Despite feeling less than 100% Evgeny Bobryshev battled hard around the tough and technical Trentino circuit to score his best result of the 2018 MXGP season so far.
The Russian started off the weekend by scoring 14th place in the qualification race on board his BOS GP machine.
When the gates dropped for the first points-paying race on Sunday afternoon Bobryshev struggled to get the jump he was hoping for. As the pack took on the opening lap Evgeny found himself just inside of the top 20.
He was able to make a couple of quick passes before the lap came to a close to move into 17th position. The Arco circuit was shaping up to be very difficult to pass on, however Bobryshev was able to utilise some good lines to progress into 16th position on lap two. For the next 10 minutes Evgeny focussed his attention on chasing down Alessandro Lupino. The pair battled for some time, but the Russian couldnāt quite make a pass stick on the Italian native.
With just over 10 minutes left on the clock both Lupino and Bobryshev were promoted a position as they moved past a flagging Benoit Paturel. Bobryshev went on to finish the race in 15th position.
Race two started more positively for the Russian. Bobryshev was running in 13th position at the close of the opening lap as he chased his former team-mate Tim Gajser.
As the pack stabilised after the initial first lap brawl Bobryshev was at the rear end of a five-rider freight train that included Tim Gajser, Alessandro Lupino, Maxime Desprey and Benoit Paturel. Evgeny pushed hard to continue his advance through the pack, he first moved past Lupino to take over 12th position. He then moved around Paturel to assume 11th position.
Now on the fringes of a top-10 result, Bobryshev continued to push hard into the final laps of the race. With just two laps to go the BOS GP pilot made a pass on Desprey to take over the final top-10 spot. On the same lap, a mistake from Jeremy Seewer saw him drop down the leaderboard. Bobryshev benefitted from the Swiss ridersā misfortune, as he advanced one more position on the final lap.
As the chequered flag came out Bobryshev crossed the line in ninth position, equalling his best moto performance of the year and providing him with his best overall result of the season. 11th position overall marks the best performance for Evgeny Bobryshev and his BOS GP team, a sign that together they are moving in the right direction.
“At the end of the day we are still lacking power for sure, I cannot make any good starts,” reveals Bobryshev. “I was just inside the top 20 every time, even in qualifying. The track here at Arco is very hard to pass on, itās so difficult to come through.
“In the first race I was way far back at the start and I managed to come through to 15th. I was trying hard, I was trying so hard to make passes, but it was almost impossible. There were only a few places to pass and you had to take risks to do it.
“The second race was better, I was 13th on the first lap. I found some good lines and I came through to ninth place, which was positive for me. But we are still searching for good power from the engine to make the races easier for me and help me get better starts, thatās the most important thing at the moment.
“I was actually feeling sick coming into the weekend, from Thursday I had a high fever. So, over the weekend I was struggling with power and energy from my own body. But we made it through the weekend and Iām happy with how it went. Now Iām going to recover and get ready for Portugal.
“The team continues to work hard, they are still pushing and searching for the best performance from the engine. When we find that I think everything will be a little easier.”
