Alessandro Lupino of Team CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy Pro Circuit battled the pain of two broken ribs to secure eighth place in the Brazilian round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship.
The injuries had prevented the Italian from following his usual training programme in recent weeks and he was inevitably going to find it tough physically in the humid conditions which the riders faced in Brazil. Nevertheless he put in a gutsy performance to advance from twelfth place to finish tenth in the MX2 race, but was severely handicapped in the Superfinal, a race which sees the best riders from both the MX1 and MX2 classes go to the start together, when another rider crashed in his path at the second corner. Despite this handicap he stormed back through the pack to finish seventh in class ad retain his ninth place in the world rankings.
Dylan Ferrandis of Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki made a great start in the MX2 moto to initially hold third place, but a crash pushed him downfield before he put in a strong recovery back to sixth place, only to surrender two places late in the race after he was forced to discard his goggles. An unfortunate incident at the opening corner of the Superfinal left Dylan at the tail of the field, but he rode strongly back to ninth in class to claim tenth overall on the day and advance to twelfth in the series.
Jimmy Decotis, the US newcomer to Team CLS, scored his first world championship points after twice battling to the finish amongst the scorers. He admitted after racing that he is still learning to adapt to the long gruelling GP races and will work on his endurance during the three weeks before the next GP in France.
Alessandro Lupino: “ Since I broke two ribs at the Italian GP I haven’t been able to train normally, and as a result my physical condition is not at his best so here in Brazil it was not a good weekend for me. In the MX2 race I already got arm pump after two laps, and in the Superfinal I lost time when Pocock crashed in front of me at the second corner. I now have three weeks to recover and I will go in Holland to train; we are nearly at the halfway point of the season, and I want to race top five in France to give the team the results they expect.”
Dylan Ferrandis: “ On Saturday the track was nice to ride, but it was so flat that everyone was going fast and the qualifying race was boring; my start was not so good and I could only qualify thirteenth. In the MX2 race I got a great start and was third in the first corner, and was still fifth when I crashed. I recovered to sixth place again and battled with Tixier, Pocock and Butron until I had to take of my goggles and finished eighth. The start of the Superfinal was a disaster; Coldenhoff crashed and I got his handlebar in my rear wheel! I recovered from last place to ninth, but I was expecting more.”
Jimmy Decotis: “ This is definitively a crazy place with such great fans. The track was one of the better ones I have faced since I started racing the GPs and I feel I have made progress since Portugal. Everyone is working hard to achieve this and I scored points in both races here. My speed is better, but I still need to improve my fitness so that I can keep the pace for the entire forty minutes. But I’m sure it will come soon.”