MX-GP: Fantastic runner-up performance by Frossard in Bulgaria

MX1-GP BULGARIA - ROUND 1     Sevlievo MX1-GP Race Report - 10/04/2011 Fantastic runner-up performance by Frossard in Bulgaria The first round of fifteen in the 2011 FIM MX1-GP World Championship was a memorable one for Monster Energy Yamahas Steve Frossard as the factory team rookie tied on points for victory at the Grand Prix of Bulgaria, won a moto and left the cold and windy Sevlievo circuit with the runner-up position overall. The Frenchman aced the qualification heat on Saturday to take pole position and signal his intent across the flat hard-pack. The 23 year old handled his YZ450F with deft skill; the kind of form that recently helped him claim the MX1 Italian title. A superb start on Sunday watched by the officially-provided spectator figure of 35,000 allowed Frossard to flick and sprint away from the pack and win the first moto of the year and his first in the class and with Yamaha. The second race saw a similar level of speed and performance although he faced a tricky challenge from Clement Desalle that produced some close and exciting racing. Frossard was able to prevail and had a four second lead entering the closing stages of the contest when he lost traction exiting a corner and the back end of the bike spun out. Quickly remounting he jostled for the lead again with Desalle and also Jonathan Barragan. A small moment of mis-timing on the final lap prevented a last-gasp attack and Frossard had to accept second and the same ranking on the podium due to the second race classification. While Frossard was marking the pace at the front David Philippaerts was forging a similar effort through the pack after two restrictive starts. The Italian pushed through to fourth place in Moto1 after a thorough charge. A better launch in Moto2 was ruined on the apex of the first corner when the former world champion lost balance. From the very rear of the field DP19 valiantly chased back to 14th for 10th overall. Anthony Boissiere was another rider making his bow for Yamaha in MX1 and picked up a decent share of points for 15th and 13th and 13th at the end of the day. With 2nd, 10th and 13th the MX1-GP collective of the Monster Energy Yamaha team are off and running. Round two will take place in two weeks on Easter Monday at Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands. Steven Frossard 2nd position I feel really good on the bike and the 450 suits me better. In the first moto I made a really good start and it was easy for me to take a lead of a few seconds. In the second it was completely different because the start was not great. I passed Clement and was ahead by four seconds but made a mistake. My physical condition was really good and that helped me to come back to second and look for the win. I was pushing really hard because I wanted to win the GP and then made another error that cost me half a second. In my head I knew I was capable of this speed because we worked really hard over the winter with Yamaha. David Philippaerts 10th position The first moto was good but I crashed at the start of the second and made a mistake when the rear stepped out. I restarted last and pushed as hard as I could but my times were not as good as the first moto. Overall I think I was good enough for a top four finish today, which would have been OK because the track was very hard. I like this place but there were other riders who were quicker today. Im looking forward to Valkenswaard now and we must improve the starts. Anthony Boissiere 13th position I crashed on the first lap of the first moto and it was difficult to come back because the track was fast and I couldnt make much difference no matter how hard I pushed. 15th was not a good result in the first race but my riding was OK. The second race was better but I felt a bit tired towards the end. I look at the results and they are not great but I have scored points and will try for more now. 2011 MX1-GP Bulgaria Sevlievo 10/04/2011 20 Laps race I 1 Steven Frossard Yamaha FRA 38'47.398  2 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 0'08.004  3 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'19.535  4 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'23.876  5 Davide Guarneri Kawasaki ITA 0'42.423  6 Jonathan Barragan Kawasaki ESP 0'44.452  7 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 0'48.293  8 Rui Goncalves Honda POR 0'49.798  9 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'55.906  10 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 1'04.730  11 Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 1'10.145  12 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 1'15.151  13 Shaun Simpson Honda GBR 1'18.136  14 Jason Dougan Yamaha GBR 1'19.171  15 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 1'19.964  16 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 1'46.669  18 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED -1Laps  race II 1 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 39'21.139  2 Steven Frossard Yamaha FRA 0'01.222  3 Jonathan Barragan Kawasaki ESP 0'13.352  4 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 0'19.955  5 Rui Goncalves Honda POR 0'22.354  6 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'23.603  7 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'26.653  8 Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 0'30.906  9 Tanel Leok TM EST 0'33.340  10 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 0'33.861  11 Davide Guarneri Kawasaki ITA 0'41.968  12 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'43.285  13 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 0'47.818  14 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'50.648  15 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 0'52.279  MX1-GP World Standing Rider Standings After Race 1 of 16 1. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 47 2. Steven Frossard Yamaha FRA 47 3. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 35 4. Jonathan Barragan Kawasaki ESP 35 5. Rui Goncalves Honda POR 29 6. Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 27 7. Davide Guarneri Kawasaki ITA 26 8. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 26 9. Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 25 10. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 25 11. Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 23 12. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 20 13. Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 14 14. Shaun Simpson Honda GBR 13 15. Tanel Leok TM EST 12 16. Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 11 17. Jason Dougan Yamaha GBR 7 20. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 3 Circuit Length: 1530 Crowd: 35,000 Weather: Cloudy Last Years Winner: Antonio Cairoli Manufacturer Standings 10/04/2011 1 Suzuki 47 2 Yamaha 47 3 Kawasaki 36 4 KTM 35 5 Honda 31 6 TM 12 Positive outing for Paulin in Bulgaria Monster Energy Yamahas Gautier Paulin finished 4th at a blustery Sevlievo for the first Grand Prix of fifteen in the FIM MX2-GP World Championship on Sunday. The Frenchman who missed this event through injury in 2010 showed impressive speed and handling of the factory YZ250FM to 3rd and 7th positions under bright but cloudy skies and through a cold wind. The gusts dried the hard-pack track thoroughly during Saturday practice and qualification and even created difficult dusty conditions. A coating of rain during the night and watering helped roughen the surface but also made it greasy. Paulin was slightly undone by two average starts in the motos. His flight from a place in the lower half of the top ten on the first lap to pressurise and overtake Jeffrey Herlings for third by the end of Moto1 was entertaining to chart and his increased speed and overtaking prowess was commendable around a layout that was not forgiving to passing opportunism. The 21 year olds second start was worse around mid-pack and he spent many laps regaining ground to enter the top ten. In fifth position in the final ranking was Bike it Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamahas Zach Osborne. The American suffered a little with nerves in the first race and finished seventh but was more comfortable on his YZ250F later in the day and circulated on the fringes of the leading trio, capturing fourth by the flag. New team-mate Arnaud Tonus had a spectacular opening race to pass the chequered flag in fourth but suffered a little with fatigue in the second and sealed eighth for seventh overall. Monster Energy Yamaha riders Christophe Charlier and Harri Kullas had varying experiences in Bulgaria. Charlier was eleventh overall, one place in front of Kullas, but was competing with a bone broken in his right hand and had to cope with pain and swelling. Kullas had a crash in the second race and felt dizzy. His tenth place from Moto1 was his highest finish of the day. Round two will take place in two weeks on Easter Monday at Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands. Gautier Paulin, Monster Energy Yamaha, 4th: The first race was quite good but the track was so hard and it was watered so I struggled with it. I normally like Bulgaria but today it was something different. I had bad starts and it was hard to pass. It was like being at Loket where catching the guy in front is difficult. This is the first GP and everyone wants a good result, so I am not too disappointed with fourth because the championship is just beginning. I am so happy with the performance of the bike and the suspension was also very good; I feel happy going out in every session on this bike. For sure we will continue to work because you can never have perfection but the team are trying so hard and we are pushing together. I still need to find a bit more speed but physically I feel good. Two motos today was no problem at all and my lap-times were right there. Christophe Charlier, Monster Energy Yamaha, 11th: It was a hard GP for me because I broke my hand two weeks ago and I cannot ride like I want. We tried our best today and I pushed where I could but the racing conditions were hard and overtaking people was difficult. I hadnt ridden since the accident with my hand so that was also against me. After some treatment now I hope I can see an improvement for Valkenswaard. Harri Kullas, Monster Energy Yamaha, 12: I lost too many positions on the first lap of the moto and that was not so good. I had a good battle after that until I had difficulty passing the backmarkers and finished tenth, which I was not so pleased with. I need to be stronger at the beginning. I ruined the start in the second Heat and came back to thirteenth before I couldnt avoid touching a rider who had crashed in front of me. I went down also and hit my head. I was a bit dizzy and had trouble concentrating after that. I tried to finish the race as fast as I could. Im not really happy and want to do a lot better. Zach Osborne, Bike it Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha, 5th: It was a pretty decent start to the season, a productive weekend and I am quite close to where I need to be. I was a bit nervous and tightened up in the first race and had to ride through it but in the second race I could show a bit more of my speed and got a fourth place. I was a bit bummed out with the result because I felt like I should have been on the podium today. This was the best finish Ive had here in three years and Ive made improvements. I need to work on my first laps but I have something to build on from here. Arnaud Tonus, Bike it Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha, 7th: I had a great first moto from a bad start and pushed really hard to come back. I was consistent with my lap-times and made a great race to fourth. I think I pushed too hard physically because after fifteen minutes in the next one I had to slow down and ride a smart moto; that was difficult. I need to improve my starts to be further up from the beginning and find the rhythm I want. The bike and the team are really good, I couldnt be happier from that side. 2011 MX2-GP Bulgaria Sevlievo 10/04/2011 20 Laps race I 1 Ken Roczen KTM GER 39'24.881  2 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 0'14.667  3 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 0'19.972  4 Arnaud Tonus Yamaha CHE 0'21.255  5 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 0'25.587  6 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 0'39.301  7 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 1'01.188  8 Max Anstie Kawasaki GBR 1'07.192  9 Nicolas Aubin KTM FRA 1'12.012  10 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 1'13.374  11 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 1'28.312  12 Matiss Karro Honda LVA 1'29.727  13 Jordi Tixier KTM FRA 1'35.788  14 Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 1'37.451  15 Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED 1'44.971  18 Petar Petrov Yamaha BGR -1Laps  race II 1 Ken Roczen KTM GER 39'35.555  2 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 0'21.468  3 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 0'30.621  4 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 0'35.375  5 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 0'38.982  6 Max Anstie Kawasaki GBR 0'43.344  7 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 0'55.018  8 Arnaud Tonus Yamaha CHE 0'58.330  9 Nicolas Aubin KTM FRA 0'59.768  10 Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 1'41.625  11 Alessandro Lupino Husqvarna ITA 1'42.152  12 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 1'42.996  13 Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED 1'51.888  14 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN -1Laps  15 Matiss Karro Honda LVA -1Laps  MX2-GP World Standing Rider Standings After Race 1 of 16 1. Ken Roczen KTM GER 50 2. Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 44 3. Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 36 4. Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 34 5. Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 32 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 31 7. Arnaud Tonus Yamaha CHE 31 8. Max Anstie Kawasaki GBR 28 9. Nicolas Aubin KTM FRA 24 10. Joel Roelants KTM BEL 19 11. Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 18 12. Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 18 13. Matiss Karro Honda LVA 15 14. Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED 14 15. Alessandro Lupino Husqvarna ITA 11 16. Jordi Tixier KTM FRA 11 20. Petar Petrov Yamaha BGR 3 Circuit Length: 1530 Crowd: 35,000 Weather: Changeable Last Years Winner: Marvin Musquin Manufacturer Standings 10/04/2011 1 KTM 50 2 Kawasaki 44 3 Yamaha 38 4 Honda 15 5 Husqvarna 11 6 Suzuki 2

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