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.”
