Searle Keeps MX Hopes Alive; Baz Stuns Superbike Rivals
by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
August 6, 2012
Britain’s Tommy Searle has further strengthened his hold on the No.2 spot in the MX2 Motocross World Championships after
another solid performance, this time in the Czech Republic at the weekend.
This was despite the Team Floride Monster Energy Kawasaki Pro Circuit rider having a weekend that he could only describe
as “unlucky” after another rider collided with him immediately after the start of race one on the demanding circuit at
Loket.
He picked up his Kawasaki KX250F to bravely fight back through the field to finish in second position and followed that
with a third placing in the day’s second MX2 race.
Dutch rider Jeffery Herlings won the day at the Czech GP, while Searle had to be satisfied merely with stabilising and
cementing his spot as world No.2, albeit still 57 points behind Herlings with only four rounds remaining.
“The first race just about summed up my luck this season,” said Searle afterwards.
“I got a good start but another rider inside me on the gate never braked at the first corner and I was nearly last. I
was second by half distance, but I had used so much energy that I had no chance to catch the leader too.
“In the second race I went for a pass on Herlings, we touched and he went down. I knew he would think I did it on
purpose so I wasn't surprised when he hit me later in the race, but I was missing my lines in the heat and just had to
settle for third.”
Searle's team-mate Joel Roelants, from Belgium, remains fourth in the championship chase.
The next GP is at Matterley Basin, near Winchester in south-west England, in a fortnight and Searle will be looking for
better fortune on home soil.
Meanwhile, racing in England at the weekend, French rider Loris Baz stunned his World Superbike Championship rivals by
winning the 10th round of 14 in the series at a rain-drenched Silverstone circuit.
Less than a month after surprising both himself and the WSBK paddock by claiming a maiden World Superbike podium in only
his fifth event, Kawasaki-mounted Baz has now elevated his status from a rising star to a shining one by claiming a
remarkable maiden win in terrible conditions at Silverstone.
Baz (Kawasaki ZX-10R) finished first and third in the two legs of the event.
Baz's victory means Kawasaki is the only team to have had both of its riders win a race this season, after his British
team-mate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki ZX-10R) won the rain-affected round at Monza, in Italy, in May.
ENDS