Sevlievo - what the riders said

MX1


Kawasaki Racing Team

Gautier Paulin: "It was a very good weekend, and it was great to race head to head with Antonio Cairoli as it had been difficult to accept him winning so many races in the earlier GPs. I had a great feeling with the track and my Kawasaki right from the first practice session, and today I got two good starts. I got the holeshot in the first moto and won, then in the second I learnt a lot racing with Antonio. It’s great to win a GP, the first one for me this season; I have now scored four podiums including this GP win in the first five GPs and look forward to yet more victories in the races still to come. The KRT team is working well and we know where we can improve yet further; and I want to thanks all the people who are working with me.”

Jeremy Van Horebeek: "I’m happy to be back in the top five; it’s so great to do some good motos. I'm still not at my best as I couldn’t train this week due to my shoulder injury, and the last ten minutes of both races were tough. But it’s great to be back near the front; I have been so many times on the podiums in the MX2 class and now I want to be there in MX1. I had a great feeling right from the first practice session this weekend, and now I’m confident as we have two weeks before Portugal; I will have time to work, and for sure I will be stronger there.”

Tommy Searle: "The first moto was OK, nothing special to say and fifth was not so bad. My starts were not so good as last week and we need to work on that point. My second start was pretty average and then I had a crash earl in the race; I went down after a mistake and then it was hard to comeback from fifteenth to eighth; it was just a difficult weekend, I rode well at times but not consistently and I must keep working on that.”

Rockstar Energy Suzuki


Clement Desalle: "I'm happy to take my first podium in Europe! I had some bad luck in the last two grands prix and I was disappointed about that so it feels good to be back. I had some good starts and I'm happy about that and was with Kevin for most the day. Some moves were really close and we had to be careful! It was a good battle for sure and we rode together for almost every lap. I tried some stuff to pass him in the first moto but then had two laps of making mistakes and he made a gap. I concentrated again and got close and then passed him but he came straight back; I didn't expect him to come so close. Anyway, no crashes, good fighting and this result feels good."


Kevin Strijbos: "It was good today. I got most of it right in the first race; at the end my team-mate passed me and I could get him right back, so I was happy with that. In the second race I felt OK, got a good start but Tony ran wide, hit the berm and I had to slow down a little bit so not to hit him. I was fourth and stayed there the whole time! I was pushing hard but on the fifth lap a rock hit my goggle and the lens popped out, and that was about it. I couldn't get close to Clement and every time I did I had sand in my face and it was flying around when I was going over the jumps. I wasn't happy about that but overall it has been a good weekend. I had good speed for the podium and now I'll work a bit more to try and make it happen in Portugal."


Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Tony Cairoli: "I have 2 GPS where I didn’t win. My goal was always to be on the top spot but hopefully I will be able to do my best in the next GP and things will go better for me."




Ken de Dycker: "I mostly don’t like the track because its really fast an, easy, so you need a good start and even then it’s still hard .. So it was a struggle the whole weekend."

Honda World Motocross

Evgeny Bobryshev is out with a leg injury. Bobryshev was testing in Faenza and caught his foot on the ground, as he stabilised his machine on the hardpack track. He twisted his ankle and had a very small crash, but with the high impact at the speed he was going, it was enough to fracture the Russian's right Fibula.  He plans to be back at the Portugal round.

Max Nagl: "I was feeling good all weekend. I had a good start in the first one and got the holeshot, but I just went too wide and almost ran out of track. I struggled in the first lap and lost some positions, but I was coming back to fifth and trying to get by Searle. Tony passed me in the last few laps and I was sixth. The riding was good, but the result was not that special. I messed up the start in the second heat; I went a little bit, but I had to stop again and then the gate dropped, so I made a mistake and just got it wrong. I could catch some guys, but I pretty much stayed the whole race behind Rui. I just couldn’t get by him, because I didn’t want to make that aggressive pass that would maybe make us crash, and I couldn’t find any other way. I got stressed and I destroyed myself; I was so tired that with a few laps to go I had a crash in a turn, as I just lost the bike, and I finished 11th. I am really, really disappointed. My lap times are pretty good, but I have to improve my riding, especially at the beginning and I need to be more aggressive with the passing.”

Monster Energy Yamaha

Steven Frossard and Joel Roelants. Both the Frenchman and the Belgian incurred some injury misfortune on the compact and jump-laden layout on the first day of practice.  The intense pace and demands of the Italian soil was too much for Frossard’s recently operated left foot. The pin in the metatarsal was causing unexpected nerve pain to the former Italian Champion’s extremity and medication could not get him sufficiently comfortable. Frossard attempted several laps in practice but realised he needs some more recovery time after surgery last week to get into race trim. He expects to be back in the paddock for the Grand Prix of Portugal in three weeks. Roelants suffered a crash during qualifying that left the former GP winner feeling dazed and nursing a sore shoulder, which ruled him out.

ICE1 Racing

 

Xavier Boog entered his 100th GP with taped ankle, but the pain affected his rounds and Boog was forced to retire the second moto after finishing fifteenth in the first.

 

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MX2:

CLS Kawasaki

Alessandro Lupino: "It’s so nice to be on the podium, the first one in my career! I didn’t know that I was on the podium, and didn’t expect that as I finished only eighth in the first race. I have a great feeling with the team and my bike, but in the previous GPs I couldn’t show that and it was difficult to accept it. I had some better starts today, in the top ten in race one and top five in race two and that makes things much easier, but I must still work to improve my starts even more. I had to take some pills for the pain as I broke two ribs last week; it was painful during the first ten minutes but then it was OK.”

Valentin Teillet: "On Saturday it was pretty tough as my shoulder is not so strong, so I was satisfied with eleventh in the qualification. I felt a lot better today. In the first race I got a good start and then could keep my rhythm to finish third; that’s a great reward for my work with Jacky Vimond. I was in sixth position in the second race but I crashed on a downhill, I not quite sure what happened but I lost too much time to get back on the track to continue with the race. I will go to the doctors for them to look at my shoulder again this week as I never felt confident with it all weekend, and I want to understand why.”


Dylan Ferrandis: ”I lost so much time with the crash at the first start that it was difficult to come back, but the second moto was much better. I feel that my speed is coming back, but I must get better starts and stay focused during the entire forty minutes. I will continue to work hard together with the team to get back to my best form; it is less than two months since I was able to start riding my bike again.”

Jimmy Decotis: "I got a good start in the first moto, but I crashed in the first lap and then it was tough. The second moto was no better and it’s very frustrating. The team are doing everything they can so it's all down to me; I don’t know yet what I’m doing wrong but I will keep on working and working. We now have one weekend off from racing and I will work together with the team to improve my results; that’s what it's all about.”

Monster Energy Kawasaki Pro Circuit 

Arnaud Tonus:  Following several medical examinations and consultations, Arnaud finally underwent surgery to his shoulder last week in Switzerland. "We took this decision together with Team CLS and Kawasaki Europe management, and I want to thank them for their attitude as they never put any pressure on me”, said Arnaud when he came back home after surgery. "It’s a well-known shoulder specialist who did it, and he told me later that he was happy with the result; he also said that I couldn’t avoid this surgery as one ligament of my shoulder was weak. He fixed them, but it was not necessary to do any grafting.” Arnaud will soon enter a long period of rehab: "I feel lucky as I have very nice and talented people working with me at the hospital La Tour in Geneva, alongside other sportsmen and under control of specialised doctors who are used to working with sportsmen. I don’t know how long it will take me to get back to my best level, but I will not return to racing until I will be ready. The team and I made this choice as we want to be fully ready for 2014, which will be my last season in the MX2 class; we knew that even when my leg is OK we would have to go for shoulder surgery sooner or later. And by doing it now, it gives us time to consolidate the recovery of my leg.”

Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe

 

Max Anstie: "I felt strong. Each week we are improving and I'm learning about the bike and the team and they are learning about how I feel. We are getting better and stronger but we just need to figure out the gate. We got out of it in Qatar and Thailand but I had a poor qualification position and we paid the price for it today and had to push through. It made it a little bit difficult. I'm really looking forward to Portugal and also Brazil. It is about time we got on the podium now."

 

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Jeffrey Herlings: "So far so good! Its never easy, I’ve been making some mistakes but luckily they didn’t happen on a Sunday so far. I haven’t lost a moto yet and I keep on charging. For the moment the only one who can stop the bullet is the bullet himself."

Jordi Tixier: "Sure I enjoyed that, I got a good start and I tried to push to stay in front of Jeffrey. It’s my goal to be at the maximum and in the front.  Jeffrey is a pretty good rider - the world champion in 2012. Now I just want to give my best all the time and if I can stay in front of him for 10 laps the next time, i will.  I just want to learn from him because it is good for me and we’ll see what happens."



Monster Energy Yamaha

Christophe Charlier: "Not good starts! Afterwards it was very difficult to pass the other riders but I’m happy with the classification because I saved the race from being a disaster. I really want a podium because every time I am so close. I have the speed and now I need to improve one or two small things to be right up there.”

Dean Ferris:  "I actually struggled this weekend with the track and just couldn’t put in the fast times that I should have.   I had 19th gate pick which was not ideal but still managed to grab a good start in Moto 1.   Second Moto my start was not there and I had to work hard to come through – I should have pushed through to the group of guys ahead me but they were just out of reach.  I’m looking forward to this week off which will give me some more recovery time on the collarbone and enable me to build some more strength in the shoulder.”

Mel Pocock:  "Today I worked out that I’m really fast for about 25 minutes and then in the last ten I am making small mistakes; I need to iron this out. In the second moto I managed to get a holeshot and that’s the first I’ve had at a GP so I’m pumped about that…I didn’t realise the holeshot award was only for the first race! I was running in fifth and was sat there quite nicely until the bike started to lose power. I brought it into the pitlane and as I did that it turned itself off. Two weeks to go now and I will be working hard to try and sort out those final fifteen minutes.”

Maxime Desprey: "I had a bad start in the first moto and finished fourteen, so that wasn’t too bad because my riding was OK. The second race was difficult because I was far back again and after pushing for a while I felt dead! I want to train and try again in Portugal. I liked the track but it was difficult at the end with the bumps coming through.”