European Moto win for Darian Sanayei in Italy, SX Tour win for Xavier Boog in France

It was another busy weekend for team Monster Energy Bud Racing Kawasaki, involved in Italy with the European series and in France with the opening round of the SX Tour. On both side of the Alps, the Bud riders offered some wins to the team.

Since the French round of the EMX250 championship Darian Sanayei is stronger and stronger, and once more in Mantova he got a good second position in the qualifying session and later dominates the first race. The American teenager enjoyed a terrific duel with his series rival before eventually coming out on top in Saturday evening’s opening moto, and he appeared to be headed for a double victory until he had an engine problem and crashed at the end of the second moto on Sunday morning, which was a devastating end to what should have been an awesome week-end. He remains a clear second in the series standings with two rounds still to race.

In the Euro 125 the team got his best result of the season with both riders in the top five of the event! Leader of the first race during most of the period on Saturday, Kim Savaste finally got his best ever result in the class with a second position. On Sunday he didn’t rode so relax, and crashed several times; eleventh of the race, he finished fifth of the event tight in the points with team mate Brian Moreau. On the rough track and under very hot temperatures (over 30°C all weekend long) Brian scored his best performance of the season with two consistent races; even if he is the youngest rider in the series, Brian didn’t do any mistakes to collect two fifth positions and a fourth overall. He is now ninth in the standings, followed by Kim.

The youngest team representatives were in Italy, and their experimented teammates were in South west of France for the opening round of the famous SX Tour championship. After a test during the week, Maxime Desprey was coming back racing alongside Xavier Boog. The Alsacian was the fastest riders in Estillac, and dominates the event; second in the timed practice session, Xavier won his heat race and the main event! Maxime didn’t got similar results as it was his first race since four months, but he got a good fifth in his heat race and a thirteenth position in the main event. The SX riders will be this weekend in Maricourt for a new SX series, while Brian will start training SX at Team private track during the EMX series break.

Darian Sanayei: “I did pretty well in practice, even if we didn’t made the best decision concerning the tyre choice but my speed was good and I got a second position. In the first moto I took the holeshot; I was riding good but I made some mistakes and Olsen just get around me about ten minutes in. I followed him, saw his lines, knew the track better and made a pass on him after twenty minutes to win the race, which was pretty cool. In the second race I got another holeshot and was riding good again; Vaessen was second, Olsen was pretty far back and I was getting better and better but unfortunately I had some troubles with the bike, fell and had to retire.”

Brian Moreau: “ It was great weekend for me, especially on a sandy track who is not my best usually! I got good starts and rode carefully in both races, as I never got two good results at a race this season. It’s a great feeling to be twice in the top five, I still need to work physically to be able to race for a podium result and that’s what we are doing with the team.”

Kim Savaste: “It was a good weekend for me as I got my first second place during the first race; I was leading until 3 laps to go but the weather was very hot and I felt tired during the last laps, but I was happy with my riding. Second race I think I had some little pressure for the podium, I got another good start but felt twice during the race when I try to make some passes. This weekend I was happy with my riding, for sure I’m Finn so when it’s sandy it’s easier for me.”

Xavier Boog: “Practice was good as I got the second position but very close from the poleman, with a couple of fast laps. I won pretty easily my heat race and again in the main event I started in third; in the second lap I took the lead and posted a couple of fast laps to make a gap, and then to control my rivals until the finish line.”

Maxime Desprey: “I was back on a bike end of May on Motocross tracks, and last week I just try to ride on the team’s Supercross track and finally decided to race in Estillac. I had a good feeling on the bike but knew that I will not have the rhythm during fifteen laps, and still struggle in the whoops missing some confidence. I got a fifth in the semi final but then I got a bad start in the main, crashed and had some troubles to keep the rhythm and finally had some arm pumped. I finished thirteenth, happy to be back racing, and I know that I still need to train and ride to be strong physically.”

Darian Sanayei consolidates second in England

Darian Sanayei consolidated second place in the FIM European EMX250 Motocross Championship for Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki after finishing joint top points scorer at Matterley Basin in England.

The American teenager twice outpaced the series leader as he swept to a five second victory in the opening moto before finishing a close second to a local wild card rider in race two; their duel had taken them nearly half a minute clear of the remaining riders in the race. Having contested the British round of the series last year Darian already knew the track and finished top of his qualification group before two close battles with the English wild card rider, a former champion; they finished the weekend tight on points. With three rounds remaining Darian remains 56 points behind the series leader, but he has increased his advantage over the third-placed rider to 69 points.

The European 125 was also at the program of the British GP, and in the timed practice session Brian Moreau shows again his potential at 14 years old when he posted the fastest lap time of his group. On Saturday afternoon Brian got a good start in the first race, coming fourth but he lost time in a crash; ninth after three laps, he came back sixth. The second race on Sunday was not a good one for him, as he didn’t score any point after an early crash in the 1st lap. He remains tenth in the standings, before the GP of Lombardy this weekend. Teammate Kim Savaste had a consistent weekend, scoring points in both races for the first time since Arco; the young Finish rider scored a Seventh of the GP, he is now eleventh of the series, just a few points behind Brian.

Our 85KX rider Thibault Benistant was in Portugal, and entered the last qualifying race of the 85 European series. It was his third appearance since his elbow injury begin of march, and Thibault had a very good weekend with two podium results and a strong second overall at Fernao Joanes.

The EMX250 and Euro125 series will continue next week in Mantova (Italy), while Xavier Boog will enter the French SX Tour with the first round of the series in Estillac.

Darian Sanayei: “In the first moto I had a pretty good start and passed Clarke and then Prado to get the lead. I made a small gap and won this race; it was cool to win again. Then in the second moto I got a good jump of the gate but started wheeling; Prado was at my inside and I just came wide open in the first corners to get the lead again. That was pretty cool and my speed was good but Clarke, who was just doing this race, hit me a couple of times. We had a really nice battle for a couple of laps and I just missed out on this win, but I won the qualifying and the first moto. Second overall is not so bad for the championship. The track was awesome; I enjoyed it last year and again this time.”

Darian Sanayei double winner in France

Darian Sanayei scored an emphatic double victory for Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki in the French round of the FIM European MX250 Motocross Championship at St Jean D’Angely. For the team who lined up five riders, it was also a great opportunity to welcome partners and fans.

The young American, faced with the need to learn a new circuit at every round, qualified eighth and made a solid start to the opening moto in third position before quickly taking the lead on lap three and moving relentlessly away from his chasers for a nine second victory. Another good start in race two saw him initially second before taking the lead already on the opening lap for another convincing win, again nine seconds clear of his closest rival. The fifty point maximum score for his first ever series victory has seen Darian advance to second in the series standings.

Teammate Nicolas Dercourt also made his best result of the series so far when he took fourth overall from 4-6 moto finishes, missing the podium by just one point. The French youngster twice had to charge up the leaderboard from moderate starts; in the first moto he advanced from eighth to fourth and in the second race he converted an initial eighth into sixth place. Nicolas is now eighth in the series standings.

In the European 125 class Brian Moreau qualified with the second fastest lap of his group, while Kim Savaste had to go through the last chance race to qualify. Brian missed his start in the first heat and fight hard to pass many riders to finally get a seventh position, but he crashed at the start of the second race and had to come back from far last to fifteenth; tenth overall, he’s also tenth in the series. From the outside gate Kim had more troubles at the start, and had twice to come back from very far; he retired with a technical issue in the first race but then came back eighth in the second heat.

Sixteen and fourteen of the practice session, Xavier Boog rode the MXGP class and had to come back from eighteenth to fifteenth in the first race, he didn’t had time to improve his result in the second heat as he damaged one radiator in a crash with another rider after three laps.

Even if the World and European Championships have a break next weekend, the team will be in Ernée for the penultimate round of the French Series.

Darian Sanayei: “It was good. The track was really nice, just some stones, so my goal was to take some good starts so I wouldn’t get too much stones in my face. I was third at the start of the first race and I had some difficulties with my hand guard touching the clutch but with the track conditions that wasn’t such a problem; it just made me ride smoother. I nearly got the holeshot in the second moto. I was second and took the lead at the second or third corner; after that I just tried to ride my own race, to stay strong and make a gap to my rivals. I rode this track a few weeks ago and, even if the conditions were totally different, I think that helped me to get a good qualifying result. I’m used to discovering new tracks, but at least I knew the track layout here, and it will be similar in the UK as I raced there last year. It was awesome to hear the national anthem; it was my goal to win some races here in Europe this season.”

Nicolas Dercourt: “ It was a good weekend for me, as I got my best overall result of the year with a fourth position overall. I had the eleventh gate pick but missed a good start in the first race; I rode a good opening lap to move to eighth, and then found a good rhythm to advance to fourth at the finish. My second moto was pretty similar, as I moved forward from eighth to sixth and just missed the podium by one point.”

Brian Moreau: “I was expecting a lot from this GP, trained hard so of course I’m disappointed with the results. In the first heat I was around twentieth at the start and came back seventh, the track was really rough and slippery; then in the second heat Geerts took my front wheel on the starting line and I crashed. I was last and came back fifteenth, it’s a learning year for me!”

Kim Savaste: “On Saturday I can’t explain why I didn’t qualified in the series, and I was upset to go to the last chance race to qualify. I won it and get used to the track; in the first race my start from the outside was not so good but I came back from twenty first to eleventh when i bent my chain guide in a rut and my chain came off with four laps to go. Then in the second race I didn’t got a good start but my riding was better and I came back eighth.”

Xavier Boog: “I’m happy to finish this French GP on my foot, as I got injured in the last two editions and that was somewhere in my mind! I was expecting better results, but without a good start now it’s nearly impossible to enter the top twelve. In the second race I had a good rhythm but I crashed with another rider and damaged the bike, my race was finished. It was a good practice before the Elite round in Ernée, we are not used now to have a full weekend of racing as the French Motocross and Supercross races are a one day event.”

Top ten for Moreau, Dercourt et Sanayei in Spain

Coming soon…

Second place for Darian Sanayei in Trentino

Darian Sanayei raced his Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki to second place in the fourth round of the FIM European EMX250 Motocross Championship at Pietramurata in northern Italy. It’s the third podium in a row for the young American rider, third in the standings now.

Darian had found difficult conditions in qualification on a track made rutted and sticky by midweek rain but he used the power of his KX250F to immediately sweep into the leading group and maintain a top three placing throughout the first moto on Saturday evening. An even better start in the second race on Sunday morning saw Darian round turn one in second place before quickly taking the lead to maintain it for four laps before coming home second, thus earning second overall for the weekend. Darian is now third in the series standings after four of ten rounds.

Nicolas Dercourt advanced quickly during the first moto from thirteenth place to fourth before another rider hit him, hurting his leg, in an incident three laps from the finish but he bravely continued to finish thirteenth. Another collision at the third corner of race two on Sunday morning relegated Nicolas to the back of the field but he fought on to cross the line twelfth despite the pain from the leg he hurt the previous day. Nicolas is now tenth in the series standings.

The European 125 was also involved in Arco di Trento, and both Brian Moreau and Kim Savaste qualified well with a second place for Brian and fifth for Kim. Runner up in his group, Brian got twice a very good start and was fifth during most of the races; unfortunately the track was muddy on Saturday for the first race, and Brian did a mistake during the last laps and went down to fifteen.The 14 years old French kid will got his revenge on Sunday with a fifth position, his best result so far which gave him a ninth overall. Kim never got any good start and fight in the pack during both races; thirteenth in race one, he felt better on Sunday and came back from twenty one to twelfth, despite a crash at mid race.

No race for the team next weekend, everyone will be busy to prepare the next rounds of the series with four European rounds (Spain, France, UK and Italy) within the next four weeks, and a French Elite between France and UK!

Darian Sanayei: “Another podium! That’s good and I hope we can keep building and go one step up; I want to win! This weekend was pretty good, I got some valuable points for the championship and I’m now third in the series. In the training session it was pretty muddy. It had rained a lot and I didn’t get a very good lap; I even got stuck in the mud one time and was only twelfth in the timed practice period of my group, which gave me a twenty third gate, pick. Fortunately on this track you can get a good start from nearly everywhere at the gate and that’s exactly what I did with a third position in the first race. We changed the engine between the warm up and the second race, so a big thanks to my mechanic as he didn’t had so much time to do that! I was second at the start and took the lead after a few corners to stay in front for about ten minutes before Olsen passed me. It’s my best result of the year so far; it will be good to have one weekend off to come back even stronger in Spain.”

Nicolas Dercourt: “The track was mainly one line on Saturday with the mud, and I qualified in tenth as it was not really easy to have one clear lap. In the first race I came back from thirteenth to fourth, but in the last few laps another rider hit me and I crashed; I got my bike on my leg and it was painful, but I could finish thirteenth. On Sunday I got another decent start in the top ten, but in the third corner another rider crashed and I was stuck with him. I restarted nearly last and came back to twelfth; the track was better to ride but my leg was still painful so I did my best.”

Brian Moreau: “It was a pretty good weekend for me, I posted the second fastest lap time in my group and a podium result was possible if I didn’t made a mistake during the first race. I got good starts in both races, but during the first one on Saturday I crashed with two laps to go and lost my fifth place to finish fifteenth. Sunday was better, I was fifth at the start of the second race; I lost some places in a uphill but came back fifth, now the goal is to do two good races in a row.”

Kim Savaste: “I never felt confident this weekend, even is usually I like this track. My qualification was Ok with a fifth position in my group, but I never took any good start and then couldn’t come back as I would like. I just found my rhythm during the second heat, but it was too late even if my lap times were really good. Now I’m focus on Spain and France, it will be good to stay and work with the team between these two races as the goal is to reach soon a podium result.”