The first three rounds of the 2015 MXGP FIM Motocross World Championship have seen Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev plotting a safe and steady path back into contention for headlines and the powerful Russian is taking the steps he needs after admitting that most people would have already thrown him to the “rubbish”.
The 27 year old has been one of the unluckiest riders in MXGP after a succession of injuries have stunted the winning form he showed back in 2011, which was his first term in works Honda colours and just his second in the premier class.
Last summer he suffered a horrific double break of his left leg in the Italian Grand Prix of Maggiora that ruined yet another season. HRC kept their faith in ‘Bobby’ for 2015 alongside star signing Gautier Paulin but #777 has been told to steadily work his way back up the standings to avoid another mis-firing campaign.
Bobryshev has been diligent with his mission and reached the top five in the first moto in Argentina and might have been a bet for a podium result if he wasn’t hit by a rear brake-less Shaun Simpson on the first lap of the second moto at Neuquen.
“The first GPs were quite difficult because I had been away from proper racing for a long time,” he said. “I felt great in training and thought when I’d come to the race I would be fast straight away but the sport is not like this. I know I need more racing and more time to get that top speed.”
“I am getting my confidence and race fitness back…and it is about time,” he added. “I think people had already sent me to the rubbish! So I really appreciate that the team is still behind me and still believe in me. It is just a matter of time. I am not the sort of person who can blast back like a firework. I know when I get to the level that is needed for a podium then I will stay there.”
Now in his fifth MXGP/MX1 championship Bobryshev knows that he is trying to resurrect a career and some sharp promise on a 450 in what could be the most competitive field in recent memory. “We have quite good riders come in from MX2 and the pack now is very crowded,” he opines.
“Before you might have had three guys at the front, then one by himself and then smaller groups fighting behind and now it is more compact and there is a long train of people fighting right until the end. It is interesting for the TV, for sure, but hard for us!”
The biggest issue for Russia’s only athlete in the MXGP category is whether – and when – he can rediscover some of the blistering speed that took him to 2011 German GP victory and established his name and entertaining character as one of the leading lights of Grand Prix.
“I’m not sure. It is a good question and a difficult one,” he says. “I have been having such a lot of bad luck in recent years and to try and reach that level again now I need consistent race time without any injuries or disruptions. If I can get this going then I think you will see the proper Bobby on the race track. I want it a lot and so does the team.”
