Ernee, France – 7th June 2009 – World Championship

Harsh French outing for Red Bull KTM pair

Red Bull KTM UK’s Stephen Sword and Jake Nicholls could not pick up any points at a tricky Ernee circuit near the city of Le Mans for the Grand Prix of France and the eighth round of fifteen in the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship.

38,000 spectators created a lively atmosphere at the venue that so splendidly hosted the 2005 Motocross of Nations. Although the fans were boisterous for their local riders the enthusiasm was partly dampened by cloudy, chilly and sometimes showery conditions.

Sword and team-mate Jake Nicholls came through the qualification heat with 10th and 18th positions respectively but the first moto started off in disastrous fashion as both riders ended up in the dirt within the first three laps. Sword retired, goggle-less and Nicholls soldiered on but finished out of the points.

In the second race two mistakes dropped Sword outside of the top twenty while Nicholls was also unable to find a way into numerical territory.“I’m still struggling to get the right suspension set-up on the bike and after the crash in the first moto there was not a lot I was going to do from that far back,” said Sword. “In the second race I started better and just pushed on for what I could get. This is obviously disappointing and I can only hope for some confidence next week at the British.”

“It was an up and down weekend,” commented Nicholls. “On Saturday I was really enjoying myself and also the track but the overnight rain did not help. Still I was ninth in warm-up which is a small personal best. It rained hard before the first race and with a bad start I was stranded at the back with no goggles. My radiator shroud bent and I could not steer the bike properly. I couldn’t affect the race. In the second moto I struggled again and once I managed to get myself going and catch a lot of people I just lost my lap-times with five minutes to go and couldn’t take the positions I wanted. I am really disappointed that I did not get any points because I have had a good little run of late. I’ve learnt a lot today so it is not all bad.”

“The weekend started off well with both riders showing good pace in the qualification race on Saturday” reflected Team Principal Roger Magee. “The dramatic change in weather conditions just before the 1st moto made the race more of a lottery, especially if you didn’t get a good start. In the 2nd moto with the track continuing to dry, passing was difficult due to only 1 dry line in many of the corners. We need to significantly improve our results at World Championship level at every round, especially after good results at last weekend’s home GP”.

Sword is 18th in the current standings and Nicholls is 23rd.

Back in the UK, at the 2nd round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals at Whitby, Red Bull KTM UK MX1 rider Alex Snow finished 4th overall, with MX2 rider Graeme Irwin also 4th overall on the day.

Red Bull KTM UK will have time to restock next week and face the fourth round of the Maxxis British Championship at Hawkstone Park before a run of three consecutive Grand Prix to be held at Germany, Latvia and Sweden.

Results

MX2 Moto1 1. Marvin Musquin (KTM); 2. Anthony Boissiere (KTM); 3. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 4. Loic Larrieu (Yam); 5. Arnaud Tonus (KTM); 6. Valentin Teillet (KTM); 7. Loic Rombaut (Kaw); 8. Gautier Paulin (Kaw); 9. Nicolas Aubin (Yam); 10. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 11. Joel Roelants (KTM); 12. Evgeny Bobryshev (Yam); 13. Xavier Boog (Suz); 14. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 15. Ken Roczen (Suz); 16. Cedric Soubeyras (Hon); 17. Manuel Monni (Yam); 18. Mel Pocock (Yam); 19. Pascal Leuret (Hon); 20. Nikolai Larsen (Suz);

MX2 Moto2 1. Marvin Musquin (KTM); 2. Ken Roczen (Suz); 3. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 4. Gautier Paulin (Kaw); 5. Loic Larrieu (Yam); 6. Manuel Monni (Yam); 7. Anthony Boissiere (KTM); 8. Nicolas Aubin (Yam); 9. Joel Roelants (KTM); 10. Valentin Teillet (KTM); 11. Jeremy Van Horebeek (KTM); 12. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 13. Mel Pocock (Yam); 14. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 15. Evgeny Bobryshev (Yam); 16. Dennis Verbruggen (Hon); 17. Petr Smitka (KTM); 18. Xavier Boog (Suz); 19. Loic Rombaut (Kaw); 20. Cedric Soubeyras (Hon);
MX2 Overall Result 1. Marvin Musquin (KTM); 2. Anthony Boissiere (KTM); 3. Loic Larrieu (Yam); 4. Gautier Paulin (Kaw); 5. Ken Roczen (Suz); 6. Davide Guarneri (Yam); 7. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 8. Valentin Teillet (KTM); 9. Nicolas Aubin (Yam); 10. Joel Roelants (KTM); 11. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 12. Manuel Monni (Yam); 13. Loic Rombaut (Kaw); 14. Arnaud Tonus (KTM); 15. Evgeny Bobryshev (Yam); 16. Mel Pocock (Yam); 17. Xavier Boog (Suz); 18. Jeremy Van Horebeek (KTM); 19. Cedric Soubeyras (Hon); 20. Dennis Verbruggen (Hon);

MX2 World Championship standings after 8 of 15 rounds 1. Marvin Musquin (284); 2. Gautier Paulin (250); 3. Davide Guarneri (235); 4. Rui Goncalves (222); 5. Steven Frossard (205); 6. Xavier Boog (177); 7. Nicolas Aubin (161); 8. Manuel Monni (134); 9 Jeremy Van Horebeek (128); 10. Ken Roczen (120); 11. Loic Larrieu (115); 12. Arnaud Tonus (108); 13. Joel Roelants (103); 14. Anthony Boissiere (100); 15. Zach Osborne (100); 16. Shaun Simpson (97); 17. Marcus Schiffer (89); 18. Stephen Sword (84); 19. Valentin Teillet (71); 20. Khounsith Vongsana (60); 23. Jake Nicholls (52)

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