Team Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki continues his trip to East those past weeks, and after Latvia the entire squad, including Valentin Teillet back from his collarbone injury, moved to Semigorje to celebrate the comeback of the series in Russia, while David Herbreteau secured the 85cc French national title.
Once more the rain affected the qualifying races, and for everyone it was a tough Saturday as riders struggled on a muddy layout while mechanics had even more work than usual. Dylan was pretty unlucky as he stalled his engine in the first corner and lost much time to restart in last position; the track was muddy and slippery but he never gave up and came back fifteen, just behind his teammate Valentin who had a bad start and then did his best for his comeback.
On Sunday morning everyone was happy to see the sun back for the day, and a strong attendance of excited 45000 Russian fans along the track. Dylan started mid pack in the first heat, coming eighth and showing once more that he is learning rapidly in his first full season of GP racing. His second race was more difficult with two crashes despite of a perfect start where he was in 2nd place; but after his crashes he was relegated in sixteenth place he came back eleventh and consolidates his ninth place in the championship. For Valentin who came there mainly to train it was a very good GP, and he put up a gutsy performance on his return to racing from injury. Coming back from eighteenth to eleventh in race one, he confirmed later with a twelfth position that he will be soon back at his best level to fight for the podium.
While his teammates went to Russia, our youngest rider David Herbreteau secured in France the 85cc French National title, winning again and offering to his Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki team his third French title this season. David will enter of course the main round of the 85 European series in England, at mid august in Matterley Basin
Dylan Ferrandis: “I felt good on the track in practice, but it rained for the qualifying race and I stalled the engine in the first corner. I recovered to finish fifteenth so that was not too bad for the choice of gate. Today was dry and sunny and that was great and I battled with Tonus and Osborne for most of the first race to finish eighth. I got out of the gate second in race two but Van Horebeek cut across my line and I lost a few places; afterwards I crashed twice, but I had some good lap times to finish 8th overall of the day.”
Valentin Teillet: “For a comeback ride it was not so bad, even if on Saturday it was pretty difficult for me with the mud. I knew that I was not really ready for racing at this level as I only rode one time before I came here, but the goal was to finish both races and I did it. My first start was bad but I came back through to finish eleventh, and in the second one I inevitably felt tired but still scored a twelfth position. That was a good first step in my comeback and I can be happy with the result; but for sure I will expect more in the next GPs!”
Jacky Vimond: “It was a good day for both riders. Dylan did two strong races on this demanding track, especially the second one: after his crashes he was able to find again a good rhythm and he shows a good speed. Concerning Valentin it was more a training session for him as he didn’t practice so much since his injury, and we were not expecting so good results today, that’s promising for the next events.”