Get inside the 2020 Photo shooting of Team Bud Racing 2020 performed a few weeks ago on the famous GP Track of St Jean d’Angely. Our rider Mitchell Harrison, Pierre Goupillon, QuentinPrugnières and Amandine Verstappen had fun under coach Thierry Van Den Bosch advices !
The 2020 Motocross season is coming soon MXGP, European Championship, French Elite, we are all set !!
Video: Julien Chat Adrenafilm
Photos: Vincent Tomasetig
Drone: Doll$ Whip Motion
Thanks again to Moto Club of St Jean d’Angely for welcome and organization.
TEAM BUD RACING KAWASAKI IN FOUR CLASSES IN 2020
Team BUD Racing Kawasaki will again be behind the World Championship starting gate this season … with four riders in four different classes, continuing their traditional blend of experience and youth.
After a successful return to MX2 GP last year the team has renewed its confidence in Mitchell Harrison as the youthful American starts his second season in Europe. Last year he had to learn both new tracks and European motocross in general after his previous career in the USA and he will line up at Matterley Basin – first of the 20 GPs on March 1st – with more experience. At selected GPs he will be joined by Pierre Goupillon, back with the team after a first collaboration in 2018; the main goal of the young French rider will be the European EMX250 Championship. Both will of course contest the French Elite series and will be in Castelnau de Levis mid-March for the opening round.
Belgian Amandine Verstappen, the reigning French women’s champion. Is a newcomer to the team. Amandine will race her KX250 Kawasaki for the first time in Great Britain at the opening round of the WMX world series. Having recorded her maiden GP victory last year she will also defend the French Championship.
In the long tradition of Marvin Musquin, Dylan Ferrandis and Brian Moreau, who each started their careers with BUD, it’s now Quentin Prugnières that the team has signed on a long-term deal. The French Hopefuls champion last year, the youngster from the island of la Reunion will contest the French Junior and European 125 championships.
All this investment would not be possible without the team’s loyal partners, especially Kawasaki who has backed the team since 2007! Alongside their long-term sponsors BUD is proud to welcome new partners Champion lubricants, PROX and Boomerang.
2020 also saw the return of Thierry Van Den Bosch as trainer of all the riders; the multiple Supermoto world champion is back in motocross after a successful experience in road racing. “I’ve been working with Pierre Goupillon since November and everything is going well; we knew each other already as I had worked with him previously in the French national team and we have been working together intensely for two weeks each month. Mitchell arrived in Europe two weeks ago; he had to rest before coming back to Europe due to a minor injury but now we start our racing programme this weekend as he and Pierre will race at Ottobiano in Italy. We’ll stay in Italy to race Mantova one week later and Quentin will join us there too. Then we’ll have three more weeks to prepare for the first GP in Matterley Basin where our four musketeers will all be on track as the MX2, EMX125 and WMX championships each kick off there.”
Mitchell Harrison ends the season with a top ten in China
Mitchell Harrison scores another top ten result on his Bud Racing Kawasaki for the final round of the World MX2 Motocross Championship on a purpose-built track just outside Shanghai, for the first ever MXGP of China.
a bad gate pick as he was forced to retire in the qualifying race, Mitchell Harrison ended his maiden GP season with tenth place overall in the GP of China. The American made a superb recovery to eleventh in the first moto after a first-lap error had left him last of the GP regulars. He added a solid ride in race two, and finish the MX2 world championship season in fifteenth position overall after scoring points in 24 of the 30 races as he joins the season at round four.
Team mate Brian Moreau qualified in sixth position after a strong race on saturday; he emerged from turn one just outside the top ten, and started to move methodically forward and by the finish had advanced to sixth. He started slowly in the first moto but fight to finish ninth at the chequered flag. A top-six start in race two offered promise of a fine conclusion to his GP campaign and he retained a top-nine ranking for five laps before overenthusiasm led to errors and his eventual withdrawal from the race following a crash.
Mitchell Harrison: “It was a fun weekend; it was a really good track design and dirt and it felt a lot like back home in Florida with the humidity. I was riding really good at the start of race one but I crashed; I came back really strong to eleventh. The second race wasn’t quite so good but I gave it my all and came away with tenth overall. Now I will fly back to the US until November where in come back to France for Paris SX & Team testing and then try to get down to Florida to train in the sand during winter time. I know what I have to do for next year; the fitness is there but I have to work on the little things which will keep me in the top five every week.”
Brian Moreau: “It was a long season and it felt even longer for me as I didn’t get the results I was expecting. This weekend was a mixed one with a good result in the first moto but a DNF after a crash in the second one. I was surprised to find such a track in China; in the second race I got a good start and raced with the fastest riders during the first few laps, but I’m not used to that. I tried to follow them but it was not possible and in the end I crashed. I learnt a lot from my mistakes this year and I will try to keep that in mind for the future. »
Team Bud Racing Kawasaki prepares 2020
Back this year in the World Championship after several seasons in the European series, team Bud Racing Kawasaki and Mitchell Harrison continue to gain experience for 2020.
Involved in the last two rounds of the championship in Turkey last weekend and then in China, team Bud Racing Kawasaki discover new countries and experiences as this two events are treated like ‘oversea races’ which mean than the bikes are send from Europe in crafts while riders and staff fly to the events. The teams have limited parts and material for these races, compared to the European races where the racing truck is there with a lot of tools and parts, so everyone has to do with what they bring in their luggage!
The mechanics had a tough weekend as Mitchell’s bike had some troubles during this sunny weekend in Turkey.
Mitchell Harrison was affected by some technical issues, and was unable to enter the qualifying race on Saturday. Last behind the gate for the races he couldn’t get any good start but thanks to his pugnacity he came back thirteenth in the opening race and was twelfth in the second one when the bike had troubles and forced him to retire.
After a good qualifying race on Saturday, Brian Moreau was tenth behind the gate, and battled with his American teammate during the first moto. He scores a fifteenth place, and lost all his chances when he had an early crash in race two; back in eighteenth position he scores nine points before flying to Shanghai with the team for the last GP of the season.
Mitchell Harrison: “It wasn’t a good weekend for me with bike issues, which give me a bad gate pick for the races. In the first moto I came back thirteenth which was not so bad from where I started and I was riding in twelve in the next race when the bike stopped. I’m not where I want to be; it’s really hard to perform when you don’t have a good gate pick, the start is so important. I want to stay positive, all we are working now will pay next year, we are just progressing every weekend. It’s cool to discover new countries, just hope to end the season in China on a positive note.”
Bud Racing Kawasaki confirms Mitchell Harrison for 2020
Team Bud Racing Kawasaki is pleased to confirm Mitchell Harrison for the 2020 MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship.
Team Bud Racing Kawasaki did his come back this year in the MX2 World Championship, in a learning season for their riders. Joining the team in April Mitchell had to discover everything in Europe, and made good improvements trough the season as he starts to score regularly top ten results since Germany. Dedicate to his sport, the 21 years old American rider is currently seventeenth in the series and with a few more months of European experience he will be stronger when the 2020 World Championship will kick off end of January. “It’s been an amazing experience racing here, I came over here in April not knowing what to expect and the Bud Racing Team treated me like a family member and it’s cool to have another year with them and a chance to fill in on the podium with them, so very exited! Next year I will know most of the tracks and I will be more adapted to the bike, we already work on that between the races but now we’ll have a full winter to do that. The racing is amazing here, the tracks are unique, different than in the US but I like that” said the likeable native from Michigan, who is excited to travel to the last two rounds of the series in Turkey and China.
For team owner Stephane Dassé, giving another chance to Mitchell was one of his goal as everyone in the team enjoy working with him. “We’re happy to work with him next season, he came late in Europe and had to discover everything. He improves a lot through the season, has a good mentality and we think that after a good preparation during winter and some more European experience he will be able to get strong results. We’re happy to enter again the MX2 World Championship with him, and he will have two top level young team mates to compete and fight for the win in the European EMX 250 & EMX 125 series and French championship; who will be announced very soon,” explains Stephan who is still working on the final line up of his team
