For the first time this season team Monster Bud Kawasaki lined up his full squad this weekend in Foolz, for the fifth round of the French Elite series. Pierre Goupillon enjoyed his second podium in a row in the series, while Brian Moreau lost a podium result due to a technical failure in the second moto. For his racing comeback, Brian Hsu got his first top ten of the season.
Faster rider in the qualifying session, two seconds faster than anyone, Brian Moreau had the first choice at the gate and did a good start in race one as he was fifth after the second corner; he came back third, but couldn’t challenge the two leaders who were already far away. His second start was perfect as he grabbed the holeshot and led the race during ten laps; but as always when the leader joins the lappers he lost time to pass several of them and lost two positions; third with two laps to go he unfortunately didn’t saw the finish flag due to a technical problem. He lost the overall podium, but Pierre Goupillon was not far and got it; second in the practice session Pierre crashed at the start of the first heat, and then did a great race coming back from nearly last to sixth. With a better start in race two he scored a fourth position, enough to be on the box. For Brian Hsu it was the first race since nine months, an eternity for a racer! Eighth in the practice session Brian was unlucky at the first start as he had no place to go when Pierre crashed in front of him; last to start, he came back seventeenth with no front brake as the disc was damaged in the crash. In the second heat he scored a top ten result, but suffered arm pumped after an average start.
Next race for our riders will be the penultimate round of the French Elite in Iffendic (Britany) in two weeks’ time.
Pierre Goupillon: “It was a pretty good weekend, with two bad starts; in the first heat I crashed at the start and was very far but I found good lines to come back sixth, with good lap times. I was only in the top ten at the second start, the track was very dry with one good line but I found some other lines to pass and came back fourth. It’s great to be again on the box!”
Brian Hsu: “I’m so happy to race again, it’s what I love to do. It’s been a very long time, I had some very tough time but I’m here today; I wasn’t nervous at all, I just try to do my best. The first race I had a pretty good start but someone crash in front of me and I had no place to go and crashed also; my front disk was damaged and I stop in the pits but the mechanics couldn’t do anything so I went back on track and came back from last to seventeenth without any front brake. My second start was not as good, I did some good laps and was happy to score a top ten result; I’m not tired at all, but I have to work on my arm pump and we need to find a solution for the next races.”
