Team HRC head to Spain this weekend for round seven of the FIM Motocross World Championship. With the Talavera de la Reina track returning to the calendar for the first MXGP of Spain since 2011.
Fresh after the disappointment of the MXGP of The Netherlands, Evgeny Bobryshev is feeling buoyant as he prepares to return to a track of which he has fond memories from early on in his career.
“The last time I was at Talavera was in 2001 when I was still on the small bikes,” says Bobryshev, adding: “The track design has changed a bit since then, but I watched some videos of Spanish national races from last year and it’s still quite similar. It’s a nice fast track and quite up and down, and I loved it last time I was there and was fighting for the top three, but that was a long time ago!”
The hard-pack surface should suit both Bobby’s style and the Honda CRF450RW, especially after recent extensive tests on hard-pack surface this season and the chance for Bobby to get some of the mid-week riding in that he’s had to miss whilst in recovery.
Although all teams will be stepping into the relative unknown as MXGP hasn’t visited the Talavera de la Reina track since 2000, the recent testing work Team HRC have done on similar surfaces will provide a good base setting for the CRF450RW from the start of the weekend.
“I’m really looking forward to going back – it’ll be a really good feeling after such a long time when I was at the start of my career.
“It’s better now to have races from one weekend to the next and to be able to get back out on the bike again so soon and forget about last weekend. I don’t want to eat myself from the inside with frustration.”
If it wasn’t so frustrating, last weekend would have been almost funny it was so unbelievable what happened. I’m still working hard on my condition. I’m not 100 percent still but I can feel in myself that I’m getting there, so really I can’t wait to carry on in Spain.
Max Nagl’s recovery continues to go well and, whilst he will again miss this weekend’s Grand Prix, a return to mild training is now on the horizon for the German as he targets a return to racing at the MXGP of Italy on 14-15 June.
In a forecast repeat of the scorching temperatures seen at Jerez last weekend where HRC’s Marc Marquez took a fourth straight victory in the MotoGP World Championship, Talavera de la Reina is expected to be dry and hot.
HRC General Manager – MXGP, Roger Harvey commented: “We don’t 100 percent know what to expect from Talavera de la Reina because it hasn’t been on the calendar for so long, and whilst some of us will remember it from last time we don’t know the transformation of the track over the years.
“Still, we know it’s hard pack and we’ve done a lot of testing on hard pack so have a good bike setting we can start from. The terrain theoretically will suit Bobby, too. The temperature forecast is for quite high temperatures and for a dry weekend. The riders will have to learn a new track and a lot on Saturday will depend on who gets to grips with it most quickly, although in motocross the nature of tracks changes so quickly during a weekend that I don’t expect it will take them long.
“Again Team HRC will field just Bobby as Max continues to recover, but he ca me to visit us in Valkenswaard last weekend and his recovery is continuing to go well.”