Kemea Yamaha Official MX Team rider Benoit Paturel finished second on Sunday at MXGP of France, rising to the difficulty and speed of the hillside track at Saint Jean d’Angély in front of a loud and supportive home crowd and scoring his second consecutive MX2 podium.

Wilvo Standing Construct Yamaha Official MX Team rider Aleksandr Tonkov continued his top results in spite of lingering injury from a training crash two months ago, finishing sixth overall and showing good rhythm on the unique French motocross circuit.

Paturel burst out of the start gate in his first moto and went into the race lead almost immediately, building a nearly 10-second margin over Jeremy Seewer of Switzerland and Dutch rider Jeffrey Herlings on a hillside race track heavily watered by grounds crew after morning races.

Riding with cautious aggression, Paturel led for nearly 25 minutes, able to avoid the stones and dirt roost thrown up all around him and choose clean lines. The French rider was overtaken by Herlings in the last two laps, but in the second moto Paturel proved he belongs at the front by again duelling with Seewer, as well as Max Anstie of Great Britain and Pauls Jonass of Latvia on his way to second overall at the MXGP of France.

Tonkov rode almost unchallenged from start to finish in race one, finishing fourth. In the second race he crashed when another rider tapped his rear wheel in a turn, sending the Russian to the dirt and forcing him to chase back from 14th to salvage a top 10 in the moto and sixth overall.

Paturel’s teammate Brent Van doninck did not start, and will undergo surgery on his left thumb to treat a pre-season training injury that has not improved since being reinjured in the spring. He is expected to return in time for his home race in August at MXGP of Belgium. Tonkov’s teammate Alvin Östlund crashed in qualifying on Saturday and bruised his chest and arms, and did not start on Sunday. The Swedish rider is expected to start when race action resumes in England in two weeks.

With his podium, Paturel remains fourth in the 2016 MX2 World Championship standings, but pulls 10 points closer to Jonass. Tonkov keeps his fifth overall, adding points to his season total and building his lead over Bulgarian Petar Petrov.

In WMX Nancy Van De Ven won the MXGP of France with a victory in her first moto and a second place in race two. The Dutch rider scored an important victory at Saint Jean d’Angély over home-favorite Livia Lancelot, and pulls to within seven points of teh Frenchwoman’s lead in the 2016 WMX World Championship.

资料提供 [ Yamaha Racing ]