Team Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki had a great weekend in the Portuguese round of the FIM European EMX Motocross Championships at Agueda, with three riders on the podiums! Tristan Charboneau won the seventh round of the 250 series, Marshal Weltin stands on the same podium with a third overall while Brian Moreau claimed a second position in the 125 class.
Tristan Charboneau controlled the weekend from first practice; already more than a second faster than his closest rival in free practice, he surged to his first pole position and dominated the opening moto on Saturday from start to finish, controlling his closest chaser whilst building up a fourteen second cushion over the remainder of the field. Grittily emerging in front from a wheel-to-wheel battle through the first few turns in the second race on Sunday morning he quickly took command again and once more stayed out of reach of his chasers as temperatures soared. The fifty-point maximum has lifted Tristan to tenth in the series standings.
Marshal Weltin made it a double podium for Bud Racing with two consistent third-placed motos; on Saturday he raced top three throughout but had to charge up the leaderboard from an initial sixth on Sunday morning to snatch third in the moto and over the weekend in total on the very last lap of racing. He has now advanced to seventh in the series standings prior to the two final rounds in August and September.
In the 125 class Brian Moreau was also the fastest rider in the timed practice period, and got the holeshot on Saturday for the first race. He was leading the race when he had a small crash in the third lap, but recovered and came back from fourth to second. He had another holeshot on Sunday and battled with Facchetti for the heat win; leading six of the fourteen laps, Brian got another second position and finished second overall behind the Italian. He is now leading the series by 18 points with three more rounds to go.
Tristan Charboneau: “What a weekend! One, one, one, nothing could be better this weekend! Honestly it was a difficult track, you just needed to take it easy, find the traction, use the bumps stuff like that. It’s a great weekend for Americans as my teammate Marshal is also on the podium, awesome; I can’t feature a better weekend! Both holeshots helped me for sure, then I didn’t make any mistakes; in Russia I won one moto but it was a muddy race, this time the conditions were more normal and it’s great to finally win a round of the series.”
Marshal Weltin: “I feel good on this track, I like it and finally had a good qualifying session and a good gate pick. I put myself in a good position at the start of both races; it’s great to have this first podium. I can’t thank enough the Monster Energy Bud Kawasaki team; they super support us even if the results have not always been what we were expecting. We have a break in the series now, but I will continue to work hard to prepare for the rest of the season.”
Brian Moreau: “It was another good weekend for me, as I increase my leadership with a second overall. The track was nice but bumpy, and I made a small mistake in the first race otherwise it would have been perfect. The most important was to finish both races in good positions, now we’ve nearly one month before the next round.”
Stephane Dasse: “It’s a wonderful weekend for us, with the pole position in both classes and our three riders on the podiums! Brian was strong and increases his leadership in the 125 series, he is fast and consistent this season with four podiums in five rounds. It was more difficult for Tristan and Marshal to get used to the tracks in Europe, but they were perfect this weekend; Tristan show his real potential since a few weeks, and Marshal never give up and I’m sure this podium will help them to be even stronger in the last rounds of the series.”
