Supercross Paris-Lille SX2 class vanquisher Maxime Desprey is gunning for EMX250 European Championship success with Bud Racing Kawasaki for 2015 in an attempt to resurrect his Grand Prix trajectory.
The 20 year old took an eye-catching Pole Position at his home Grand Prix at Ernee in 2013 and also ran with then Bike it Yamaha team-mate Dean Ferris for the lead at Bastogne for the Belgian round of the FIM MX2 World Championship that same season. Riding a J-Tech Honda in 2014 the Frenchman could not show anything like similar speed or form and his career suffered as a result.
Desprey seems to have found a prosperous position with Bud Racing and has set his sights on EMX250; the series in which he battled for the title with Mel Pocock and earned victory at Matterley Basin in 2012. “It was the best opportunity for me and I knew the bike would be good,” the talented racer said. “It is a strange year but I’m happy with what I have and I will try my best.”
His move to MX2 with a factory Yamaha in 2013 did not seem an unrealistic strategy for his career development. There were the aforementioned highlights and also some top-10 speed even if he did struggle for consistency. 2014 saw him drop away from the contenders in MX2 and his progression stalled. “It was not easy,” he explains. “I didn’t have a trainer, the bike was not perfect and I just suffered with my confidence. Now I am working with Jacky Vimond [former world champion and Bud Sport Manager] and I think it will be good because I feel that I can still learn many things. It helps to have someone behind you saying where you are making mistakes and where you can improve.”
The strength and popularity of EMX250 means that it is becoming a viable option for those that are finding MX2 a tough platform to learn, as seen by the renaissance shown by Valentin Guillod who is now steering the works Yamaha for the Standing Construct squad in 2015 and gained GP maiden podium results this year after winning EMX250 in 2013. Judging by his speed and renewed confidence at Lille Desprey has the grounding to again be viewed as one of the premier up-and-coming talents for Grand Prix. “I will train in the sand for a few weeks and then back to working with Jacky in January,” he concluded. “I have everything to do the job next year. I can maybe do some GPs if it is going well in the Europeans.”
