Team Monster Energy Bud Racing Kawasaki was involved this weekend in the fourth round of the French Elite Championship, and claimed in Castelnau de Lévis near Toulouse two heat wins. Both Nicolas Dercourt and Xavier Boog remains title’s contender in their class, with three more rounds to go.

Home of several GP’s in the past, the track of Castelnau was unfortunately wet and muddy after some heavy showers on Saturday and during the night. Even if it didn’t rained on Sunday, the track was rough with slippery sections, deep ruts and some muddy places.

Second in the MX2 timed practice period, Nicolas Dercourt got a great start in race one and came second right behind the race leader. He put some pressure on his rival, who finally crashed in a corner at mid race and offered the lead to Nicolas who claimed his second heat win of the season. Nico got another great start in the second heat but struggled to find his lines as the track changed a lot between both races, and finally lost a lot of time when he crashed in a corner. Forced to stop in the pits to repair his bike, he came back from last to fourteen, his worst result of the season. But he remains second in the standings, just six points behind the leader.

After his overall win during the last round in Romagné, Xavier Boog confirmed with a pole position in the MX1 timed practice that he is at the moment one of the fastest rider of the series. He got the holeshot in the first race and pulled away after three laps, to conquer another heat win. His second start was similar, but with Greg Aranda right behind him the Alsacian had no time to rest! Leading the entire race he unfortunately did a small mistake in the last corner, and lost the second heat and the overall! Tight in the points with Aranda, he finished second overall with a 1/2; in the standings he is always in third position, only twelve points behind Valentin Teillet before the next round this weekend in Gaillac Toulza.

The team was also involved in the US Supercross series, with Cédric Soubeyras racing in Foxborough. Ninth overall in the timed practice sessions, Cedric was racing for his best qualification with a third position when he had to retire with a puncture! In the last chance session he came back from seventeenth to sixth, too far to get one of the four qualifying spots for the main event.

Nicolas Dercourt: “The first race was great, I was second behind Arnaud Aubin after the start and we had a great battle; he finally did a mistake, and I won the race. I got another good start in the second heat, but I didn’t found the best lines and lost two positions to Richier and Aubin; then I crashed in the third lap, and lost too much time in the pits as the bike was damaged. I did my best to come back fourteenth. I’m not so happy with the result, the track was really rough; there was not so much grip on the track, and the conditions changed all day long so it was not so fun to ride there.”

Xavier Boog: “We did a good race with Greg in the second heat, for sure I’m disappointed with this little mistake in the last corner and once more until the finish flag nothing is done… I couldn’t make a gap with him in this 2nd race, and we both had some troubles with the lappers who don’t always recognize the blue flag. But it was anyway a good weekend with the pole position, two holeshot, a moto victory and a second position overall, tight in the points with the winner. It’s cool to get twice the holeshot, which confirmed that we did a good job on the bike with the team! After Gaillac next weekend I will not have so many races until the French GP, it will be perfect to prepare the coming SX season and the French MXGP who is an important event.”

Live a few minutes from the Castelnau week end into the Bud Racing rig:

It was another busy weekend for team Monster Energy Bud Racing Kawasaki, involved with four riders in the third round of the French Elite series in Romagné. While Cédric Soubeyras scored another ‘top ten’ result in the US Supercross series, Xavier Boog won the MX1 class in Brittany while Nicolas Dercourt scored a second position in MX2, followed in fifth position by Darian Sanayei.

Due to some local showers the track was wet on Saturday for the junior class, but on Sunday for the Elite series the track was perfect. The ground was soft, with some ruts, and the racing was exciting in both classes. In the MX1 class reigning champion Xavier Boog scored his first win of the season on this track; runner up behind Teillet in the first race, the Alsacian dominates the second one and won the overall, coming back third in the standings with four more rounds to go.

In the MX2 class Nicolas Dercourt was again one of the main protagonists of the races, even if he lost the red plate; a small mistake (engine stalled) cost him the win in the first heat, and in the second he had a great fight with Boisrame who was racing on his home track. Again second and second overall, Nico is runner up in the series, three points behind the leader with 160 points available in the next four rounds. Also riding this event, Darian Sanayei discovered what can be a track in Brittany and with a fifth position in each race the American learned a lot and had a good training to prepare the next round of the European series. The junior riders had tougher conditions on Saturday, and Brian Moreau Strubhart had one good and one bad race; fourth in the opening heat, he had to retire in the second one (chain guide damaged by another rider).

The boys were back in action for the East Coast Supercross series in the US, and Cédric Soubeyras had to deal with very deep ruts. He didn’t took unnecessary risks; qualified with a sixth place in his heat race for the main, Cédric ‘survived’ during the first two laps of the main and came in fourteenth position; riding with consistency he couldn’t avoid a mistake on the final jump, but got a strong tenth position. With this second ‘top ten’ result in a row he is now thirteenth in the standings, less than ten points from the top ten of the series before St Louis this weekend.

Xavier Boog: “It’s really good to be back at the top of the podium, just hope that there will be some others soon! Timed practice session was Ok with a second position behind Teillet in my group; we were all closed including Greg (Aranda) so that was a good sign! I got two good starts this weekend, in the first race I came second after a few corners but it took me ten minutes to get a good rhythm and contain Greg who was in my rear wheel during most of the race, he just gave up 3-4 laps before the end. In the second heat I passed Aubin for the lead in the opening lap and pushed during the entire moto as Teillet was behind me. I won the heat and the overall, it was a good weekend in Brittany!”

Nicolas Dercourt: “I posted the fastest lap of both groups in the practice session, and just after the start of the first heat I came second but we collided with the leader; he crashed, I damaged my rear brake but was still in second. Later I stalled my engine and lost time to restart in third position, I came back second but the leader was too far and I finished second. I got the holeshot in the next race, led during fifteen minutes until Boisrame passed me; we passed each others several times but finally he won and I finished second. Twice second and second overall, I’m now second in the standings.”

Darian Sanayei: “This weekend was ok for me, but I struggled with the track most the day. I qualified sixth in my practice group, which gave me 11th gate pick. In the first moto I was fifth off the start and rode mediocre, to finish fifth. Second moto I was sixth off the start and felt a bit better; I quickly got into third by the second or third lap and settled there but around the 18 minutes mark I made a small mistake and crashed in a corner. I ended up fifth in that moto as well, so 5-5 on the weekend. I’m not happy with that result at all but I’m here to learn and get better. Thank you to the entire Bud Racing Monster Energy Team for backing me. I’m ready to put in the work and come out swinging for Latvia.”

Cédric Soubeyras: “Usually I enjoy ruts, but only when they have a normal size. When they are so deep that your foot pegs hit the bumps it’s not so fun and that’s why I’m happy to leave Indianapolis safe! I qualified for the main with a sixth position in my heat race, and I got a great start in the main; we were side by side with Frye and his factory KTM, and in the first corner I was in front of him. Then it was more confused as there were a lot of collisions and after two laps I was fourteenth! I rode stiff as the track was dangerous, and after a few laps I took a bad rut before the finish jump and landed outside of the track. I was able to finish tenth, but I never rode over the limit as I didn’t want to end my season here.”

It was a busy weekend for team Monster Energy Bud Racing Kawasaki, involved in four different championships! It’s in the French Elite MX2 that the team got the best results, with a podium for Darian Sanayei and Nicolas Dercourt; Darian won his first race this season, while Nico got the red plate as leader of the series. Xavier Boog fourth in the MX1 class and Brian Moreau eleventh in the junior series were also in St Thibery, while Cedric Soubeyras got in Detroit his first ‘top ten’ result in the US SX!

Brian Moreau was the first rider of the team in action on Saturday, for the second round of the junior series. Third in his group and again third in his qualifying race, Brian was fifth in the first race until he damaged the radiator in a bank and was forced to retire. In the second race he got a good start and scored a third position, but due to his DNF he is now seventh in the standings. Sunday it was ‘Elite time’ and it was also the first race of the year for Darian Sanayei, back racing after his back injury; Darian got the holeshot in race one and then led the entire race to claim his first win of the season! A bad start and some mistakes in the opening lap of the second heat put him at the back of the pack, but Darian had a good rhythm and came back ninth to collect the second position of the day, just ahead his team mate Nicolas Dercourt. Nico struggled with his starts this weekend, and spent a lot of energy in the first race to come back from fifteen to fourth; in the second race he scored a sixth position, and got the leadership of the MX2 class with these results.

Xavier Boog got the holeshot in the first MX1 race, and offered with Guillod and Aranda a great show as they passed each other’s several times for the leadership of the race. Xavier was third in the last ten minutes, but in one of the last laps he lost one position to Pourcel. With another good start in race two, Xavier scored another fourth position and he is now back in fifth in the standings after two races.

Detroit will remain as a very good memory for Cedric Soubeyras, who got his first ‘top ten’ result in his US experience. Already in the first free practice session he had a good feeling with the track, and once more he qualified straight for the main in the heat race; he got a good start in the main and was sixth for a long time, but lost a couple of positions after an aggressive move from another rider. Ninth of the race he can for sure expect a top five result soon, maybe in Indianapolis in three weeks time.

Nicolas Dercourt: “It was not such an easy weekend, I couldn’t get starts as good as in Sommières and then it was difficult to pass as the track was rough. It was a tough weekend but finally I got the red plate so that’s not so bad, and I have a few more points than my rivals. We’ll try to keep the red plate at the next round in Romagné, but now the goal is to prepare the sandy opening round of the European MX2 in Valkenswaard.”

Darian Sanayei: “I came in France two weeks ago and I’ve been riding a few times there since my back injury, we just decide to enter this race last week with the team. I qualified fifth in my group, so had the tenth gate pick; I got the holeshot in the first moto, and led every lap so that was pretty cool. Second moto wasn’t as good, after a bad start and a few mistakes in the first lap I came around twenty five or twenty six; then I was riding pretty well, had good lap times and finished ninth to get a second position overall. It was my first outdoor since six months, and my first race since Lille SX in November; there’s some improvements to come, but I had a good feeling. The bike and the team are good, we were not really prepared for this race as we work for Valkenswaard; next week we have the first round of the European MX2, I just hope to get some good results and then we’ve one month to work before the second race.”

Xavier Boog: “The timed practice session was Ok, with the second fastest lap in my group with similar results than the series leader. I got a great start in the first race and was leading the moto, but I got arm pumped and couldn’t recover, as we were four riders looking for the leadership! We had some nice fights, for sure a little bit disappointed to finish in fourth position but I think we offered some great show to the fans! My second start was Ok but not as good; the track has changed, it was dryer and I didn’t felt really comfortable; once more I finished fourth, but couldn’t fight for the win as in the first race.”

Cédric Soubeyras: “It was a good weekend, I had a great feeling with the bike and the track; our practice track this week was similar to the race track, so I had straight a good feeling in the first practice session. I had the ninth position in the first session, but couldn’t improve in the second one as we had a yellow flag during most of the session. I had a great start in my heat race, was side by side with the Pro Circuit boy during a long time; I was sixth during most of the race and finished seventh, didn’t want to take any risks in a heat race. I had another great start in the main, much better than in the previous SX; I was sixth during many laps, then Davalos made an aggressive move and I couldn’t jump the next section and lost two positions. I was back behind Coates but couldn’t pass him; anyway I’m happy with my first top ten result with the 250 Bud Kawasaki. I’ve now two weekends off; I will do some MX training and then will be back to SX to prepare Indianapolis.”

Brian Moreau: “I had a good day, just disappointed to retire in the first race as the radiator wad damaged. In the second race it was good to get another podium result, the last lap was really tough as Goupillon was pushing for this third position and I pushed so hard that I felt a little discomfort after the race! I’m not so used to race on this kind of track, but it was a nice one with many deep ruts.”