On his return to action, Brian Bogers joined his Fantic Factory Racing MXGP teammate Glenn Coldenhoff in the top 10 at round 13 of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Loket. In MX2, David Braceras achieved his best result of the season with a tenth place overall. Unfortunately, Kay Karssemakers crashed hard at the start and will undergo further medical checks in the Netherlands.
Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
Fantic was back to full force on the historic, hard-pack layout of Loket, as Brian Bogers joined Glenn Coldenhoff on a special mission in their stellar one-off livery to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Moon landing.
Three weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in Indonesia, Bogers scored a solid twelfth place in the qualifying race, with his teammate Glenn Coldenhoff working his way up to P8 after a tougher start.
In race 1 on Sunday, Glenn Coldenhoff struggled off the gate once again and had to charge hard through the field to reach ninth place. On the other hand, Brian Bogers was off to a fast start in sixth place. He managed to hold his position for several laps but couldn’t quite keep the fast pace for the full distance on his first race back, eventually finishing in tenth place.
Bogers managed another strong start in race 2 and placed himself in the top 5. Unfortunately, a crash dropped him down the order, and he had to settle for twelfth place. Coldenhoff did not have a brilliant start in the second race either, but he put on another encouraging performance on his Fantic XXF 450, steadily climbing his way up to finish in seventh place. In the overall standings of the day, Coldenhoff was seventh with Bogers in tenth place.
Glenn Coldenhoff:
“It was another tough weekend. Actually, my riding wasn’t bad at all, but my starts were just not the best. I was far behind in every moto. I think we can be happy with the progress we made with the bike, but we definitely need to work on those starts. If we get them right, I believe we can be in the top 6 or top 5, and that is where we should be. We keep working and we will try to be ready for Lommel, which is one of my favorite races.”
Brian Bogers:
“The starts were good, and this is the positive this weekend. On the other hand, it was a tough one for me. The riding was a little bit too stiff; I struggled with a track that cost me a lot of energy. The shoulder felt really good, though, and that is reassuring because we won’t have to think about it anymore. The bike felt good as well, so I am really looking forward to Lommel and hopefully getting some good points there.”
Fantic Factory Racing MX2
David Braceras is clearly finding his best form on the Fantic XXF 250 and set a strong lap time, placing seventh in Saturday’s time practice. In the qualifying race, the Spaniard was running in P11 but lost several positions after an unfortunate crash in the latter stages of the moto, eventually crossing the finish line in P20. Kay Karssemakers was twelfth at the end of a solid qualifying race.
Race 1 on Sunday had to be restarted because of an incident in the first lap. As the gate dropped again, unfortunately, Kay Karssemakers went down in the first turn and hurt his right arm. He traveled back to the Netherlands where he will undergo further medical checks.
David Braceras had to deal with a mid-pack start but did his best and recovered to P11 in the opening moto. In race 2, the Fantic rider was fast out of the gate but he found himself outside of the top 15 after a first-turn tussle. Once again, he put his head down and worked his way up to eleventh. Thanks to two solid motos, Braceras scored a tenth overall and his best result of the season so far.
David Braceras:
“It was a good weekend in Loket. I had a really good feeling with the track, starting with P7 in time practice. In the qualifying race I was eleventh until two laps to go, but I crashed after contact with another rider. On Sunday, I was eleventh in both motos and managed my first top 10 of the season. I am really happy about that and would like to thank the mechanics, the whole team, and Fantic for the work they have done behind the scenes. The bike worked very well. Now it is time to recover a bit and get ready for Lommel.”
