A positive weekend before the French MXGP

After a long and unusual break so early in the season the World Championship is again on the road with three rounds in a row, and team Bud Racing Kawasaki moves from Lombardia to Agueda for the sixth round of the season.

For the first time since the GP season start people were smiling and happy Sunday evening under the Bud Racing awning, as both Mitchell Harrison and Brian Moreau delivered solid motos just a few days before the MXGP of France. Even if the nice layout was too much watered before the MX2 races, Mitchell and Brian bring back home their best results so far with a tenth overall for the American and a twelfth for the young Frenchie.

Second in the free practice and seventh in the timed practice session, Brian qualified seventh for the GP while Mitchell got a top twenty gate with an eighteenth position in the qualifying race. The track was slippery before the start of each race and Brian was one of the victim as he crashes during the opening lap of race one; he did a strong ride to comeback from twenty-one to eleventh, and with another good start in the second moto everything was possible…until the fifth corner when another rider hit him. Again on the ground Brian did another strong race, coming back from twenty fifth to fifteenth. Twelfth of the GP he got the best result of his young GP career, a great reward after his injury in Argentina.

The Portuguese GP saw Mitchell Harrison return to the top ten after a difficult GP in Italy. The American was inevitably pushed wide at turn one each time from gate eighteen, but put in two strong rides to advance from twenty-fourth to thirteenth in race one and from seventeenth to eleventh in race two to earn tenth overall.

Weather was perfect in Portugal, but not as good in Pernes les Fontaines for the French championship. The track was not too wet on Saturday for the hopeful class, and with an overall win Quentin Prugnières is back to the leadership of the series even if he missed one round. Rain and mud were part of the program on Sunday, and after a decent qualifying session with an eighth position Jimmy Clochet struggled in the first race as he crashed and could only finish seventeenth after a pit stop. He remains fifth in the MX1 Elite series, and will be back next weekend on his 250 for the EMX in St Jean d’Angely.

Brian Moreau: “It was a positive weekend, the speed was there and also the riding, the first good weekend of the season! I just did one mistake when I crashed on a slippery section in the first race, but I did a strong come back to finish eleven, close to the ninth position. I was sixth or seventh after a few corners in moto two when another rider hit me, and again I had to comeback from behind. It was a tough weekend but I never give up and fight all weekend long, that’s encouraging before the French GP where many fans will be there to support me.”

Mitchell Harrison: “This track was nice and it wasn’t a bad weekend, still terrible starts which keep me far behind the top ten; I came back from nineteenth or something like that to thirteenth in the first race, and again had to come back from mid pack in race two. I must continue to work hard on the start, and qualify better to have a better gate pick for the races.”

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