Evgeny Bobryshev and the Lombard Express with Par Homes Suzuki team built on a positive qualifying session to take victory at the Scottish round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship after weeks of idyllic weather ended with the championship’s arrival.
Bobryshev - returning to the Duns track after eight years away - posted the second fastest qualifying time aboard his RMZ-450 in prime conditions. However, heavy rain arrived soon after qualifying had come to a close, saturating the track and presenting riders with difficult conditions for race day.
A tough start to race one was handled well with Bobryshev taking a smart line through the carnage at turn one to emerge in third. Knowing that staying out of the mud would be the key to success, he used his early race pace to make passes on Kristian Whatley and Ivo Monticelli to take the race lead before the end of lap one.
Using poise and precision, Bobryshev built a comfortable lead over the chasing pack. Rain continued to fall but even with conditions deteriorating the top four riders charged hard and pulled a huge gap over the rest of the field. The gap between Bobryshev and his closest rival, Monticelli, fell slightly during the closing laps but not enough to stop him taking a commanding second moto win of the season, further reducing the point gap to championship leader Jake Nicholls.
With race one complete, track action came to a close but rain continued to fall heavier than before and combined with thick fog rolling off the surrounding hills, officials made the decision to cancel race two. This meant Bobryshev and the team walked away with the overall victory.
Bobryshev said, “The rain was pretty much non-stop from 10am. Free practice and qualifying was still good though; the track was still very nice and rideable. I was able to post the second fastest time and I was happy with that after just getting to grips with the track. But for the first moto the track was just full of water after the non-stop heavy rain.
“I pulled a good start and by the end of the first lap I was in first place. I just really concentrated, found some good lines and pulled away from the field. The guys did catch me up a little bit towards the end but I still managed to finish first. I was really happy with that.
“For the second race we were all dressed up and ready to go but the track was looking really bad. Eventually they decided to cancel the final race as the visibility was too low and the track was getting a bit dangerous. I think it was a good decision - it would’ve been a lottery out there. We could’ve gained points, but we could’ve lost a lot of points too. In a few weeks we have Hawkstone park; that’s a really nice track and I’m looking forward to racing there.”