Solid Start for Kawasaki Racing Team

The Kawasaki Racing Team made a solid start to the 2010 European motocross season in the
traditional season-opener at the sandy track on the outskirts of the ancient north Italian city of
Mantova.

With two months to the start of the World MX1 Championship series, actual results in the invitational race
at Mantova seldom reflect world championship form but all three Kawasaki riders proved that they have
the speed to be a force to be reckoned with in this year’s world series.

Team newcomers Jonathan Barragan (7th) and Xavier Boog (9th) each showed that they are getting used
to their new bikes, while Sebastien Pourcel, out of luck all day, displayed podium speed in each of the first
two races.

Three motos, each of 20 minutes plus two laps of a track made tortuous by rain prior to race day, faced
the riders under a bright, blue sky and Barragan was the only member of the team to emerge from
qualification with a decent choice of gate position so vital for a good start.

Even though he has had little time on the bike so far this year because of the atrocious weather all over
Europe, Jonathan gated on the edge of the top ten and advanced strongly to finish 5th, but an early
collision in race two kept him downfield in 17th and the Spaniard ended the day with a 9th place as
passing became more and more difficult on the rutted track.

With no chance of a decent start from an outside gate Boog put in three solid rides to advance through
the pack in each moto and also to improve his finishing position each time.

Setting identical lap times to the leaders Pourcel was advancing quickly through the pack in the early laps
of the first race until he twisted an ankle in a deep rut and wisely pulled out. Again facing a charge past
slower riders in race two, Sébastien decided to wait for the leaders and, although a lap down, was able to
follow their pace without difficulty, a good sign for the future. Having proven his race speed, he withdrew
from the third race early rather than take unnecessary risks on the rutted track.

Jonathan Barragan:

“I was hoping a better result for this first race of the season, but the bad weather in recent weeks has
played havoc with our preparation and we haven’t been able to test many new things on the bike. In fact I
only got to ride my factory KX450F for the first time last Thursday, so I still need time to get used to it
because it is very different to my training bike, particularly the suspension and the engine power. But we
have a strong team around us and I have a race every week until then so I am confident that we will be
right up there when the GP season starts in two months.”

Sébastien Pourcel:

“This was my first race for ten months and, even if the results were not so good, I had a good feeling on
the bike today. Unfortunately I had a crash during the qualification on Saturday so I was on the outside of
the gate today and had no chance of a good start. But I did get a good jump out of the gate each race and
that is a good sign for the future. I twisted my ankle in a rut in the first race so I didn’t want to take any
risks in the other motos; in fact I decided to wait for the leaders in race two and was able to find a rhythm
and follow them without any trouble. I have less pain in my shoulder now; that is important and I am
confident that I now know what I have to do in the next two months to be ready for the first GP.”

Xavier Boog:

The track conditions were very tough today but I improved my result in each moto so I am happy with that.

The way they allocate the positions at the start gate here always seem to be a lottery; I ended up with an
outside gate and you can’t expect a decent start from there. I managed to finish 10th in the last race,
which is not bad as I had to rest last week because of a finger injury. I had some pain in the first few laps
of racing, but it got better as the day went on and I’m sure that Valence will be a better race for us as the
team has several days of testing planned in the south of France before we go there.”

MX1 classification:

1.Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 70 ; 2.Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 52 ; 3.Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 51 ; 4.Philippaerts (ITA,
Yamaha), 51 ; 5.De Reuver (PB, Suzuki), 50 ; 6.Leok (EST, Honda), 45 ; 7.Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 38
; 8.Nagl (ALL, KTM), 35 ; 9.Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 32 ; 10.Albertson (USA, Honda), 31…..27.Pourcel
(FRA, Kawasaki); etc…