Pierre Goupillon back on the podium

After some tough races for him, Pierre Goupillon was back on the podium this weekend during the fourth round of the French Elite Championship in Pernes les Fontaine. It was a good weekend for team Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki, as Brian Moreau ended this round in fifth position to take the third position in the series.

After two difficult European rounds, Pierre Goupillon was back in the Elite championship after missing the previous round due to his knee injury. It was a strong comeback for Pierre who finished second overall, tight in the points with the race winner. Fourth in the timed practice period 1.4 second behind his team mate who was the fastest rider, Pierre got two good starts and did two strong races; he took his time to overtake rivals, didn’t do any mistake on a slippery track and came back second and third of the races to score his best performance of the season in the series! A great comeback for him! Fastest rider in the practice session, Brian Moreau had a very bad start in the first heat; only thirty at the beginning of the race, he came back sixth and did better in the second heat with a fourth position. He is now third in the standings at mid season – there is three more races to come – while Pierre is now back in the top ten.

Pierre Goupillon: “I’m very pleased with my weekend, as I did two strong races; twice I was in the top five at the start, then I keep a good rhythm and didn’t do any mistake while some rivals crashed. It’s great to finally be back at my best level, as I was earlier this season; once more hard work always pays, and I hope to be as successful in the European championship in UK next weekend.”

Brian Moreau: “Overall it was a good weekend, with a pole position to start this round. It rained before our race so the starting line was wet, and I slide when the gate drop to come only thirtieth in the first corners; I was pushing to come back and had a small crash, but scored a sixth position. I was in the top ten at the start of the second race, had a good feeling with the track and came back fourth.”

Tough Latvian round

Back in the European 250 Championship, the Bud Racing Monster Energy riders had a tough weekend in Latvia as neither Brian Moreau not Pierre Goupillon felt comfortable on the rough track of Kegums. Brian scored points in both races with top twelve results, but Pierre didn’t get any point.

One week ago on similar conditions (sandy track and hot temperatures) Brian got his first pole position and the podium honours in the French Elite series, but this weekend was a different story. Fifteenth in a fast qualifying session as the first fifteen riders were all tight within 1.5 seconds, Brian got a good start in the first race but struggled to find his rhythm and could only save a thirteenth position. His second race will be similar with a twelfth position; twelfth of the GP, he is currently sixth in the series.

The weekend was even worse for Pierre, who was back racing after a short break to preserve his knee after his crash in Russia. Very far in the timed practice session Pierre was in the top twenty after the start of the first race, but after several mistakes he couldn’t score any points. His second race was similar, even if the result was a little bit better with a twenty-one position. He is now twelfth of the series.
The team will have a short break next weekend, and then will have five consecutive races with two French Elite and three European GP rounds.

Stéphane Dassé: “Our riders are still missing consistency; Brian was really good one week ago in Bitche, which was also a sandy and hot race, but here in Latvia he was never where he should be. In the practice sessions he made a couple of mistakes and lost his confidence with the track for the entire weekend; he is now sixth in the standings, but the gap with the top guys is now bigger and it will be difficult to reach the podium. Concerning Pierre he hurt his knee in Russia, he made a couple of mistakes there early in each race when he was in the top five and this weekend he was not really there. Everyone will have a short break next weekend, then we’ll go for the French series in Pernes before the next rounds of the EMX250; the British and French GP rounds will be a good opportunity for our riders to do well, and we expect to see them racing for podiums.”

SX Tour & Prince of Paris 2017 champion Yannis IRSUTI to race SX season

Team BUD Racing Monster energy Kawasaki is very happy to announce that the 2017 SX Tour & Prince of Paris champion Yannis IRSUTI will join the team for the full European Supercross season.

Yannis will race entirely the 2 most famous Supercross series in Europe and also the biggest Euro SX international races like Paris, Geneva…. Winner of the SX Tour title & Prince of Paris in 2017, Yannis will fight to keep his title and represent the Team brightly during the SX events. One of the series who will be competed by Yannis will be fully TV scheduled (Hexis cup SX) and every events will be on TV with good coverage.

As the MXGP series and the French Elite Motocross championships only finish end of September, it’s good for the Team to have a SX only rider to represent us during the full Supercross Euro championships who start middle of June in the big Rugby stadium of Clermont Ferrand (France) and who will continue through the year to finish in December with Geneva SX. Later in the season and after the MX series will be finished, Brian Moreau will join Yannis in SX for Paris, Geneva and few selected races.

Irsuti

Brian 7th in Russia

Mixed feeling for the team Bud Racing Monster Kawasaki after this long trip in Russia, as they bring back home a good result for the youngest member of the team Brian Moreau while Pierre Goupillon was forced to retire in both races. The team is now moving to Bitche for the French Elite series, and will continue his trip with the upcoming GP’s of Latvia and Germany.

Built close to the Black Sea 200 kilometres from Sochi the track of Orlyonok is one of the fastest one of the season, and with high temperatures during the weekend the layout was slippery due to the watering between the races. The track was nearly perfect for the practice session on Saturday morning, and Pierre and Brian qualified in seventh and eighth position; everyone was going fast, with the top fifteen riders tight within two seconds. The track was different in the evening for the first race, and for Pierre it was a very short one as he collided with Mel Pocock during the opening lap; just after the crash Pierre was raising his bike when his rival pushed him and his Kawasaki down! Even if Pocock was disqualified after the race, Pierre also lost many points as he couldn’t re start… Eleventh at the beginning of the race Brian did a good race, making no mistakes to finish sixth. On Sunday morning the track was muddy for the second race, and once more Pierre was unlucky as he was involved in a collective crash during the first lap, forced to retire after a few laps with a broken foot peg; not feeling as comfortable in this race Brian scored an eighth position, to secure a seventh overall and his best result so far in the series. At 16 years old and being the youngest rider of the class for his first season in 250cc class, He’s now eighth in the standings, one position ahead of Pierre, and only 24 points from the leader with eight more races at the calendar.

Brian Moreau: “This track was very fast, this is not really my favourite but it was the same for everyone. There’s positive and negative points from this GP, I will say that the positive is the fact that I scored two top eight results and the negative is that I was not feeling comfortable in the second race with the mud and the hot temperature. The first race was good even if I lose one position during the last laps, the second one was disappointing as I was expecting a podium result and finished eight. But I never score so many points this season in one GP, so we’ll continue to work hard before the next one in Latvia.”

Pierre Goupillon: “A weekend to forget, as I could only do a few laps in each race. After our crash with Pocock I couldn’t imagine that he would throw my bike outside of the track, it was impossible to re start from there. Then in the second race my foot peg was broken in the crash, I try to ride like that but it was dangerous. I’m focus on the next rounds, we know that the championship is long and everything is possible.”

#2 for Brian and Pierre in Brittany

The second round of the French Elite championship took place this weekend in Romagne, and for this traditional round of the series in Brittany the weather was pretty unusual with high temperatures.

Both second of their group in the timed practice sessions, Pierre Goupillon and Brian Moreau had a good speed and on his home soil Pierre got a great start in the first race as he came second after a few laps. He lost one position to Rubini, but later passed Vialle to finish second of this race. For Brian Moreau this race was more difficult, as he crashed four times and finally retire! His second heat was much better as he got a great start, and took the lead during the second lap; he will lead the pack during ten laps, but finally Rubini won the race ahead of Brian. For Pierre it was a very short race as another rider lost control of his bike after the start and hit him; five riders were on the ground, and with a damaged bike Pierre couldn’t finish this race.

Team Monster Bud Kawasaki will now move to Russia, for the second round of the EMX250 organised on May 1st.

Brian Moreau: “The weekend was pretty good, with a good feeling during the practice session where I posted the second fastest lap time. In the first heat I had a good start in the top five, but some other riders passed me and I was so tense that I crashed four times during the race. I never rode so bad! Hopefully the second race was much better, I was fourth at the start and passed third, second and then first. I made a small gap and stay ten laps in first position, but Rubini passed me and I finished second, happy to react like that between the races.”

Pierre Goupillon: “Overall it was a good weekend, just a shame that at the second start another rider hit me and put five or six riders on the ground. I had to retire as the bike was damaged, hopefully I was not injured. I had a good speed all weekend long, and I’m happy with my riding in the first moto.”