Press Release

Bobryshev top five at French GP


Evgeny Bobryshev took a top five overall position
at one of his least favored tracks on the calendar, the tight and
technical hard pack of St Jean d’Angely. Proof of how he has developed
as rider since switching to the official Honda World Motocross Team for
the 2011 season.

The first moto was not what was required for either Bobryshev or
teammate Gonçalves. Although Bobryshev got out of the gate well and
moved in the top three, he never looked like he found a comfortable
rhythm and began to fade out of contention for the top spots early on. A
late challenge from Honda counterpart, Ken De Dycker would see him
shuffled back to 6th come moto end. Gonçalves struggled off
the gate and found it hard going making any progress on the difficult to
pass, one line, St Jean track, eventually finishing in 14th.


The second moto would bring better fortune off the start for both Honda
World Motocross riders. Bobryshev quickly positioned himself in 2nd with Gonçalves 3rd
at the end of lap one. As they found the groove, they began to distance
themselves from the chasing pack, posting similar lap times to race
leader, Clement Desalle. At half distance, Bobryshev was sitting in
a
virtual podium position but needed to hold on to 2nd position
in the moto. Unfortunately it was too much to ask as the hard-charging
home favourite, Steven Frossard, would catch and pass on lap 13, on
his way to the 2nd in the moto and the overall GP victory.

Bobryshev
would fade even further in the hot French sun and succumb to the
challenge of Cairoli and teammate Gonçalves in the closing laps. It was a
much-improved ride from Gonçalves in the second outing, taking 4th position from his teammate as the Honda riders came across the line 4th and 5th. The result handed Bobryshev and overall GP classification of 5th position with Gonçalves taking 8th overall.

Evgeny Bobryshev, Honda World Motocross
“I
am disappointed to miss out on the podium as I was in that position
half way through the second moto but I just couldn’t h
old on.
The first moto was not quite good enough with the result and this cost
me in the overall. It was tough conditions out there, hot and humid and
I struggled a bit towards the end of each moto. Top five is a much
better result than I made here last year, so I can take some good
feeling out of that.”


Rui Gonçalves, Honda World Motocross
“The big difference between the motos was the starts. In the first moto I did not get a good start and was in like 20th
place. It was hard to ride my race from there and my finishing position
was not so strong. The second moto was a totally different story. When
you get the start you have more space to get on to your pace and I
felt like I was getting stronger as the moto went on and even made a
pass on my teammate Bobryshev in the last lap. This gives me
confidence.”
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