The Honda World Motocross team is looking forward to the first European race of the MX1 World Championship this weekend while returning to full strength with both Evgeny Bobryshev and Max Nagl ready to take on the competition in the sand at Valkenswaard, The Netherlands for round three of the series.
It has been a tough start to the season for both riders, as Russian star Bobryshev demonstrated a strong pace both in Qatar and Thailand earlier in the month, and despite being in reaching distance of the podium, his results have yet to show what he is really capable of. The night races in Qatar brought him a good bundle of points, but with the heat affecting him in both motos in Thailand one week later, the hard work that he had put in went on to be wasted, as he struggled at the end of both motos.
The Valkenswaard event in The Netherlands will certainly be much cooler, which is more to Bobryshev’s liking, and after keeping up to speed by racing and winning at the national Dutch races, he’ll be looking for two composed but strong performances to reestablish a strong foundation to his 2013 season aboard his Dunlop-shod factory CRF450R.
For Nagl, a stomach infection thwarted his progress in Qatar and with an initial diagnosis of food poisoning, it was only later in the week following the race when it was apparent he was suffering from something more serious. The German racer had no option but to sit out of the Thailand event with treatment in hospital and the Honda pilot returned home to Europe, where he has been able to recover with the stomach problems, which has also given the hand he injured pre-season more time to heal.
In the last two weeks Nagl has been back on his factory CRF450R and has managed some valuable testing time ahead of this weekend’s Grand prix, where he’ll be looking to find his feet once again and earn the results he’s capable of.
The weather forecast for the weekend is overcast with no rain at the sandy Dutch track with temperatures averaging at around 5°C.
Evgeny Bobryshev #777
“I was really disappointed about losing so many points in Thailand, and if I had finished where I was before crashing, I would have been top five in the championship. Anyway, I can’t do anything and I have to forget about it, as well as the big disaster with the weather; I just couldn’t handle the temperature there. I was a little bit injured after the second race crash in Thailand, and I damaged muscles in my ribs, as well as some ligament strain in my ankle. I had to use painkillers for the Dutch races, but now I feel good and back to full strength. The first week home after Thailand I had time off the bike to recover and just did physical training with some cycling. The first Dutch championship race was in the sand and I won both motos, which has shown that things have come better. I’ve been practicing with the bike and running to increase the training and at the second Dutch race there was more competition. It was good, as I won there too on similar terrain to this next race, so it’s been good training. I feel happy and I know they are changing the track direction at Valkenswaard, which will be interesting, as it’s been many years since they did this. The track is quite fast and I like it, especially as the ground is sandy, but not so deep. I prefer the fast flowing tracks without too many tight turns and there is always a good atmosphere at this event, so I am looking forward to it. It will be good to have the team back together and we will do our best.”
Max Nagl #12
“The start of the season was certainly tough but for me it is far away now and I’m only looking forward. After coming back from Thailand I spent a week in Germany and I couldn’t do any training with the strong antibiotics I was taking, but once the stomach was recovered, I could start riding a little. I had lost 4kg in Thailand, so it was good to get the food intake back on track and make a good recovery, but it has lost us more valuable riding time. When I did get back on the bike it was difficult in the beginning, and we raced the Dutch championship, but I wasn’t happy with our setting or how I felt. This week we’ve done some suspension testing with Showa and we’ve made some big improvements, so I am really happy and looking forward to Valkenswaard. It won’t be easy though, as I’ve missed so much riding since the start of the year and I can really feel it. My main goal is to get good starts and stay with the front guys as long as possible, although the realistic goal for results is to be in the top 10. My hand is much better now and almost normal, so we’ve just got to see what is possible and go from there.”