Darian Sanayei raced his Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki on to the third step of the podium in the Latvian round of the FIM European EMX250 Motocross Championship at Kegums, while Xavier Boog won the fifth round of the French MX1 Elite.
The young American came through with flying colours after this baptism of fire on one of the roughest circuits on the calendar. A solid fourth in his qualification group gave him seventh choice of gate and he rode diligently to advance from an initial eighth place to finish sixth. He rode even better in the second moto to finish third after completing the opening lap fifth, and the combined results of the two motos saw him mount the podium in third place. He is now sixth in the series standings after two of ten rounds.
Nicolas Dercourt had a tough time on the rugged track but showed determination to qualify through the Last Chance and he continued to fight to the end of both motos to finish fourteenth and fifteenth. He is now twelfth in the series standings.
Kegums also met the opening round of the European 125, and both Brian Moreau and Kim Savaste did their first appearance of the season in this class. Back from an injury Kim did a strong opening race, to claim his first podium result with a third position; he was again doing a great performance in the second heat, but crashed when he was in fifth place and had to retire. Brian Moreau was more unfortunate with crashes in both motos, but he proved in the second heat that he could expect top ten results in the series.
In the fifth round of the French Elite Championship, Xavier Boog scored his second win this season and confirmed that he is at the moment the fastest rider in the MX1 class. Runner up in the first race and winner of the second one in Gaillac Toulza, Xavier got three wins and three second positions in the last three rounds; he is always third in the standings, seven points behind Teillet and thirty behind Aranda with two more races to go.
Penultimate round of the East Coast SX series, East Rutherford was another opportunity for Cedric Soubeyras to score a top ten result, his third one this season. Next weekend Cédric will be in Las Vegas for the last SX of the season, while Darian and Nicolas will be in Germany for the third round of the EMX250 championship.
Darian Sanayei: “Coming into this weekend my goal was to have a better qualifying time and I got a fourth in my group; that gave me seventh gate pick which was a pretty good gate. In the first moto I was seventh or eighth at the start, and then was using the techniques we’ve been working on with team trainer Thierry. I got a sixth place which was my best finish this year in the European series, but I wasn’t really satisfied with that. In the second moto I got a decent start in sixth, rode there for a while and just gave the best I could to get a third in this race and a third overall. The track was really rough there. Everybody told me that before we came but now I know what that means; you need to save some energy and ride with European style.”
Nicolas Dercourt: “It was a tough weekend, as I had to go to the Last Chance race to qualify. I made too many mistakes during the practice session and although I won the Last Chance race I had a bad gate for the points-scoring races. My first start was not too bad but I lost many positions during the first lap to finish fourteenth. The second start was bad; I was nearly last and had to battle back to fifteenth. Apart during the Last Chance race I had no fun riding on this rough track; hopefully some hard pack tracks are coming and I will do my best to improve the results.”
Kim Savaste: “It’s been a lot difficult for me as I broke my shoulder this winter, and it’s great to be back racing. Saturday was fine, I didn’t felt so good on the track but I got a podium result, which is great; it was tough to keep the podium, I had some arm pumped for my first race this season but I didn’t made any big mistake. On Sunday I felt much better and was fifth when I had a big crash; now I have two weeks to prepare the next round, I go back home in Finland to prepare this round. I like Arco so I’m expecting some good results there.”
Brian Moreau: “The track was rough and it was tough weekend for me, but I learned a lot and gained some experience for the future. The second race was better, my start was not so good but I came back eight; I was fighting for the seventh position when I crashed just two laps before the end. I know that I need to get better results in the qualifying session, it’s a very short one and all the riders are pushing so it’s difficult to find his way and do some fast laps.”
Xavier Boog: “It’s good to get a second win after Romagné, I nearly missed it last weekend in Castelnau and at the moment I’m pleased with my results. I was second in the timed practice session and was second at the start of the first race; I got the lead but Aranda passed me after ten minutes, then I had some arm pumped and finished second. In the second heat I got the holeshot and won the race, happy to offer another win to the team.”
