Challenging start to the MXGP of the Netherlands for Team HRC

“It was a difficult race because it was hard to get into any flow with the traffic and because I was behind many crashes, and flow is exactly what you need around this track. On the second corner from the start one rider cut the corner and nearly hit me so I had to shut off, and then I got swamped through the waves because I had to build up my momentum again. I only got a few laps that were my own, without traffic, and it’s difficult to pass here so for the start tomorrow will be really important to get out of gate and keep the flow into the first wave section.”

“The track was tough today but actually I was feeling ok and pushing on, coming up to tenth. Then unfortunately I had a couple of crashes which put me down the order. It was hard to overtake because of the ruts and the soft sand, but still I could come up to 14th. Then I felt something strange and I wasn’t sure if something had got damaged in the crashes so I came into the pits for the team to check everything. It’s a shame because we now have a big job tomorrow to come from the outside at the start, and knowing that passing will be hard, but we’ll come back out fighting.”

“To be honest today isn’t where we want to be after qualifying, but we keep positive and keep pushing because tomorrow is when the points are on the table. Both Bobby and Gautier were making solid progress until Bobby’s crashes which give him a lot of work to do tomorrow, but we know he’s strong at coming through the field in the opening corners when he’s at the back of the pack, so we look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.”