Livia Lancelot won the British GP, David Herbreteau vice-European Champion

It was a busy weekend for team Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki, involved in four classes at Matterley Basin during the ‘MX Festival’ organised on the British track during the thirteenth round of the World Championship. And it was a successful event for the team, who celebrated another GP win with Livia Lancelot in the Women World Championship, a second position in the European 85cc Championship with David Herbreteau a top eight result for Dylan Ferrandis and Valentin Teillet in the traditional MX2 Grand Prix and a sixth position in the European MX2 with support rider Benoit Paturel.

Ten different classes, four racing days, and a huge sportive success for this event who was the biggest ever organised in Europe with the 65, 85, 125 and 250 European series alongside all the World classes, including women and veterans! Winner of the French GP three months ago, Livia Lancelot was back in the series and won her second consecutive GP with a second and a first position. In the Euro 85cc class, David Herbreteau did two strong races, bud a bad start in race one and a crash in race two when he was passing in second position put him second overall behind young Dutchman Davy Pootjes. In the European 250 Benoit Paturel was back racing after a practice injury (fingers broken at one hand); twelfth of the first race after a crash at mid race when he was eight, Benoit rode stronger in race two and scored a sixth position to finish six overall.

In the MX2 class Dylan Ferrandis nearly grabbed the holeshot in race one; fourth during most of the race he just lost three ranks in the last ten minutes when Nicholls, Van Horebeek and Tonus passed him. His second start was not as good, but Dylan rode strong to collect another seventh position; he advanced to eighth place in the series standings, just a few points from seventh position. Valentin Teillet had a bad gate on the grid, after a crash in the qualifying session, but he got twice a pretty decent start from the outside gate; in both races he chased his teammate to secure two eighth positions which put him in fourteenth place in the standings despite missing five GP’s this season. The team will now move in Belgium to prepare the European GP in Lierop, scheduled in two weeks time.

Dylan Ferrandis: “The track was very good – we never had such a nice one this season so I enjoyed racing here. My first start was great and I was fourth for most of the race, but in the last few laps I was passed by three rivals and that was a little bit disappointing. I battled with Tonus and Tixier all through the second race to score another seventh position. It’s my best GP since Sweden, and now I will go training with the team in the sand to prepare for Lierop.”

Valentin Teillet: “On Saturday I had a good feeling with the track and was always in the top five of the training sessions, but I crashed on the third lap of the qualification race so I didn’t have a good gate pick for the GP. I got a good start in the first race and finished eighth, but I got pushed out at the first corner in race two and I had to fight hard for another eighth position. I didn’t make any mistake today and that’s positive, particularly as the track was rougher than on Saturday.”

Twelfth round of the 2012 Motocross World Championship, the Grand Prix of Czech Republic confirmed the come back of Valentin Teillet, who scored an overall sixth position for his second race since his injury, aboard his Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki. Eleventh of the GP, Dylan Ferrandis remains ninth in the standings with four more GP’s to go.

Regular venue for the series since ten years, Loket has always been a special track that riders like or hate! The grip is always strange on this slippery and narrow layout.

Valentin Teillet, who spent a couple of days practicing with the team in Belgium after Russia, showed great speed all weekend. After setting second fastest time in Pre-Qualifying the Frenchman earns fifth choice of gate in the Qualifying race and looked set to improve on this position. He was chasing fourth in race one, but had a freak incident as the gearshift was bent in a deep rut and prevented him from changing gear as he approached the next jump, the resultant crash losing him several places. In race two the dynamic rider held a strong fourth place for most of the distance, but his recent lay-off through injury told physically in the closing minutes and he was forced to surrender three places.

Teenage teammate Dylan Ferrandis continues the learning curve of a rookie season in which he is confronted by many new types of track. Even established veterans of the series admit that they find it difficult to adapt to the unusual Czech track so it was no disgrace for first-timer Dylan to find it difficult to adapt to track conditions. Despite an unfortunate incident on the opening lap of race one, when he was brought down by another rider, he never gave up all day and was rewarded with an eleventh place in the GP which consolidated his ninth place in the series.

Valentin Teillet: “I’m a bit frustrated with sixth place in this GP even though it is a mental boost after my injuries this summer. I went training with Jacky and Dylan in Belgium after we got back from Russia and came here confident about my speed. In fact I did have good speed this weekend, but no luck. I was fifth, close to fourth, halfway through the first race but then I damaged my gearshift in a deep rut and selected a neutral just before a jump. That cost me three positions. My second start was nearly perfect and I was fourth for most of the race, but I felt tired during the last ten minutes and lost several places. I feel stronger each week but I missed three GPs with my injury and am still not back to 100% fitness.”

Dylan Ferrandis: “My first start was not very good and then in a corner I crashed onto another rider’s bike; the engine stalled and the bike suffered some damage but I was able to come back to fourteenth by the finish. I was tenth after the second start, but I didn’t felt comfortable on this track and I could only manage to move forward to eighth; it’s a learning year for me, and when we race tracks which are strange to me I have concentrate on scoring as many points as possible.”

La date du 1er juillet 2012 restera sans doute gravée à vie dans la mémoire de Dylan Ferrandis, qui a décroché en Suède son premier podium en championnat du Monde. Troisième du Grand Prix derrière Tommy Searle et Jeffrey Herlings, qui se battent pour le titre mondial, le pilote Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki revient par la même occasion à la huitième place du Mondial. La météo aura largement perturbé le déroulement du Grand Prix, les averses de la nuit et du dimanche matin ayant rendu le circuit particulièrement difficile. Des conditions qui n’inspiraient pas outre mesure Dylan, qui a toutefois su profiter de deux excellents départs. Signant le holeshot en première manche devant les KTM usine, Dylan allait mener les hommes forts du Mondial l’espace d’un tour, avant que Searle, Herlings puis Roelants ne prennent logiquement l’avantage. Ne cherchant pas à rivaliser avec eux et se concentrant sur ses trajectoires, Dylan terminait la première manche en quatrième position, comme il l’avait déjà fait au Mexique et au Portugal. Le soleil étant revenu la piste avait partiellement séché pour la seconde manche, et Dylan se faufilait si bien au premier virage qu’il pointait encore en tête de la course ! Cette fois encore il n’opposera pas de résistance inutile face à Searle et Van Horebeek, gérant sa course et assurant une excellente troisième place synonyme de podium du Grand Prix. Valentin Teillet toujours indisponible, le team avait fait appel à Benoit Paturel, pilote support engagé dans l’Europe MX2, pour disputer ce GP. Pour sa première sortie à ce niveau Benoit, qui évoluait encore en 125 l’an passé, a fait une superbe performance puisqu’il prend la quatorzième place de l’épreuve (10/17). Dixième de la première manche alors qu’il ne pointait que vingt quatrième au premier tour, puis dix septième de la seconde, Benoit n’aura pas rate son entrée en GP et sera dans deux semaines en Lettonie pour la reprise du championnat d’Europe. De l’autre côté de l’Atlantique, enfin, Livia Lancelot a atteint son objectif en ramenant une médaille des fameux X Games ; comme l’an passé c’est du bronze qu’elle ramène, face à une opposition plus musclée que jamais. Dylan Ferrandis : « C’est vraiment une surprise que de décrocher le podium ici, car avec la pluie la piste était bien détrempée et je ne me sentais pas plus à l’aise que cela. Mais mon holeshot en première manche m’a bien aidé, tout comme mon excellent départ en seconde manche ! Ce n’est pas mon premier holeshot mais c’est la première fois que je boucle quelques tours en tête, c’était génial ! Je n’ai pas cherché à résister quand les hommes forts du Mondial m’ont attaqué, j’ai fait ma course en me concentrant sur mes trajectoires. Ce podium fait du bien, surtout après ma blessure du GP de France qui avait été dure à surmonter. J’espère maintenant décrocher d’autres top cinq d’ici la fin de saison, je suis confiant car la Kawasaki Bud marche vraiment très fort. » Benoit Paturel: « Cette saison l’objectif est l’Europe MX2, mais quand Bud m’a proposé de remplacer Valentin (Teillet) je n’ai pas hésité! La piste était bien ce matin au warm up, mais après la grosse averse du matin elle avait beaucoup change pour les courses. Mon premier départ n’a pas été trop bon, mais j’ai pris un bon rythme et je suis revenu dixième; en seconde manche je suis encore plus mal parti, la piste avait encore évolué et je reviens dix septième. Ce fut un super week-end, et on va maintenant se concentrer sur l’Europe qui reprend dans deux semaines en Lettonie. » Stephane Dassé : « Ce fut un très bon week-end, on espérait tous un podium mais plutôt en fin d’année, pas si tôt dans la saison. Dylan a pris deux super départs et à très bien roulé, il a fait quelques petites fautes en première manche mais s’est bien repris dans la seconde. C’est une belle récompense pour tout le monde dans le team, les mécanos comme nos partenaires qui nous soutiennent. Ce podium booste tout le monde, et nous avons eu le plaisir de voir Benoit Paturel faire une très belle prestation pour son premier GP, ou il remplaçait Valentin qu’on espère voir avec nous en Lettonie. »

Coming back to Wallonia for the first time since a while, the Belgian Grand Prix had a different face with a rainy Saturday, and a sunny Sunday. Injury to Valentin Teillet left Dylan Ferrandis alone to represent Team Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki and the French teenager again showed tremendous speed with a second position in qualification and a seventh place in the race.

In order to preserve the track for the races, the qualifying races were cancelled on Saturday and after a free practice session the riders qualified through a timed practice period. That didn’t affect Dylan’s confidence, which was fast on the wet and slippery track; posting the fastest lap time in his third lap, Dylan was leading the series for a long time but finally Van Horebeek grabbed the pole. With a good opening lap in race one Dylan came seventh behind Jordi Tixier, and the two Frenchmen passed each others a couple of time; unfortunately Dylan slides and lost a couple of seconds, and then crashed when another rider hit him. The engine stalled, and Dylan lost too much time in the incident…. His second race was similar, but this time and despite pain in his recently injured wrists he fought stoically forward to seventh place in race two to maintain his top ten world ranking. After three GP’s in a row (France, Portugal et Belgique) the world championship will make a break next weekend before the Swedish Grand Prix.

Livia Lancelot won again the french championship women with 3 moto win and will fly to America this week to race the XGames in Los Angeles end of june.

Dylan Ferrandis: “On Saturday I had a good feeling with the track, and only needed a few laps to get the second position in the timed practice session. The track was very good today, but in the first race I made a small mistake when I was seventh and another rider hit me; I stalled the engine stalled and lost too much time to restart. My second start was not so good, but I fought back to seventh; my wrist was painful again, so I will rest for a few days but we have two weeks before the next GP so I hope for a good race in Sweden.”

Jacky Vimond: “We were pleased this weekend to see Dylan so strong, and he impressed many people with his excellent result in the qualifying session. It was a great performance, and he confirmed his potential on Sunday, even if he didn’t finish the first race. He was strong in both heats, he always improves his results and is now regularly in the top seven for his first GP season; I’m sure that he will be even faster soon. Valentin has to stay at home with his broken left collarbone; we got advices from his orthopaedist, and he didn’t have any surgery. He will probably be back in Latvia.”