Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Sterry raced to a gritty sixth in the second round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Pangkal Pinang in Indonesia.
The British MX2 champion had immediately shown top five pace in qualification and confirmed this speed in both races. He advanced quickly from seventh to fourth in the opening moto before a trip over the handlebars as his bike became hopelessly stuck in the bottomless mud section at the bottom of the track. He made amends however with a fine sixth place in even worse conditions as FIM officials called a halt to racing at two-thirds race distance. Adam is now 12th in the points standings.
“For me it was more or less like a practice day with these track conditions,” exclaimed Sterry. “My speed was good again this weekend as I was always in the top five, so that was good.
“On the first race I was riding in fourth but just made a mistake in the muddy section where almost everyone did once – I went over the bars and couldn’t get the bike out so that was a DNF. Second race I was in sixth when they stopped the race. Hopefully we can take something positive away from the weekend and I hope we can do the same in Argentina.”
Seva Brylyakov of Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki again showed tremendous speed all weekend, but his results in both races in Indonesia were spoilt by first lap crashes. In the opening race he restarted 30 seconds behind the pack but had grittily advanced 10th at the finish, but he was forced to pull out of the second race after damaging the bike in a crash. The Russian is now 10th in the series points.
“It was a tough weekend for everyone but we still can’t put everything together, even though the speed and everything is there to get good results,” Brylyakov said. “In both races I was involved in a collective crash at the start; in the first race my handlebars were down after the crash and I was riding like a chopper but I managed to score a top 10, coming from last. The second moto went wrong as, after this crash, I had some bike issues after three laps and just tried to bring the bike back to pitlane. This race was a mess, and I’m happy to be safe and to have strong people behind me, strong people who always support me even when everything is not going right.”
Teammate Darian Sanayei shrugged off sickness to score points in the opening moto but the American was forced to withdraw after just four laps of race two. He is now 16th in the points.
“We came here in Indonesia one week earlier to get used to the weather and be ready for this race, but unfortunately I get sick on the weekend,” said Sanayei. “I didn’t feel good on Saturday and skipped the free practice to keep my energy for the race day, but they cancelled the qualifying session so I was last on the gate. I learnt the track during the warm up, then in the first race I had a bad start, crashed a few times but was able to salvage some points for the championship. It was not good, but at least I got some points! I didn’t feel good after this race and could only do four laps in the second race before I was forced to pull out. But I know what I can do and the next rounds will be different.”
Stephen Rubini, the first season 250F rookie in the Kawasaki Racing Team, showed just how quickly he is learning in his new class as he raced to 19th place – and thus his first world championship points – in the difficult conditions of race two after being restricted to 26th in race one.
“In the first race the track was nearly okay except for the muddy section where I was stuck in a deep rut,” said Rubini. “The track was much worse for the second race and I crashed several times but never gave up to finally score my first points in a GP. It was a tough weekend for me; the track and the rain mixed together offered us difficult conditions but it’s a better weekend than Qatar even if I know I can do better. I’m looking for a top 15 result now.”
