Anstie back among the leaders at British Grand Prix

[totalmotorcycle]

#Anstie back among the leaders at #British Grand Prix


The slopes, drops and vast jumps of Matterley Basin was the site of the British Grand Prix and the eighth round of seventeen in the FIM Motocross World Championship today and Max Anstie was Yamaha’s top performer in the MX2 class on the 2014 YZ250F as he grabbed third place in the first moto. Blue skies were gladly welcomed in southern England after bouts of rain had threatened to washout the site in the lead-up to the event. The persistent showers at least had a positive effect on the racing surface which was soft, shifting and ‘attackable’ for the Grand Prix elite.

Bike it Yamaha Cosworth’s Anstie showed that the team’s progress in development of the new 2014 YZ250F is coming along at a decent pace as he ran in second position for most of Saturday’s qualification heat and just lost out to Dylan Ferrandis on the last lap after having to ditch his mud-caked goggles. On Sunday and with the weather much improved 25,000 spectators saw ‘99’ hit the leading group and chase Jordi Tixier hard in the first moto. The Brit entered the top three for the first time since the Grand Prix of Thailand in March. Unfortunately the ‘clutch’ finger of his left hand was whacked by a stone, which caused some painful damage. While he was able to finish Moto1 he could not complete more than three laps of the second and had to retire.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Christophe Charlier was also luckless. The Corsican is nursing a meniscus problem in his left knee but his Grand Prix was ended by a crash on the first lap of Moto2 that prompted a hospital visit for a cut on his back.

Kemea Yamaha Racing duo Petar Petrov and Luke Styke were seventeenth and sixteenth overall after difficult days. The Bulgarian could not find an effective rhythm with the track while the Australian could not recover from two so-so starts. The stony hard-pack of St Jean D’Angely will ignite the Grand Prix of France for round nine of the FIM Motocross World Championship next week.


Max Anstie
“The first moto today was obviously really good. I moved through quickly and was hitting some of those big jumps. The Yamaha has been working really well and its nice to be riding ‘my’ bike and we have all worked hard. I hope we can continue building from here and it was positive to be racing again where we were in the first few GPs. It was unfortunate I got hit by a rock in the first one. The finger was not too bad when I was riding but then for the second one it really stiffened up and went a bit black-and-blue. When I was jumping stuff it was hurting a lot. I need to get it checked out but at least we know now that we are back where we should be and the hours we have put in is paying off.”


Petar Petrov
“This was the worst weekend since I started GPs…I had no feeling at all with the track and didn’t feel comfortable. To be honest sometimes I was scared I couldn’t push at all. I don’t know what the problem is, last weekend in Holland everything went well and I had a good speed but now there was nothing I could do. I think I’m too focused on the results right now. Therefore this week I want to try to get the right feeling back. I need to have fun on the bike again. This was a total ‘off’ weekend; I want to forget it as soon as possible and try to approach the next one more relaxed.”


Luke Styke
“I hoped for better results after qualification on Saturday because I had a good start and I felt good on the track. Once I got into my rhythm my lap-times were consistent and I got my first top 10. On Sunday I had two bad starts and then it was hard to make up ground. In the first moto I could hang on to a group of 4-5 riders but I couldn’t make any moves. After Saturday I can say now that a top ten is possible if my start is good, so that’s an important lesson to remember.”



2014 MX2-GP United Kingdom

Matterley Basin 25/05/2014

race I
1 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 34'59.916
2 Jordi Tixier KTM FRA 0'21.339
3 Max Anstie
Yamaha
GBR 0'24.047
4 Tim Gajser Honda SVN 0'25.259
5 Arnaud Tonus Kawasaki CHE 0'29.250
6 Valentin Guillod KTM CHE 0'38.942
7 Dylan Ferrandis Kawasaki FRA 0'56.260
8 Romain Febvre Husqvarna FRA 0'59.972
9 Aleksandr Tonkov Husqvarna RUS 1'06.233
10 Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 1'10.803
11 Damon Graulus KTM BEL 1'14.695
12 Ivo Monticelli KTM ITA 1'18.137
13 Jeremy Seewer Suzuki CHE 1'18.577
14 Mel Pocock KTM GBR 1'21.569
15 Luke Styke
Yamaha
AUS 1'22.575
18 Petar Petrov
Yamaha
BGR 1'40.082
20 Christophe Charlier
Yamaha
FRA 1'46.308
race II
1 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 35'08.239
2 Arnaud Tonus Kawasaki CHE 0'16.689
3 Tim Gajser Honda SVN 0'41.286
4 Romain Febvre Husqvarna FRA 0'42.239
5 Jordi Tixier KTM FRA 0'59.739
6 Aleksandr Tonkov Husqvarna RUS 1'02.273
7 Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 1'05.939
8 Damon Graulus KTM BEL 1'10.042
9 Jeremy Seewer Suzuki CHE 1'12.980
10 Ivo Monticelli KTM ITA 1'16.153
11 Thomas Covington Kawasaki USA 1'16.165
12 Dylan Ferrandis Kawasaki FRA 1'24.461
13 Julien Lieber Suzuki BEL 1'25.373
14 Petar Petrov
Yamaha
BGR 1'36.176
15 Luke Styke
Yamaha
AUS 1'37.400
20 Magne Klingsheim Yamaha NOR -1Laps
23 Max Anstie
Yamaha
GBR -14Laps


MX2-GP World Standing

Rider Standings After Race 8 of 19

1. Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 344
2. Arnaud Tonus Kawasaki CHE 305
3. Romain Febvre Husqvarna FRA 263
4. Jordi Tixier KTM FRA 253
5. Dylan Ferrandis Kawasaki FRA 248
6. Tim Gajser Honda SVN 209
7. Aleksandr Tonkov Husqvarna RUS 197
8. Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 184
9. Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NED 176
10. Valentin Guillod KTM CHE 173
11. Jeremy Seewer Suzuki CHE 142
12. Max Anstie
Yamaha
GBR 141
13. Petar Petrov
Yamaha
BGR 116
14. Julien Lieber Suzuki BEL 108
15. Thomas Covington Kawasaki USA 80
16. Ivo Monticelli KTM ITA 69
17. Luke Styke
Yamaha
AUS 67
21. Christophe Charlier
Yamaha
FRA 55
25. Magne Klingsheim Yamaha NOR 19
31. Anton Lundgren Yamaha SWE 5



Weather:
Dry
Last Years Winner:
Christophe Charlier



Manufacturer Standings

25/05/2014

1 KTM 374
2 Kawasaki 331
3 Husqvarna 269
4 Suzuki 249
5 Honda 219
6 Yamaha
215
7 TM 6