Two Americans in Qatar

The two American riders in the FIM Motocross World Championships, Thomas Covington and Darian Sanayei might have entered last weekend’s opening round of the MX2 world championship with different goals, and in the end it was the younger and less experienced Sanayei who got off to a very solid start.

Sanayei came into the Qatar event with a positive pre-season, and came out of the weekend with a top ten finish. For a rider starting his MX2 rookie season, it was a great performance.

“Overall it was not so bad,” Sanayei said. “We had some ups and downs but I got an eighth in the qualifying race which was pretty good. Saturday I just didn’t feel so good. In the first race I did something wrong at the start and I had to come back from the back of the pack to tenth. I tried to ride smooth and not push too hard. In the second race, I had a really good jump off the gate but I did something wrong again and hit a neutral, so my starts are something I’ve got to work on for the next weekend. My speed was a little bit slower in the second race, but with a ninth overall that’s not so bad for a first GP as the season will be long.”

Covington, the winningest rider in the MX2 class until last weekend had a lot more pressure than his fellow American, and it showed. Sixteenth overall wasn’t what Covington had hoped for, but a crash in the second moto dropped him out of the top ten.

“It’s been an up and down weekend for us,” Covington said. “In moto one I believe I showed the speed is there. I got a decent start and was racing within the first six riders, but a small fall dropped me to 13th. Then I started pushing hard again and managed to cross the line in eighth place. My holeshot in moto two was a good confidence booster. Midway through the moto, I was running in fifth, I had a crash and then couldn’t start the bike. I know I can do a lot better and I’m really looking forward to the coming races. Next week we’re racing for the first time in Indonesia and the goal will be to battle for the top in MX2.”

So bring on the Grand Prix of Indonesia, an event that will put all the GP riders against each other on a circuit nobody has seen. It will be more than ever a level playing field, and let’s hope the two young American riders come out of the weekend with positive results.

Author:

Geoff Meyer