The penultimate round of the 2012 FIM Motocross World Championship saw Honda World Motocross team’s Evgeny Bobryshev score sixth position across the steep hillside and flowing jumps of Faenza in Italy for the Grand Prix of Europe.

Twenty-four thousand spectators (weekend figure) enjoyed a close and competitive second-to-last outing in the premier MX1 class that was won by Antonio Cairoli and also witnessed the crowning of the Sicilian as World champion for the fourth year in a row.

Bobryshev rode to eighth and sixth places with his works CRF450R in the two thirty-five minute and two lap motos to collect his overall ranking with just one race and a trip to Germany remaining this season.

Faenza was hot. Temperatures touched almost thirty degrees and the hard-pack track was slick and fast in sections, but also rutted and bumpy in others. The layout had undergone some changes for 2012 and the first Grand Prix at the compact venue since 2009. Generally slower and with some tighter turns overtaking opportunities were scarce.

It was on this stage that Bobryshev – who had taken a solid fifth place in qualification for a decent preview of the action ahead – became embroiled in a fascinating five rider fight for fourth spot in the opening moto. The track had been watered heavily through the night and the ruts were deep and the smoother sections were slippery. ‘Bobby’ would ultimately err on the side of caution and crossed the finish line in one piece with eighth position. A slightly brighter start in the second race helped his cause, but any chance of breaking into the top five was lost when the Russian lost the rear wheel of Clement Desalle in the formative phases of the sprint.

Team-mate Rui Goncalves was also part of the intense battle for a mid-top ten slot in the first moto before he tipped off the motorcycle into a tricky downhill rutted section. The Portuguese was hit by another rider and suffered a broken right shoulder blade and a concussion as a result. The former GP winner returned from the hospital later in the afternoon, but still needs further checks and assessment to see if he can steer the works CRF450R again in 2012.

LS Honda’s Jonathan Barragan clashed with Desalle on the opening lap of the first moto and had to pit to repair a broken brake lever. The Spaniard lost too much time and had to withdraw from the race. In the second affair a lacklustre start cast him outside of the top ten and he ended the moto in fourteenth for eighteenth place overall.

Max Anstie guided his Gariboldi Esta’s CRF250R to a best race finish of twelfth. The Brit retired in the second moto by pulling into the pits. Anstie is extremely likely to claim seventh place in the MX2 championship standings as he cannot be caught by Jose Butron and will need a season-best haul of forty-four points to rise to sixth.

In the MX1 championship Goncalves hangs onto ninth position in spite of his double DNF. Bobryshev is eleventh and just three points from Shaun Simpson and a top ten slot. Barragan has moved up one ranking to twelfth. The final round of the 2012 FIM Motocross World Championship will take place in two weeks across the undulating hard-pack of Teutschenthal for the Grand Prix of Germany.

Evgeny Bobryshev:
Race Result: 8th / 6th - Championship position: 11th

“I was feeling a bit weak at the beginning of the first moto and I stuck with Leok in the opening laps. He started to make mistakes and was actually slowing me down and I saw the others behind were starting to catch us. We ended up in a group fight and I scored eighth. The second was better. I was running with Desalle and Paulin, but made a few small errors and started to feel the heat. I lost a couple of seconds and they pulled away. I was then alone in sixth and finished that way. I’m happy anyway, not with my results, but for some consistency, no stupid mistakes and coming away safe from a track that was pretty dangerous; the ruts were so big in the first moto. Two weeks until the next GP now and the chance to get some good training done.”

Jonathan Barragan:
Race Result: DNF / 14th - Championship position: 12th

“In the first moto I started around sixth – pretty good – but then touched with Desalle and broke the brake lever and had to stop in the pit-lane. I was in there for quite a long time and in the end the race just dropped away. I was around sixteenth in the second race and I tried to come back a little bit but thing didn’t go so well.”

Lorenzo Resta, Honda World Motocross Team manager:

“Rui has a broken shoulder blade, but the prognosis is better than what we feared in the beginning. Xavier Boog couldn’t avoid landing on him. He had concussion and had short-term memory loss. It was pretty bad for a while, but after scans it seems the only damage is to the shoulder blade and he is lucky after that crash. There are still three weeks before the Motocross of Nations and I hope Rui can be back in time because I would hate for a very nice and professional two year period together in the team to end in this way. I know how much that race means to him as well.”

2012 FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship
Round 15: Faenza – Europe