taking the holeshot in race two to lead for six of the thirteen laps before settling for the third place, Charboneau secured him his second consecutive overall victory in the series and he is now eighth in the championship standings. Charboneau’s teammate Marshal Weltin narrowly failed to complete a Kawasaki sweep of the podium. Fourth in race one, the American missed the podium on the tie-break after finishing seventh in race two after a crash in the last lap and has now advanced to fifth in the series. This weekend Marshal was also selected by team Puerto Rico for the upcoming Motocross of Nations, organised in UK on October 1st.

Brian Moreau: “It was a good weekend, and in both races I got a pretty good start. In the first race I was in second position when Haarup came back behind me, then I woke up and pushed to keep this second position. Before the second race they watered the track and it was slippery, I didn’t felt confident during the first laps but then I took the lead to win another race. I got many second positions this year so it’s great to win again, now the goal in Sweden will be to secure this European title.”

Tristan Charboneau: «It was a good weekend, pretty easy actually, though that second moto was probably the hardest. Those guys had a lot of drive to get their best finishes of the season, but I gotta give it to Bud Racing and my mechanic for supporting me through the hard times and the good times, giving me this chance to race the European championship. »

Team Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki had a great weekend in the Portuguese round of the FIM European EMX Motocross Championships at Agueda, with three riders on the podiums! Tristan Charboneau won the seventh round of the 250 series, Marshal Weltin stands on the same podium with a third overall while Brian Moreau claimed a second position in the 125 class.

Tristan Charboneau controlled the weekend from first practice; already more than a second faster than his closest rival in free practice, he surged to his first pole position and dominated the opening moto on Saturday from start to finish, controlling his closest chaser whilst building up a fourteen second cushion over the remainder of the field. Grittily emerging in front from a wheel-to-wheel battle through the first few turns in the second race on Sunday morning he quickly took command again and once more stayed out of reach of his chasers as temperatures soared. The fifty-point maximum has lifted Tristan to tenth in the series standings.

Marshal Weltin made it a double podium for Bud Racing with two consistent third-placed motos; on Saturday he raced top three throughout but had to charge up the leaderboard from an initial sixth on Sunday morning to snatch third in the moto and over the weekend in total on the very last lap of racing. He has now advanced to seventh in the series standings prior to the two final rounds in August and September.

In the 125 class Brian Moreau was also the fastest rider in the timed practice period, and got the holeshot on Saturday for the first race. He was leading the race when he had a small crash in the third lap, but recovered and came back from fourth to second. He had another holeshot on Sunday and battled with Facchetti for the heat win; leading six of the fourteen laps, Brian got another second position and finished second overall behind the Italian. He is now leading the series by 18 points with three more rounds to go.

Tristan Charboneau: “What a weekend! One, one, one, nothing could be better this weekend! Honestly it was a difficult track, you just needed to take it easy, find the traction, use the bumps stuff like that. It’s a great weekend for Americans as my teammate Marshal is also on the podium, awesome; I can’t feature a better weekend! Both holeshots helped me for sure, then I didn’t make any mistakes; in Russia I won one moto but it was a muddy race, this time the conditions were more normal and it’s great to finally win a round of the series.”

Marshal Weltin: “I feel good on this track, I like it and finally had a good qualifying session and a good gate pick. I put myself in a good position at the start of both races; it’s great to have this first podium. I can’t thank enough the Monster Energy Bud Kawasaki team; they super support us even if the results have not always been what we were expecting. We have a break in the series now, but I will continue to work hard to prepare for the rest of the season.”

Brian Moreau: “It was another good weekend for me, as I increase my leadership with a second overall. The track was nice but bumpy, and I made a small mistake in the first race otherwise it would have been perfect. The most important was to finish both races in good positions, now we’ve nearly one month before the next round.”

Stephane Dasse: “It’s a wonderful weekend for us, with the pole position in both classes and our three riders on the podiums! Brian was strong and increases his leadership in the 125 series, he is fast and consistent this season with four podiums in five rounds. It was more difficult for Tristan and Marshal to get used to the tracks in Europe, but they were perfect this weekend; Tristan show his real potential since a few weeks, and Marshal never give up and I’m sure this podium will help them to be even stronger in the last rounds of the series.”

Tristan Charboneau scored the first win of the year for Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki in the Russian round of the FIM European EMX250 Motocross Championship at Orlyonok.

For the first time since 2012 the series was back in Russia, on a new facility overlooking the Black Sea. Teams and riders enjoyed the track and facility on Saturday, but overnight rain made conditions very demanding on Sunday.

In the top ten of the qualifying session Tristan missed the opening moto on Saturday but got his revenge on Sunday morning; he took the lead on the second lap and led throughout the remainder of the race to win by nearly five seconds. Sixth of the event, he is now eighteenth in the series standings.

Teammate Marshal Weltin had been the star of the opening moto as he moved forward from an initial seventh to secure his eventual third place before half distance in the thirty-minute race. Crashing in an uphill where he got stuck for a while in the second moto, he started the race at the back of the pack and came back seventeenth. Ninth overall, he has now moved to twelfth in the series standings.

Thierry Van Den Bosch: « It was a long trip but it was also a good weekend for us even if our riders had only one good race each! Tristan didn’t enter the first race due to a minor problem, but in the second one he won it; he never did any mistake from the first to the last lap, it was the the first time this season while leading a race. Marshal had a good opening moto, he had a good start and got a top three; he deserved such a result, as most of the time his starts are not so good and nobody see how fast he is in the last part of the races. Just a shame that he crashed early in the second race, but one more he had very good lap times. This event was a good one, we were all impressed by the location, the track and the organisation but it’s a pity that it rained so much on Sunday.”

On the podium of the first round of the 125 European Championship two weeks ago in the Netherlands, Brian Moreau did even better this weekend in Kegums (Latvia) as he won his first ever European race with a strong 1/1 and got the leadership of the series.

After Valkenswaard it’s on another sandy track that the European championship went this weekend, and it was a good venue for Brian. Fastest rider in his qualifying group, Brian came second after a few corners in the first race and passed Italian Facchetti before mid race for the lead. Then he had to resist to the come back of Norwegian Horgmo, who was never in a position to attack him so Brian claimed his first heat win. On Sunday morning the second heat was similar; Brian did a few laps in second position, then put some pressure on the leader and passed him at mid race to get another heat win. Winner of this round Brian is the new leader of the series, and will arrived at the French Grand Prix in his club (Ernée) with the red plate for the third round of the series.

In the European 250 class our three riders qualified with a 9th position for Tristan Charboneau, à 17th for Kim Savaste and a 25th for Marshal Weltin. Racing this series for the first time this year Kim was the best rider of the team with a tenth overall; starting twice outside the top twenty, the Finish kid came back strongly in both races. Eleventh overall Marshal recovered pretty well from his bad gate pick, while Tristan was not so successful. Involved in a pile up at the start of the first race he came back from last to 21st and then retired in the second heat.

No race for the team next weekend, but then three busy ones with a French Elite (St Thibery), the European series (Ernée, French GP) and the final round of the French Elite (Pernes les Fontaines).

Brian Moreau: “It was a good weekend, I didn’t do any mistake to win both races and it was cool to hear the French anthem on the podium. It was very emotional and I had some tears coming! I was able to stay focus from the beginning to the end of the races; we worked a lot on this point with Thierry (Van den Bosch) this winter, and also about the best way to manage the races. Now I take my time, that’s what I did in both races when I was in second position; in the second heat I came back on Notario and passed him after the waves section. It’s my fourth season with team Bud Racing Monster Energy, I was not working too hard during the first two years but now it’s different, I understood that there is not other solution to succeed. I don’t realize yet that I will have the red plate at the next round in Ernée, it will be cool and I will do my best to win also there.”

Stephane Dassé: “This success of Brian is a nice reward for the team who follow him since four years, and we could see his improvements each year. He just turned 15 at the beginning of the year and made a big step this winter, now he is really focused on his job and he offers us some great results in the European series. The championship is still long but these good results will help him to be even more confident and it’s nice to see another kid being successful with us, as were Marvin (Musquin) or Dylan (Ferrandis) in the past.”

The sandy track of Valkenswaard met this weekend the opening round of the European Championships during the European Grand Prix, and team Monster Energy Bud Racing Kawasaki got his first podium in the European 125 class with the second position of Brian Moreau.

Racing the Elite championship on his 125 two stroke at only 15 years old against the 250 four stroke, Brian Moreau didn’t get great results so far and came to this first round of the Euro 125 under pressure! He started his weekend with the pole position in his qualifying group, and he had two great starts; fourth at the beginning of the first race he moved to second, but in the last part of the race Swedish Edberg passed him and Brian secured a third position. He grabbed the holeshot in the second heat and got a strong second position, to finish second of the event!

Once again Marshal Weltin, Tristan Charboneau and Kim Savaste struggled in the short lap times qualifying sessions, and all had to go to the last chance session to get a chance to qualify in the 250 class. Both Americans qualified in second and third positions, while Kim didn’t enter the top four of the last chance race. Despite a very bad position behind the grid our Americans did their best during the races; Marshal came back from 35th to 13th on Saturday and from 33rd to 8th on Sunday showing a good speed and fighting spirit that we love at Bud racing, while Tristan moved from 29th to 17th on Sunday after a difficult race on Saturday (19th). Marshal got his first top ten overall with a ninth position, while Tristan finished 21th; they are currently 11th and 17th in the standings but we they are able to show much more soon.

On the 1st of May the team will be in Gaillac for the French Elite championship, and from there they will move to Kegums (Latvia) for the next round of the MXGP and European championships.

Brian Moreau: “I’m very happy with my weekend, I didn’t crash or didn’t do big mistakes and that’s cool to start the series with a podium. The track was rough for the 125 riders, I got two good starts; in the first race I lost one position in the last part of the race but in the second one I kept my second position until the end of the period. It’s great to get such results as in the French Elite it’s not easy to ride with a 125 against the 250. I had some pressure coming here as I didn’t really know where I could be; I saw that I have the speed to race for podiums, but I will not panic and continue to work hard.”

Thierry Van den Bosch: “I really appreciate Brian’s races, he stays on his wheels even if he put some pressure on his shoulders and had some serious rivals against him. He had many questions in mind before this race, he really wants to do well and work hard to achieve good results. He rode tense in the first heat but was more relax in the second one, and finally he got a great podium. Now he needs to be consistent! Concerning the 250 class our Americans are still in a learning period as they arrived in Europe end of March, they have many things to discover including new tracks every weekend; the qualifying session is always tough for them, as it was last year with Darian (Sanayei), but when they are behind the gate they are always real fighters. With a last chance qualification Marshal and Tristan had bad gate pick, but they both recover. Marshal put two strong rides, had some very good lap times and as he is strong physically he came back in the top ten, a great result considering his starting gate. It was more difficult for Tristan who has more talent, but is not yet at his best physical shape. Kim missed his qualification but he’s just back after six months off due to his back injury; he needs to be more relax at the races, and to ride as he does in training. I hope that Latvia will be better for him as he’s a hard worker, but this weekend he has also to prepare some school exams.”