Team Rockstar energy Bud Racing Kawasaki entered a GP in the Netherlands for the second time this season, and it was a tough experience as Lierop is one of the most demanding venue in the calendar. Both riders scored points this weekend and consolidate their positions in the World Championship before the last two rounds in Italy and Germany.
Young Dylan Ferrandis had made a lightening start in the first moto to hold down third place for some laps fighting in front of top guys like Searle, Osborne… in the difficult conditions until he suffered a heavy crash in which the bike landed on his back. His start in race two was not quite as good but the teenage rookie held down sixth place early on and, despite pain from the first race incident, battled hard for tenth at the chequered flag to retain his eighth place in the series rankings.
Teammate Valentin Teillet rode a decisive opening moto in the deep sandy conditions, which are alien to young French riders, to fight his way forward to ninth place before surrendering two places late in the race to local experts. After a less satisfactory start in race two he found himself in sixteenth place, but never gave up battling to gain two places before the end of the moto in the difficult conditions.
The team will now travel to Faenza (Italy) for the fifteenth round of the series, scheduled next weekend.
Dylan Ferrandis: “It was my first experience here in Lierop, and it was even harder than I expected. My first start was good and I was happy to be third for the first few laps, but then I made a mistake and dropped back to sixth. I still had a good rhythm but then I had a big crash and the bike landed on my back. I lost a lot of time so there was no point to continue to the end of the race. I had pain in my back during the second race, but I managed to finish tenth which is not so bad for a first experience here.”
Valentin Teillet: “I didn’t have a good feeling with the track, and didn’t feel confident this weekend; my goal was to score top fifteen results here, and that’s what I did even if my second start was really bad. For sure I will have higher goals for the next two races, but for me it was important to finish both races here.”
Jacky Vimond: “We knew that this race would be difficult, even if we worked in Belgium to prepare this specific GP. Apart the crash of Dylan in the first heat we reached our goal, which was a top ten for Dylan and top fifteen for Valentin. Valentin was not riding as good as in training, and for sure he will be stronger in Italy next weekend; for Dylan it was a first experience here and he learned a lot, it’s important for next season.”
