Alessandro Lupino, the Italian newcomer to the CLS Kawasaki team, recorded an impressive fifth place in the second round of the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship at Si Racha in Thailand.
The Italian had a bad choice of gate after a troubled qualification but showed his great reserves of determination perseverance to fight through from an initial 20th position to finish eighth in the MX2 race; his final two passes came in the last two laps to confirm his fitness as many rivals slowed dramatically in the heat. The Team CLS MX2 Kawasaki Monster Energy Pro Circuit rider had a similar ride in the Superfinal to finish fourth in class to secure fifth on the day and advance to eighth in the championship.
The Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki trio faced a tough weekend in Thailand, but each fought bravely in the tropical heat. Dylan Ferrandis, still rebuilding his fitness after a winter recovering from injury, suffered further bad luck when he was hit by another rider in the hectic first turn of the MX2 race but he persevered bravely to finish 14th and followed this up with tenth in class in the Superfinal.
Valentin Teillet never found the great speed he had shown one week earlier in Qatar and crashes further restricted his scoring. He is now 15th in the championship standings, one ahead of teammate Ferrandis.
Top lady Livia Lancelot again performed well in her second guest appearance against the best male riders in the world. As in Qatar she narrowly failed to qualify for the Grand Prix, but actually beat several of the male competitors.
Alessandro Lupino: “ Saturday was tough for me, but after the qualifying race we worked with the team on the settings of the bike and today I had a better feeling with my bike and with the track. My start in the MX2 race was not very good; this is something I need to work on, but I was able to fight back from twentieth to eighth. I pushed hard in the last ten minutes, and did the same in the Superfinal where I came back from thirteenth to fourth. It’s my best ever result, and I feel I’m improving a lot every week since I joined Kawasaki.”
Dylan Ferrandis: “I had a better feeling on this track than last week, and my speed was better. I haven’t been able to practice so much this year as I sent the winter recovering from the injuries I suffered last year, so it was pretty tough with the hot weather here. My start in the MX2 race was good, but another rider hit me and I had to fight back through the field to finish fourteenth. In the Superfinal I had a better start, but it was tough with the MX1 riders. Still, I scored my best result of the year so far with a tenth position so we are headed in the right direction.”
Valentin Teillet: “I couldn’t find a good rhythm on this track, and it was a disappointing weekend for me. In the first race I crashed at the start and spent a lot of energy to come back through the field, but later I crashed again twice so I finished the race very tired. I didn’t have enough energy to do better than thirteenth in the Superfinal, and for sure this is not what I was expecting.”
Livia Lancelot: “I didn’t qualified again, but it was a great experience and I have no regrets. Again I missed the qualification by only two seconds, and I think that if the track had not been so wet for the Pre-qualifying session I would have a chance to make it. Now I will go home to race the French championship, which is one of my main goals this year.”