Misunderstanding costs Dylan Ferrandis second place

MX2_2014_Dylan_Finland_Ferrandis_KawasakiA misunderstanding cost second place for Dylan Ferrandis of CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy in the Finnish round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Hyvinkää.

The 20 year old French youngster finished second in both motos of the Finnish GP, but a penalty imposed by officials at the end of the opening race cost him both an overall podium finish on the day and third place in the championship standings. The misunderstanding arose on the second lap of racing as Dylan arrived unsighted on the scene of an accident at the start of the race. One rider was still being treated by medical staff on the track but, although the race leader had a clear view of the scene and immediately slowed to respect the yellow warning flags, Ferrandis and one other rider were each initially unsighted and had swept past the race leader before they realised the situation. Ferrandis immediately slowed and even allowed the previous leader to repass him, but officials declined to accept his explanation and he was penalised ten places in the classification. Despite sweeping from an initial tenth place to again finish second the combined results gave him fourth overall on the day and he remains fourth in the championship standings, thirteen points behind third.

Thomas Covington was restricted to twenty-second gate pick after hitting the startgate during qualification, and the consequent handicap proved costly for his chances of scoring points even though the young American had quickly adapted to the demanding sandy track. He eventually failed to finish either race, but remains positive that he will benefit from his experiences this season when he again contests the World Championship next year.

Tommy Searle once again had little luck in the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship- The English rider again struggled with his starts and, despite setting the fastest laps in the field at some stage of each race, had to be satisfied with just nineteen points as reward for a fine day’s riding. He advanced from twelfth to sixth place in the opening moto and was optimistic of advancing even higher in the second race but an incident in which he landed on the stricken bike of another rider who had crashed on the blind side of a jump caused him also to fall. Recovering to thirteenth at the chequered flag, he was subsequently penalised one minute, costing four places, as the silencer of his machine had been damaged in the collision.

Dylan Ferrandis:We worked on the settings of the bike with Bruno Losito when we came here, and Saturday was good with a strong qualifying race as I finished second. Today I got a good start in the first race and after one lap I was in third behind Herlings and Butron when we came on the final jump; Herlings saw a yellow flag as there was a crash, but behind him we didn’t see this flag. Herlings lifted a hand, we thought that he had some mechanical problem and passed him, but when I saw that he came back behind him I let him pass, as it seemed strange for me. Then I spend a lot of time and energy to pass Butron to eventually finish second but after the end of the race I was informed that the Race Director had penalised me ten places. We went to explain the situation but they didn’t want to change anything, so I lost this second place. In the second moto I was tenth at the start, but once again I recovered to second and showed that I was the fastest rider behind Herlings this weekend.”

Thomas Covington: “ I had some bad luck this weekend; it seemed as though everything was going well but in the end everything went wrong. I felt really good on the bike, the suspension was working really well and I hope that I can have the same feeling on the other tracks. I was on the outside as I hit the gate on Saturday and qualified only in twenty-second position; from there it was impossible to get a good start and that was important this weekend. In the second race I braked and tried to cut inside, but later I had a crash and damaged the throttle.  The track was fun and I enjoyed riding here; I will continue to work hard and the experience of all these races will help me to be stronger next year.”

Tommy Searle: In both races today I had very bad starts, but the first race ended OK as I recovered from eighteenth to sixth; I had really fast lap times, but when I got through to sixth the leading group was far away. Then in the second race I had another bad start. My lap times again were good but I couldn’t avoid the bike of a rider who had crashed after a jump; I crashed too and again my riding was good but I was so far behind when I rejoined the race. Like every weekend I had the speed to get good results, but with bad starts it’s hard to come back to the front.”