A night race and unbearable temperatures formed the opening of the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship in Qatar and Thailand and the climate challenge for MXGP continued with gale force winds, torrential rain and chilly conditions at Valkenswaard (Holland) for the Grand Prix of Europe and round three of eighteen in the series. Across rough and wet sand and watched by a weekend crowd of 23,000 near the Belgian border, Maxxis rider Tommy Searle was unlucky to walk away with a best moto finish of eighth when his speed indicated better and Vsevolod Brylyakov recovered from several falls in the MX2 outings to place eighth overall.
Constant rainfall was forecast for Easter Monday and the first European MXGP meeting of the year. On Sunday and in dry conditions Searle had set the third fastest lap in Timed Practice on his KX450F and then was hoping for a decent run in the Qualification Heat until he was punted off the Kawasaki in the initial corners by Jeremy Van Horebeek. The former triple world championship runner-up recovered to thirteenth place for the same choice in the gate and for the tricky slalom start on the age-old Eurocircuit layout.
Searle made a good blast from the line in the first moto, that was run on a slimy track in the wake of a deluge of rain and created slow and technical conditions as well as one dry racing trajectory. The winner of last week’s British Championship opener chased down factory Kawasaki rider Clement Desalle and overtook the Belgian. He was only prevented from recording seventh spot by a charging Kevin Strijbos on the final lap.
The last circulation would be another point of frustration in the second moto when Tommy was forced to concede a second top ten result through a fuel problem that caused his bike to stop.
In MX2 and with the KX250F ‘Seva’ Brylyakov had a busy day. The first MX2 race bore the worst of the wet weather and the Russian slipped into the ooze three times through the thirty-minute and two lap duration, eventually reaching the line in twelfth. He fared better in the second outing to post a ninth position.
Brylyakov is tenth in the MX2 world championship standings while Searle holds ninth in what has been quietly encouraging starts to a lengthy 2016 campaign.
Monster Energy Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki had to box the 100 and 18 race machines in the hours post-Valkenswaard for the trip to South America and Grands Prix in Argentina and Mexico back-to-back that will extend MXGP’s globe-trotting. Several weeks will now be spent on the road for rounds four and five before the second fixture in the Maxxis British Championship at Canada Heights on April 24th.
