Tommy Searle and Bike It DRT Kawasaki ready for another GP season

The Bike It DRT Kawasaki team is ready to open another chapter of its long history this weekend at the opening round of the 2018 FIM Motocross World Championship.

Involved in the sport for many years, Steve Dixon is one of the most experienced managers in the paddock and once more this season he will line up one talented rider in each class of the World Championship.

Tommy Searle, injured last season during his winter preparation, had a perfect off-season this time and is again ready to achieve great results on the KX450F Kawasaki developed by the team.

“Winter was good and solid, I started physical training in November and that went well,” said Searle. “I started riding before Christmas and went to Spain for three weeks, then came back testing with the team.

“It’s nice to have a good off-season after getting injured last winter and I’m now looking forward to the start of the season. I’m very happy with the bike and I feel good – obviously we’ll know more after this race and then we go back and see what we need to work on but so far I’m happy. I like the track here in Argentina – I only rode here once because of injuries in the past but it’s a track I love to race.”

Team-mate Darian Sanayei enters his second MX2 campaign – the young American has high expectations headed for this opening round in Argentina as he achieved his best result of the season at this track last year during his rookie season.

Having moved to Belgium this winter to take advantage of optimal training opportunities alongside most of the GP riders, Darian enters his third season in Europe ready to fight for podium results on his KX250F Kawasaki.

“I had a different winter than usual as I didn’t go back to the US – I moved over to Belgium, trained there and just went to Spain for one week when the weather was really bad at my new base,” said Sanayei.

“I’m feeling good with the situation, and I’ve never been so ready! It was a big decision to move to Belgium, but for me it was the best scenario – anywhere I go I’m far from home so I wanted to go where it was the best for me as a pro rider, and I could ride a lot in the sand. The bike is really good – the team has been putting a lot of work and many hours, so let’s hope it will pay off.”

Steve Dixon said: “We had a good off-season and we have concentrated on having the riders happy. For Tommy it was important to help him to practice whenever he wanted at home or in Spain and he is coming away from this winter happy. He missed that last year – he didn’t feel really comfortable and was missing something, but now he’s really happy.

Darian spent his winter in Europe, riding a lot in the sand with one practice mechanic and he’s also happy. We worked a lot on the 250 bike as it’s never easy to race against factory bikes, but we made a big step and I’m happy with the base we have for the beginning of the season.”

Steve Guttridge, KME Racing Manager commented: “Tommy is back to full fitness and ready to remind everyone why he is a multiple GP winner! Darian continues to keep his eyes focused on the prize, which is claiming a World FIM title in MX2 this year for the team and Kawasaki.”