The deep sand of Valkenswaard would be the home to the DRT squad for the 6th round of the MXGP World Championship series. The weekend got off to a great start for Russian rider Seva Brylyakov with the fastest time in free practice. Clearly feeling strong and comfortable with the track he was able to continue this speed in timed practice and with a good start was able to secure 4th position in the qualifying race. Teammate Darian Sanayei perhaps struggled slightly more with the demanding sands of Valkenswaard, unable to break the top ten for Saturday’s schedule.
Seva was unable to utilise his 4th position gate pick, as a downed rider early on in the race would cause him to fall back to 16th position, but the Russian pushed hard and quickly entered the top 10. He was able to finish in 8th position. Eager and confident with his speed Seva was looking promising for race two, but a small mistake turned for the worst as a trailing rider collided after he fell, causing an injury and DNF to the DRT rider. Despite original fears of a severe injury further scans have shown the accident to have had minimal impact and with a few weeks to recover Seva will be back fighting at the next round.
Another bad start for the American did not dampen the young riders fighting spirit as he pushed through the pack on the demanding circuit to secure 15th position in moto one. In a stark contrast, Darian’s 16th position gate pick was no obstacle as he stormed into 3rd position on the opening lap of race two. Working his way around the Valkenswaard track with the top guys will certainly give the young rider a confidence boost, but a lack of energy took its toll and his body was unable to keep up with the high-demanding pace of the MX2 field, slowly falling back to finish in 11th position.
The team will have a short break before heading east for the MXGP of Latvia.
Steve Dixon, Team Manager:
“Once again Seva showed his speed with the fastest time in free practice, and again with a 3rd in timed and ending Saturday with a great 4th place finish. We’ve done a few modifications to the bike to suit the new metal-grid start gate. Both riders seem to have improved starts this weekend, although unfortunately Seva and Darian couldn’t capitalise on their starts in the second race. Seva made a small crash, which led to another rider colliding. Originally it looked like it could be a serious injury, potentially losing Seva for a few months. After a few scans, it doesn’t seem as bad at we first anticipated, so he can have a little bit of time off the bike and heal up for the next GP which is great news considering. I feel both riders are starting to become more solid but this hasn’t come to full fruition in a race scenario yet.”
Seva Brylyakov:
“I had a perfect qualifying day with first position in the free practice session, third in the timed practice and fourth in the qualifying race after a good start and a consistent race. Today started well with the third position in the warm up with easy riding, but my start was not too good in the first moto; a guy crashed in front of me and then I had to come back from sixteenth to eighth. In the second moto I was pushing through the pack on the first lap and had already passed into the top ten by the fifth corner, but then I made a mistake and another rider jumped on my shoulder. I couldn’t really move the fingers after the incident and it was scary; the first examinations don’t reveal any fracture or dislocation but I will have further consultations on Monday.
Darian Sanayei:
“This weekend was not so bad. In the qualifying race I was really bad at the start but came back to sixteenth, so it was a pretty strong ride. Then today I had a slight fever from crashing yesterday morning. I had a pretty good start but in the third corner another rider took my front wheel and put me down. I was dead last, and just worked my way to fifteenth which was not a good result but a strong ride. I think I used too much energy because I was pretty tired for the second race; I got another good start in fifth, rode third for a couple of laps but then my body was a little bit too weak to keep this position.”
