The Maxxis British Motocross Championship headed to Desertmartin in Northern Ireland this weekend, where racers – and a huge number of fans – were greeted by stunning sunshine and an immaculately prepared track.
It was Evgeny Bobryshevās first time at the venue. After walking the track on the Saturday evening Bobby was eager to get racing as he felt the fast and wide sand-based track was well suited to his riding style. The Lombard Express Suzuki with Par Homes pilot spent the qualification session dialling in the track and the bike. However, the Russian was still able to post the third best time behind Tommy Searle and Jake Nicolls.
In race one Bobryshev had a solid start, rounding the first corner in eighth place. He moved up to sixth place quickly, he sat behind Elliot Banks-Browne, Jamie Law and Graeme Irwin on the first lap. By the second lap he was pushing hard and moved past both Law and Irwin. Irwin followed through on Law also, leaving the Irishman and the Russian to battle it out. On Lap four Bobryshev made the move on Banks-Browne to take over third place. He was soon gifted second place as Jake Nicholls made a mistake and went down. Bobryshev upped his pace and set about reeling in the race leader, Tommy Searle. Unfortunately, a small crash cost Bobby some valuable seconds, this dropped him back from Searle and allowed Irwin to close back in. After an intense battle Irwin found a way past and the two were pushing hard to close the gap on Searle again. In the closing stages of the race Bobryshev made another small mistake dropping the bike, but this time he struggled to restart the machine. By the time he got going he was sat in sixth place with only a couple of laps to go. In typical Bobryshev style he still gave it everything he had and managed to pass Ivo Monticelli on the last lap to cross the finish line in fifth place.
Race two started well with Bobryshev getting out the gate with great drive. He took the inside line around the first corner to steal the holeshot from Tommy Searle. Searle was pushing hard but Bobryshev looked comfortable at the front. With a clear track ahead of him Bobryshev was riding well and pulled a gap over Searle. At the half way stage Bobryshev had a near miss with a back marker that crossed in front of him over a table top. Half a lap later a freak incident saw Bobryshev get crossed rutted on the take off of a jump at the back of the circuit. He landed off the track in a small ditch. He was able to stay on the bike but both Searle and Monticelli went by. Bobryshev was in a lot of pain after the incident but still managed to hold third place until the finish despite a hard charging Graeme Irwin hot on his heels.
Despite not having the best of luck on the day Bobryshev still moved into second in the championship hunt, leap frogging Elliott Banks-Browne in the standings. Bobryshev sits 19 points behind the championship leader Jake Nicholls with four rounds to go. The next round takes place at Duns in Scotland at the end of July.
Evgeny Bobryshev (4th overall) – āI didnāt lose any points in the championship today, but I didnāt gain any points either. I was hoping to make some points today and I was feeling great this morning at this track but unfortunately the crash in race two upset me really. I am in one piece, but my leg does hurt right now so I am going to get some check-ups next week. My next race is the world championship in Indonesia and then in one month we have another British round Scotlandā
Neil Prince (Lombard Express Suzuki with Par Homes) – āWe improved the starts a lot today, but the rest of it has been a bit weird really. In the second race Bobby was leading the race, he was comfortably four seconds in front of Searle, but he got caught out big time over the back. You have to feel for Bobby, itās frustrating as he has the speed, but he got caught out twice in the same section. But thatās racing and we have to move on and get ready for the next race.ā
