Positive Weekend for Sword at Home GP

The British Grand Prix is always a highlight in the World Championship season and the 2008 edition held at a brand-new venue for GP motocross at Mallory Park once again proved that the sport is thriving in the UK as 41,000 race-hungry fans packed themselves into the road race facility to see the world’s best motocross racers do battle.

Confirming his place as one of the World’s elite was Molson Kawasaki’s Scotsman Stephen Sword who battled like a demon in both motos at Mallory to finish fifth overall on the factory Kawasaki KX250F-SR. Fighting through the pack in both motos after making things difficult for himself by not getting the best of starts, Stephen was helped along by a very vocal crowd who showed their support for the multi time British champion.

“I fluffed the start of the first race as they waited longer than normal to drop the gate and I was a bit too eager. I went around the inside of the first turn and picked up some places there and I think I was somewhere inside the top-10,” said Stephen. “I fought through to seventh and then in the sand section I tucked the front end under and went over the handlebars. The engine was still running but I still lost a lot of places. I had to come through again but I had some good lines and I’d figured out some good passing places and I got back to sixth so that was like damage limitation.

“I did the same thing at the start in race two and was somewhere inside the top-10 and from there I just battled through. Tyla Rattray and I were having a pretty good scrap coming through the pack and we both worked our way past Aubin, Simpson and Tarroux into the top five.

“It felt good to battle with Rattray even though I didn’t feel at my best – and it was a good bounce back from Mantova. I took a lot of points out of Goncalves and Aubin today and so I’m quite satisfied even though I know that if I’d have got better starts I could have been on the podium.”

Sword’s teammate Gautier Paulin was hampered by a bad crash where he collided with a fellow competitor in moto one and then struggled to get to grips with the Mallory circuit second time out. Even though he felt far from his best the European champion scored good points in moto two to consolidate his 12th place in the series standings.

“In the first race I was inside the top-10 but I came together with Seistola on a jump and we landed together and we crashed quite hard,” explained Gautier. “My brake lever was twisted so I came into the pit lane to get it sorted and then continued with the race. I was riding quite good with some good lines and good lap times but the result was just not there – I didn’t score any points.

“In race two I had a decent start but I couldn’t find a good rhythm in the race. I was pushing hard but made many mistakes. In some corners I was very good and some corners I was not so good. It’s difficult for me to work out what happened today and I must spend the next two weeks training hard and practicing on the bike so it doesn’t happen again.”

The Molson Kawasaki team’s MX1 satellite rider Tom Church had a home GP to forget as two separate cases of rock induced bike damage caused the 26 year old to DNF both races after TC had his best qualifying session of the year so far. Proving that if it weren’t for bad luck Tom would have no luck at all he now looks forward to the next round of the World Championship where he’ll be looking to add more points to his season’s total.

“It’s just been another one of those days,” said Tom. “I only managed five laps today which is a bit annoying as I actually got good starts in both races! I’m not going to dwell on it too much, what’s happened has happened and I can’t change that. I’ll work extra hard between now and the next round in France and I’ll try to turn my luck around there.”

The Molson team’s next outing will be at the next round of the FIM World Motocross Championship round seven takes place on June 15 at Saint Jean D’Angely in France where Gautier Paulin will enjoy the support of his home crowd.

Positive Weekend for Sword at Home GP

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