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EMX, Matterley Basin, WINCHESTER , 8 Giugno 2019

Another victory for Roan Van de Moosdijk in Russia

F&H Racing Team's Roan van de Moosdijk took his second consecutive moto victory for Kawasaki in the opening moto of the FIM European EMX250 Motocross Championship round at Orlyonok in Russia.

Racing in glorious weather at the hillside track overlooking the Black Sea "Russian Riviera" the Dutch teenager quickly moved forward to second from a fourth-placed start and after seven laps shadowing the leader took over the lead with an immaculate inside pass at half-distance to come home a confident winner by three seconds. The moto victory sees the youngster nearly halve his points deficit on the series leader and he goes into tomorrow's second race confident of making further advances.
 
Roan van de Moosdijk: "I came here three years ago for the EMX125 and I have always enjoyed this track even though it's difficult to pass here; I was second in practice and I got a good start in fourth and could move quickly to second. Then I was hit on my hand by a stone and my nail really hurt so I had to back it off for a couple of laps before going after the leader. I made a nice pass and could pull away; I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and another good race."
 
Clement Desalle of the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team, a decisive winner in Russia in each of the last two seasons, made a superb second-placed start in Qualifying for the FIM World MXGP Championship round but found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time after fifteen minutes and had to lay down his bike to avoid a fallen rival in his path; he remounted to finish sixth. BOS Factory's Evgeny Bobryshev, enjoying his first race on native Russian soil for more than a year, had his best race of the season to finish eleventh, one ahead of Benoit Paturel whose Gebben Van Venrooy Kawasaki teammate Alessandro Lupino had slipped off on the slick surface after advancing impressively from eleventh to seventh in the early stages. KRT's Julien Lieber finished seventeenth after a couple of incidents.
 
Clément Desalle: “I have some good memories from this track and it was good to win here the last two seasons. In the qualifying race I got a good start, but I made some mistakes when I was in second position. Then Cairoli crashed in front of me at mid-race; I had to grab the brakes hard to avoid him so I also crashed and was lucky that I was able to continue my race. Sixth gate is OK for the race; I just need some more good starts tomorrow and a podium result will be already a success as since France I haven't been able to train as I’d like due to my knee injury; I miss time on the bike and that always makes it tough to maintain the rhythm.”
 
The importance of a good start at the rapid sun-baked raceway was emphasised yet further in the Qualifying race for the MX2 class as all of the Green machines with the exception of Bike It DRT Kawasaki's Darian Sanayei had a difficult time through the wide opening turn to emerge outside the top ten. The American was on fire however and even led momentarily on the opening lap before a slip on the well-watered surface dropped him down the leaderboard and he eventually finished eighth. Henry Jacobi of F&H Racing, who had missed pole by just one-twentieth of a second earlier in the day, made significant advances during the second half of the race and, setting podium pace lap times in traffic, the German eventually took the chequered flag tenth, just over a second behind the rider who finished seventh. F&H colleague Adam Sterry was sixteenth, while Bud Racing Kawasaki's Brian Moreau was thirteenth and his American teammate Mitchell Harrison nineteenth, one ahead of Bike It DRT's Gustavo Pessoa.
 
Darian Sanayei: “I spent a lot of time travelling before coming here as I had to go back to America to get my visa for Russia, and the last couple of days I feel so bad that I didn’t really know what to expect here. I got a decent lap in the timed practice period, less than two seconds from the pole which is not so bad as I have not been able to ride since the French GP. I got a good start in the qualification race, was second and even took the lead when Vialle made a little mistake but I also made a mistake before the end of the first lap! I kept the bike running, got back in the race fifth in and rode a smooth race; I know I can go faster and ride better but my body just isn’t ready for it at the moment. Eighth is not a bad result but I’m a little bit disappointed and pretty tired tonight. I am trying to do everything I can to recover, but nothing really seems to be working yet.”
 
Henry Jacobi: “I got such a bad start that my race was difficult; I rode patiently in the first two laps because the track was really tricky and I didn’t want to make a mistake and end up with last choice of gate tomorrow.  I decided to do my best to get a decent gate for the race, without taking risks and I achieved that; I took a stone on my arm but I don’t think it will be a problem for the race tomorrow. Gate ten should be OK for the race; I showed during the practice sessions that my speed was OK on this track.”