It’s a kind of reward that Stephane Dasse offered to Brian Moreau and Pierre Goupillon, as both got their first taste of GP action this weekend at the final round of the World Championship in Imola. For their GP debut both Bud Racing Monster Energy Kawasaki riders scored points.
The GP racing format is much different from the European one, and both Brian and Pierre learned a lot this weekend among the best MX2 riders. With two practice sessions and one qualifying race on Saturday, a warm up and two races on Sunday, they had a busy schedule compared to what they were used in the European series. On Saturday Brian was in the top twelve during the timed practice period, but he lost all his chances to get a good gate pick for the race when he had some troubles as his transponder moved on his front fork. The qualifying race was better for Pierre Goupillon who came back from over twentieth to sixteenth.
From his thirty fourth position on the gate Brian got twice a great start, with a top six position in race one and a top five in race two! Thirteenth of the first race Brian hold the fifth position during mostly 15 minutes in race two, but struggled physically after fifteen minutes and finished fifteenth just one year after jumping on the 250 KX Kawasaki last year. Pierre didn’t got such great starts, and even crashed during the first lap of the second race; fighting all races long, with good lap times, he scored a seventeenth position in race one and just missed the points in race two finishing twenty one. It was the last race for Pierre with the Bud Racing Team, while Brian will enter the Monster Cup in Vegas mid October.
Brian Moreau: “It was a great weekend for me, even if I had to start from the thirty-fourth gate after a problem with the transponder in the qualifying race. It was my first experience of riding a GP and the race format is very different to that in the European series. I got a good start in the first race; I started sixth and finished thirteenth which was not bad. My second start was even better as I was fifth for the first six laps but then I felt tired and lost several positions to finish fifteenth but it was a good experience and will help me for the future.”
Pierre Goupillon: “It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun to ride all weekend long, even if I never spend so much time on my bike during a weekend! Now I know what is a Grand Prix, it was my first one and for sure this experience will help me in the future. I struggled with my starts and couldn’t really get good results on Sunday, even if I had a good rhythm and a good speed; I learned a lot, know what to expect among regular GP riders, and want to thanks the Bud Racing Team to offer me this opportunity.”
