|  | This weekend the first of fifteen rounds in the 2010 FIM MX-GP World Championship will take place at Sevlievo for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria and will witness the debut of the 2010 YZ450F and YZ250F at the highest level.
2008 MX1-GP World Championship David Philippaerts will be aiming to recapture his crown on the new motorcycle for the Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team and will unfortunately be the sole representative of the conquering Italian crew after the shock left leg injury last Monday to MX2-GP rider Gautier Paulin. The 20 year old Frenchman is currently undergoing treatment to be back in action and make his GP bow for the team as soon as possible.
Philippaerts travels to the wide, hard-pack and fast venue in the centre of the eastern European country knowing that Sevlievo was the scene of his first win for Yamaha in 2008. The 25 year old begins his third term for the team and manufacturer and will try to extend Yamaha's excellent run at the circuit. The Grand Prix of Bulgaria has been part of the MX-GP calendar each year since 2006 and Yamaha have won every season since then with Stefan Everts, Josh Coppins (2007 and 2009) and Philippaerts all walking the top-step at the acclaimed facility.
The Italian finished 4th in the 2009 MX1-GP series and won the British Grand Prix at Mallory Park. He has been strong during a busy pre-season period in which the team have engaged in tests and dialling-in sessions with the new rear-slanting fuel-injected engine of the YZ450FM, now equipped with Ohlins suspension. Two wins in Italy and also in the sand of Mill for the first round of the Dutch championship means that Philippaerts is on-form going to the first GP that will awaken a six month, thirteen country trek.
'I feel good, we have done a lot of work and it has been perhaps one of the busiest off-season periods I have had,' he said. 'This weekend will be the start of a long championship and it will be important to start in the right way. For sure I have good memories of Bulgaria and it is a track I like. The new YZ450FM has a lot of usable power and the bike handles so well because of the different character of this machine; I think we can make some good races.'
Also giving Yamaha presence in the premier class will be new recruit Ken De Dycker for the Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team. The 25 year old Belgian will turn a Yamaha wheel for the first time in the world championship this weekend and will have memories of his first moto victory at Sevlievo almost twelve months ago.
Paulin joins fellow Frenchman Loic Larrieu on the injury list; the teenager fracturing his left collarbone several weeks ago. Yamaha will however be able to count on Larrieu's team-mate Alessandro Lupino to challenge for decent points, 2009 European Champion Christophe Charlier who recently won the Italian MX2 Championship, and also, importantly, Bike it Cosworth Yamaha's Zach Osborne. The American captured a win on the YZ250F at Turkey in 2009 and was unlucky to loss the rest of the season with a broken scaphoid. Osborne has been training with ex-team-mate and former Yamaha rider Kenneth Gundersen in Norway over the winter and clinched the opening round of the British MX2 Championship three weeks ago. Charlier meanwhile can be considered as one of the most promising athletes to enter MX2-GP this year and the French rookie could spring some surprises over the next half-a-year.
The progress of Yamaha Monster Energy MX athletes can be followed on www.yamaha-racing.com where a comprehensive photo gallery and 2010 video can also be seen. All the action from Bulgaria and indeed the 2010 championship can be watched live and free from www.freecaster.tv |
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