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MX2, MXGP OF SWEDEN - Uddevalla, SWEDEN, 20 Août 2017

Darian Sanayei eight in Sweden

Darian Sanayei of Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki raced to eighth place in the Swedish round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at the demanding Uddevalla track in western Sweden.

Incessant showers made racing even more difficult at the rugged track a few miles from the North Sea coastline but American rookie Darian Sanayei defied the conditions to repeat the speed he had shown one week earlier in Switzerland. He raced the two series title rivals throughout the qualifying moto to finish a close third, and was again prominent on race day, even if he was not quite able to repeat the level he had achieved twenty-four hours earlier. Starting sixth, he dropped one position early in the moto but came back strongly at the end of the moto to finish sixth with consistent lap times all moto and followed this up with a ninth placed finish in race two to complete the GP eighth overall. He maintains twelfth place in the series standings despite being forced to sit out a couple of mid-season GPs and has every chance of a final top ten ranking as he scored more heavily than either of the riders immediately before him in the points chase.
 
Morgan Lesiardo, who usually races for the Monster Energy Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team in the European Championship, took the opportunity of a break in the schedule for that series to gain GP experience and admitted after racing that he now appreciates the difference between the two series. He already found himself outside the points-scoring positions at the start of each race and was not surprised by the ferocity of the racing in the early laps of GP motos as he initially lost further ground, but he regrouped defiantly to finish twenty-fifth in race one and miss the points by just five seconds and one position in race two.
 
Teammate Stephen Rubini also just missed the points-scoring positions in twenty-second and twenty-third position at the finish of the two thirty-five minute races after he also started outside the top twenty in each moto.
 
Darian Sanayei: “This weekend was a little bit similar to Switzerland, but I think there were more improvements. In the qualifying race I had a good start and ran up front, holding second place for nearly the entire race; it felt really good to have the same speed as these front guys, even if Seewer passed me at the end. Today with the rain the track was becoming slippery; in the first moto I had a good start but made a few mistakes on the first lap and got passed by a couple of guys. I was seventh and finished sixth; it was not a great moto but it was OK. In the second moto I felt good but didn’t have the speed compared to the guys in front and finished ninth for eighth overall. Its not a really good result but we’re still improving each week and I feel better on the bike; it’s positive for the end of season and next year.”
 
Morgan Lesiardo: “It was a tough weekend after the good one in Switzerland. The MX2 GP class is really different to the European series; I’m here racing this weekend to get experience but I was expecting better results. However that’s racing. I got two bad starts and then lost some positions on the first lap each time so, even though I passed a couple of riders later in the race, it was not enough to score points. The conditions were not easy with the rain; the track was different every lap so it was difficult for everyone.”
 
Stephen Rubini: “It was another difficult weekend and I never felt comfortable on the track except during the warm up. But I learned a lot if we forget the results; my bad starts didn’t helped me either, but now I have two more weeks to prepare the next round.”

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