Mantova Starcross race reports Heat 1: 1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 20:17.364 - 2. Clement Desalle (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 20:28.364 - 3. Gaultier Paulin (FR - Kawasaki) 20:30.667 - 4. Jeremy Vanhorebeek (BEL - Kawasaki) 20:37.547 - 5. Max Nagl (GER - Honda) 20:46.841. Heat 2: 1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 20:39.732 - 2. Tanel Leok (EST - Honda) 20:49.561 - 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda) 20:55.405 - 4. Clement Desalle (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 20:57.875 - 5. Xavier Boog (FR - KTM) 20:59.460. Heat 3: 1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 20:43.410 - 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda) 20:44.889 - 3. Xavier Boog (FR - KTM) 20:57.367 - 4. Jeremy Vanhorebeek (BEL - Kawasaki) 21:00.869 - 5. Gautier Paulin (FR - Kawasaki) 21:04.123. Overall results: 1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 75pts. 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda) 52pts. 3. Tanel Leok (EST - Honda) 52pts. 4. Jeremy Vanhorebeek (BEL - Kawasaki) 51pts. 5. Gautier Paulin (FR - Kawasaki) 50pts. 6. Xavier Boog (FR - KTM) 45pts. 7. Clement Desalle (BEL - Rockstar Energy Suzuki) 42pts. Results are in but it's what the teams have to say that tells the real story. Here are 4, in the order in which they were received. The first is from the totally revamped ICEONE Racing where Antti Pyrhönen is now Team Manager.  Yesterday's qualifying day in Mantova Starcross had the ICE1Racing riders Rui Gonçalves and Xavier Boog in good positions to the season's first race day. Morning's man to man one round race for top ten backed it up, Gonçalves was able to make it all the way to the final against Kevin Strijbos, to whom he lost with a small mistake in the final. Boog had lost to Strijbos in the early rounds of the man to man race."It was great to see that our bike is so competitive against the other teams", saluted team manager Antti Pyrhönen and continued "this supports us to continue doing what we are doing and strive to the top." In the first race the ICE1Racing riders had a great start being second and third in the first turn. Unfortunately their bikes collided in the second turn and created a jam of riders leaving them last. Both riders were able to finish the race without any big injury, Boog finished 14th and Gonçalves 21st. After the unfortunate crash Gonçalves decided to stand by the rest of the day just to be on the safe side concerning the rest of the season. First race was won by Kevin Strijbos, second was Clement Desalle and third was Gauthier Paulin. Boog took the holeshot in the second race, yet quickly after he was passed by Tanel Leok. The race was very consistent riding from the French rider. Strijbos won again, Leok finished second and a group of three riders came to the finish line in a pack leaving Book fifth. In the third race Boog had yet another great start by being second. Solid riding all through the race finished him third. The last race was won yet again by Strijbos, second was Evgeny Bobryshev. "I'm satisfied with the day, with the bike and with the season start", commented Xavier Boog after the day. "Xavier had strong starts and he was able to ride solid races without any risks today. Rui has the same potential, which he proved yesterday, only if he hadn't had the bad luck this morning which ruined his day", commentedPyrhönen the first race of the ICE1Racing riders. The next race for ICE1Racing is Hawkstone Park international on February 10th.
Following that the top 10 riders from the qualifying heat entered into a one flying lap superpole session, which wiped the slate clean again. Nagl had the fourth fastest time with Bobryshev in eighth position for today’s gate pick. In the opening moto of today at the pre-season event, which sees a number of Grand Prix regulars competing to get themselves back into race mode, Nagl got a good start and remained consistent, although he suffered a little from pump up, to finish in fifth place. Bobryshev got a good start, but was unable to avoid a tangle with a crashed rider in turn two. The flying Russian managed to come from outside the top 20 to 13th place for vital points aboard his CRF450R. In the second race both riders gated well with Nagl third and Bobryshev fourth for the majority of the 15-minute plus two-lap moto. Nagl got cross-rutted with two laps to go and crashed, which cost him a number of positions, as he finished in eighth place while Bobryshev was promoted to the third position he kept to the chequered flag. In the final race of the day a perfect start for the Honda duo gave them the top two positions with Nagl leading and Bobryshev second at the end of lap one. Nagl collided mid-air with another rider and went down hard, which concluded his race day, as he was taken to hospital for medical checks. Bobryshev finished second to Kevin Strijbos, who won the event, to take second overall with fellow Honda rider Tanel Leok third. Evgeny Bobryshev #777: "In qualifying yesterday I was really trying to push and got a bit of arm pump up while trying to find a good way. Superpole is just one lap, so I was really careful with a lot of concentration, but eighth was okay for me on the gate here. In the first race today I had a good start but on the second corner Rui Gonçalves crashed right in front of me, and I was so close to him that I couldn’t do anything. I tried to wheelie over his bike, but I got tangled and went over the bars. I was outside the top 20, but really pushed, which was hard because there are a lot of chicanes at this track and very few places for passing. In the second race I got a good start behind Max and there was a group of us trying to pass each other. He made a mistake and I took the position, but the front guys had gotten away so I finished third. In the final race I g ot a good start, but (Clement) Desalle passed me and while I was fighting with Max, he was fighting with Desalle, but they crossed lines in the air and went down. I was leading for a little while, although (Kevin) Strijbos caught me and he was riding good this weekend. For sure it’s nice to take a podium and good to be at the race to get back into that frame of mind. We have a lot of data from the race weekend, and we know a bit more about our technical direction for the testing in Sardinia. I was still riding a bit stiff today and there’s some improvement in speed to come, but it’s a consistent weekend and I’m happy.” 
Roger Harvey: Honda Motor Europe Off-Road Manager: "From our side it’s been a pretty good day apart from obviously the incident with Max, which was really unfortunate. He has been checked out at a local hospital and looks to be okay, but we’ll get a further medical opinion tomorrow. The initial information is that he has some severe bruising to his body. We are happy with the second place from Bobby and it was good, consistent riding. It was good to see him on the podium and riding with a lot of confidence. The injury with Max has upset the training and testing a little, but we’ll continue with the Japanese staff we have over this week to work through a number of updates to the factory bike we have to test.” The Clement Desalle mid-air collision with Max Nagl - good to see Desalle comforting Nagl.
 Rockstar Energy Suzuki MX1's Kevin Strijbos convincingly won all three races of the International Motocross of Mantova, the first of three pre-season races that the team will attend. Both Strijbos and team mate Clement Desalle showed good form in the Saturday qualifying heat with third and second position respectively, Desalle winning the final Superpole race with Strijbos eighth. 
#22 Kevin Strijbos
However freezing fog, which did not clear until midday, left the track treacherous and both Kawasaki riders wisely decided to treat the proceedings with caution as the opening GP is just five weeks away at the Losail circuit in Qatar on Saturday March 2. The wisdom of this approach was verified as half a dozen of their leading rivals needed to visit the medical centre at some time during the day. Both Van Horebeek and Paulin figured in the leading group of riders in all three races, the Belgian eventually just missing the podium with fourth place overall from 6-4-6 moto finishes while his French colleague was just one place further back from 3-7-5 individual results. The Kawasaki Racing Team will now continue with early season testing before their next race outing at the Hawkstone Park International in Shropshire on February 10. Gautier Paulin - pictured right: "The track was very  different from Saturday to Sunday, and I had more fun on Saturday as the ground was soft, posting some fast lap times. Sunday was different; it was frozen in some places and very dangerous with some deep ruts so you had to be careful. I felt good on the bike; we tested new factory parts last year, but just got them now for this race. I took it easy as the first GP is in a month, and I wanted to go back home safe and be ready to go training on Monday.”Jeremy Van Horebeek: "I spent two weeks training with my Kawasaki in Spain on hard tracks, and I came to Mantova with a very good feeling even if the ground is more sandy here. The track was not so nice to ride on Sunday; it was slippery as it was very cold during the night. I took three good starts and was able to keep the same rhythm as the other leading riders, but I didn’t want to take any risks. But it was interesting to race for the first time with the factory bike; you have to get used to the power and be soft with the gas, but for sure if I can get similar starts in the GPs it will be perfect.” |
Honda World Motocross rider Evgeny Bobryshev kick started 2013 with a podium finish at the Mantova Starcross today in Italy with a 13-3-2 scorecard for second overall. Teammate Max Nagl hinted at his capabilities, although a collision in the final moto has left him battered and bruised.
Kawasaki Racing Team's Jeremy Van Horebeek and Gautier Paulin each secured a top five ranking in their first shakedown ahead of the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship at the Mantova Starcross.