Yamaha: Aubin Scores Third Place on 21st Birthday

Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Nicolas Aubin gave himself a pleasant 21st birthday by taking pole position and third place overall at Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of Benelux and the fourth round of fifteen in the 2009 FIM MX2 World Championship. The Frenchman buried the memory of a lacklustre appearance in Turkey two weeks ago to show good speed in the sand and his finishes of 5th and 2nd were rewarded with his first silverware of the season.

The rough and demanding terrain punished the slightest mistake and saw riders struggling to maintain the same race rhythm for the duration of the two 35 minute and 2 lap motos.

Aubin, starting from the first slot in the gate, suffered two small falls in Moto1, the first while holding second position, but was nevertheless content with his pace to rise from mid-pack to the top five. In Moto2 he was more decisive and reached the runner-up position by the last third of the race.

In fourth spot overall was team-mate Davide Guarneri; the Italian enjoying one of his best performances on the sand. He pushed hard in Moto1 to rise from outside the top ten to third and was missing some energy for Moto2 in which he could only manage ninth.

A crash in the qualification heat on Saturday left Utag Yamaha.com's Zach Osborne with an uphill task in the Netherlands, but the Turkish GP winner rode well on his first visit to Valkenswaard and despite a problem with his rear brake he was 4th and 7th for 6th overall.

In the world championship standings Guarneri is third, 29 points from the peak of the table. Osborne is fourth and just 11 points from being the first Yamaha rider. Aubin has moved up to seventh.

The Grand Prix of Portugal at the Agueda circuit will represent the fifth round of the series in two weeks time.

Nico Aubin, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 3rd:

"I felt a bit nervous in the first moto and that led to some mistakes. I came back from sixteenth and was fast but made another error when I reached Musquin and we crashed together. It was a pretty good race regardless. In the second one I tried to catch Rui but everyone knows he is fast in the sand. My priority today was not to take big risks but to get some points and I am happy I did that. It is nice to get a podium on my birthday, but I would have preferred a win!"

Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 4th:

"It was a good day and I felt good in the sand; I was quite surprised to be the fastest in practice yesterday. The heat race was unlucky and with three crashes I was down in 21st, which was not a good position in this gate. I was quick in the first moto and it was no problem to pull through from 14th to 3rd but I felt the effects in the second moto and when I reached 5th place I had nothing left to give. The result was not bad at all."

Zach Osborne, Utag Yamaha.com, 6th:

"I fell at the start in the heat race which did not give me the best pick in the gate today. I was a bit nervous about being that far down but got a good start and worked my way up to fourth, which I was happy about. In the second race I did my best to pass through the pack. I lost the back brake about five minutes into both races and that made it tougher. I enjoyed the track. It was hard on Saturday but once I got the rhythm and worked out the flow, things went well. I have put together some consistent finishes now and rising up to fourth in the championship. I wanted to be in the top five today and I feel with that first race I did OK to get up to that position."

Circuit Length: 1750

Crowd: 20,000

Weather: Cloudy

Last Years Winner: Tyla Rattray