KEMEA Yamaha Official MX team: GP8 Pietramurata, Italy
The 8th GP of the season took place last weekend near the shores of Lake Garda. With a landscape that is by far the most beautiful of the year, the Arco di Trento circuit is one of everyone's favorites. Rain on Saturday made for difficult qualifying races, but on Sunday the circuit was bone dry and beautiful. MX2 riders Vandoninck and Paturel had a horror afternoon on Saturday. Both quickly crashed and left the race, resulting in a 39th and 40th starting place.
In the first heat on Sunday, the KEMEA riders both got through the first round quite well and quickly found themselves in the top 20. Brent came back strong to 10th with Benoit two places behind him.
In the second moto Benoit had a good start. He started in the top ten and gradually moved up to the top 5. He eventually finished fifth in the wheel of Brian Bogers and is therefore sixth in the final standings.
Brent had a bad start in the second series and could not find his way. He rode in seventeenth place for a few laps but eventually crossed the line in 19th and scored two more points. He finished 15th in the GP results and is now 11th in the World Championship standings. Benoit does a good job again and moves up to fourth place!
Valentin Guillod came 9th in the difficult qualifying competition and thus confirms that he is increasingly becoming one of the top 10. In the first heat, the Swiss had a poorer start and only finished 19th on the first pass. He moved up to twelfth place but suffered technical problems at the end of the race. He fell back to 23rd place and missed out on the points.
In the second moto Guillod once again showed his starting capabilities and finished third through the first corners. He was in fifth place for a while, then dropped back to eighth place, but fought back nicely in the second half of the race to finish seventh. This places Guillod 13th in the final rankings, but he retains his 9th place in the final rankings of the World Cup.
Team manager Marnicq Bervoets: “ For Brent and Benoit, the weekend was actually ruined on Saturday. It is very difficult to pass here and the start is very important. They had both fallen, but perhaps they should have continued to drive to get as close as possible. They both rode a strong race in the first heat. They made a strong effort, especially in the last part of the match. In the second moto Benoit rode very well. He started well and had he lived longer he would not have had any problems with his glasses at the end. He was in Bogers' wheel but had insufficient visibility to launch the attack. Brent had an off sequence in the second moto. Nothing worked and he didn't make any progress. We kind of expected this. He has already gone deep in recent weeks and a week of rest will certainly do him good. Benoit is now fourth in the final standings and that is very positive. Maybe there will be some strong riders coming but we are almost halfway through the season now so that is very good for the team and for Benoit.
Valentin is improving and making good progress. Unfortunately he fell out of the points in the first heat due to a technical problem, but rode a good second heat. He is still a bit short of really competing with the top 6, but we are certainly on the right track!”
Images @shotbybavo
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