Having posted his fourth consecutive top three Qualifying time in the morning Boisrame used second gate-pick to good effect to capture fourth place on the opening lap of race one and, after disputing a podium placing throughout the moto, eventually took the chequered flag third with a powerful pass on the series leader two-thirds of the way through the thirty-minute-plus-two-lap race. Again quickly into fourth place in race two the French youngster kept the leaders in sight for most of the race in a high-speed chase around the heavily-rutted hillside track until, with another podium tantalisingly close but requiring two passes, he felt stomach pains and sensibly took no risks through the closing laps to finish fourth in moto and overall. Mathys is now a secure sixth in the series points standings.
Mathys Boisrame: “It was a good day for me. I had a good gate pick with the second position in the timed practice period and my first start was pretty good even if in the first corner another rider hit my clutch lever! I found a good rhythm and was happy with a third position, but then my second start wasn’t as good; I was around the tenth position at first. I came back to fourth but later in the race I had some stomach troubles; but I was able to keep my position so overall I’m happy.”
F&H teammate Roan van de Moosdijk, third in Qualifying, found himself in the pack at the start of moto one after being delayed through turn one and his race was run before the end of the opening lap as a rival’s rider-less bike crashed into him and inflicted sufficient damage to render it impossible to continue. Avoiding danger through the opening turns of race two the Dutch teenager secured a solid fifth position already by the completion of the first lap and resisted all challenges to chase his teammate across the finishing line for his seventh top five finish in the eight motos since the resumption of racing; the first moto incident has cost him his third-placed series ranking but he remains fifth, just twenty-seven points shy of the medal position.
Roan van de Moosdijk: “The day started pretty good as I was leading the timed practice session for a long time and I was happy to get the third gate pick. My first start was not so good, maybe fifteenth, and on the first lap some riders lost control of their bikes and hit me; I crashed and the footrest of another bike damaged the engine so I had to retire. My second start was better in third position, but the track had changed a lot compared to the last time I had ridden it in the morning so during the first few laps I had to get a good feeling with it; later I was able to push and find a good rhythm to finish fifth behind Mathys, which was a good way to end this GP.”
Mikkel Haarup, the third F&H rider, successfully gambled on choosing the gate on the extreme outside in race one to exit turn one eleventh but the teenager never settled on the heavily-rutted track and lost places to eventually finish seventeenth. A disappointing day ended early in race two as the Danish youngster’s bike was damaged when he hit a fallen rider’s bike on the third lap whilst holding down thirteenth place. Despite the frustrating day he remains tenth in the championship standings.
Mikkel Haarup: “I had a very tough race today. I didn’t get the best qualifying result with a fifteenth position but I had a decent start in the first moto. But then I rode like a C class rider all race to finish seventeenth. My second start was also decent but on the third lap another rider crashed in front of me and I landed on him. It was quite a big crash; the bike was bent and I couldn’t finish the race, but hopefully I’m OK and will be fit on Wednesday.”
The series continues on Wednesday as the teams of world motocross meet once again for the second of three GPs in eight days at the Faenza facility.