Tommy Searle takes French MX2 GP
By TMX Archives on 6th Jun 11
Tommy Searle gave Kawasaki Team CLS Pro Circuit their first victory of the season in the team's home GP at St Jean d'Angely to step up his challenge for the FIM World MX2 Championship.
The British rider had also taken victory at the hillside track on his last visit three years ago, but was still seeking the optimal suspension settings for the rugged track until the CLS team found the solution on Sunday morning to send Tommy full of confidence to the start gate.
A couple of early errors on a track made unpredictable by overnight rain restricted Tommy to 4th in the opening moto, but he had consistently set the fastest lap times throughout the second half of the race to offer great promise for race two. Starting third, Tommy saw early leader Roczen crash spectacularly on the opening lap and he quickly moved past the new leader Osborne as he sensed the opportunity of victory. A few laps later he surrendered the lead temporarily to a hard-charging Herlings, but the new leader was clearly riding over his head and it was only a matter of time before Searle pounced to regain the lead and race away for a clearcut victory which also ensured the overall win on the day. Tommy remains third in the championship but reduced his deficit to the leader by eight points and now trails by just 27 points with two-thirds of the season still to run.
Searle's CLS teammate Max Anstie was racing at St Jean d'Angely for the first time and took some time to settle down, but he charged hard from an awkward start gate in both motos. In the opening race he was already challenging for a top ten placing when he made a mistake on the tricky track which dropped him to 17th at the chequered flag, and the second race showed what might have been possible but for that single error as he again charged through the field to cross the line 6th.
Tommy Searle: "The team is doing a great job to give me a winning bike; we made some changes to the suspension this morning and it worked. I made a couple of mistakes early in the first race but I was the fastest at the end of the race. When I saw Roczen rolling about on the ground on the first lap of race two I felt bad for him, but I had to take full advantage. I said to myself "This one is mine now." I went past Osborne for the lead, but then Herlings came up fast. He was making mistakes and I knew I would be able to get him again before the end; he went wide in a corner, I was able to go under him and just put my head down. I've been consistent so far but we're all picking up the pace; I'm so happy to give Jean-Jacques, Gael and the rest of the team this victory in their home GP but we are getting stronger every week and I now need to win more races if I'm going to win this championship."
Max Anstie: "I'm learning with every GP I race; it was a new experience for me this weekend as I never raced at St Jean before. I was unlucky in the first race; I didn't make a good start and then I crashed but I was moving forward well until I had another crash. I can't explain why my starts weren't so good this weekend and in race two I was in twentieth place or something like this but I managed to move through and eventually got sixth place after a strong ride. I had a little battle with Roczen until he went down which was good for my confidence. We have some more tracks which I don't know coming up, so it will not be easy, but with such a great team behind me I am sure we will continue to achieve good results.
