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.”
