Bobryshev forced to settle for 5th in St Jean qualifier

Evgeny Bobryshev appeared to have learned from his
disastrous qualifying last time out in Brazil, to bring it home in a
solid 5th place in St Jean d'Angely, France. The result sets him up
well for tomorrow's motos, with teammate Gonçalves not far behind in
8th.

Despite having voiced concerns over the tight and technical St Jean
track, Bobryshev got the start he needed and set off with the lead
group. Teammate Gonçalves also got the drop, and appeared on the fringes
of the top 5 after the first corner melee. As the moto developed a
couple of small mistakes crept in for Gonçalves, who swapped positions
with team mate Bobryshev on lap two, before being pulled into a dogfight
with Ben Townley and David Philippaerts, eventually splitting the
difference and settling for 8^th position come moto end.

Out front, the top six had pulled away, with Bobryshev hunting down Steve Ramon for 5^th
position, a position he would take on lap eight. He then set about
chasing down Honda counterpart, Shaun Simpson, who was occupying a
season’s best qualifying position of 4^th. The LS Honda man in
front was riding well and although Bobryshev had caught up to the back
wheel of the young Scot, he was finding it difficult to position for
the pass. A last lap spill for Bobryshev would be a warning shot,
forcing him to back off and settle for 5^th. Clement Desalle would take the victory in front of the enthusiastic French crowd.

Evgeny Bobryshev, Honda World Motocross
“I
crashed on the last lap. Nothing big just a small one but I thought not
again. I managed to get going and didn’t lose a position and then I
just thought 5^th is good for qualifying, I will settle for that. I didn’t want to do what I did last time out.”

Rui Gonçalves, Honda World Motocross
“I made
two small mistakes and stalled the bike twice, locking the back wheel
under braking. If I had done that it could have been a different story
but I am happy with 8^th for qualifying and I will look forward to the racing tomorrow and hope to iron out these mistakes.”