Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe's Petar Petrov equalled his best points tally of the 2012 FIM Motocross World Championship to-date by finishing ninth overall at the hard-pack and fast track of St Jean D'Angely for the Grand Prix of France.
The Bulgarian made two reasonable starts and battled for positions in both motos to claim his highest overall ranking of the season as 31,000 spectators (weekend figure) attended the sixth round of 16 in the series. And, after hot and humid conditions on Saturday, light winds and clouds brought a cooler climate and occasional light rain showers on Sunday. The French terrain was tight and tough and the stony surface was rough in places and flat in many others.
Petrov used the potential of the RM-Z250 to get away on the fringes of the top 10 in both motos and then steadily improved his race speed to collect well-earned 13th and 10th positions on a course that is not one of his preferred.
Team-mate Harri Kullas had less fortune: The Fin made a horrendous start in the first moto that saw the '151' bike with almost the entire pack ahead around the opening turns. Kullas worked hard to overtake a substantial amount of peers and cross the line in 15th. He could not finish the second race after a collision with another rider dumped him on the ground, sustaining a concussion.
After the French affair, Kullas is 12th in the MX2 standings only 15 points in front of Petrov in 13th. Phase one of a three-week-three-race stint of the FIM Motocross World Championship is now over for Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe. The crew head south and west in the coming week to reach Agueda for the Grand Prix of Portugal for round seven on June 10th.
Petar Petrov:
"The weekend didn't get off to the best start because my speed wasn't that good on Saturday. I wasn't feeling the track. Today was much better and although this is not my favourite place I still managed 13th and 10th which means a decent meeting for me. Now I have to keep building from here and hope for more of the same and even better in Portugal next week."
Harri Kullas:
"I struggled a lot at the start. My speed was OK when I had some space in the first moto but I lost too much time behind slower riders so I wasn't able to do much better than 15th. In the second race, the first few laps were OK but one rider cut to the middle of the track coming past the pit-lane and I caught him with my front wheel and crashed. I hit my head pretty hard and had a lot of pain. I'm sure I have a concussion and my neck feels stretched. I hope I can recover enough in the next few days to be OK for Portugal."
MX2 Moto1: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 38:43.782; 2. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +0:08.542; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:20.337; 4. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:30.338; 5. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:32.786; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:40.229; 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:41.359; 8. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.563; 9. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:52.544; 10. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:01.570. 13. Petar Petrov (BUL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +1:14.601. 15. Harri Kullas (FIN, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +1:29.781.
MX2 Moto2: 1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 38:42.069; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:03.695; 3. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +0:04.651; 4. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:05.462; 5. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:22.371; 6. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:37.195; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), +0:37.856; 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:44.540; 9. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:02.571; 10. Petar Petrov (BUL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +1:08.058.
MX2 Overall result: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 47 points; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 45 p.; 3. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 42 p.; 4. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), 36 p.; 5. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Kawasaki), 28 p.; 7. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 24 p.; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), 23 p.; 9. Petar Petrov (BUL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 19 p.; 10. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 18 p. 20. Harri Kullas (FIN, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 6 p.
MX2 World Championship Standings (after 6 of 16 rounds): 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 270 points; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 248 p.; 3. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 231 p.; 4. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), 188 p.; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), 160 p.; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 159 p.; 7. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 144 p.; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), 118 p.; 9. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 110 p.; 10. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), 107 p.; 11. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 106 p.; 12. Harri Kullas (FIN, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 105 p.; 13. Petar Petrov (BUL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 90 p.
