Bike It DRT Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle continued to look more like his old self after securing a fifth place overall at the 2018 MXGP of Asia in Indonesia. But Searle had to show great strength of character to get over a terrible Saturday at the Semarang circuit.
Searle was fast in time practice ā despite being short on resources with one bike and one mechanic as support ā placing inside the top 10 and best Brit, but the qualifying race was a disaster after being disqualified for jumping on a yellow flag.
On Sunday, the Briton put behind him the less than perfect gate pick as he carved his way through the pack in both points-paying motos, from around an initial 12th to seventh which gave him his best points haul since the MXGP of Switzerland in 2016.
“Iām happy with today,” declared Searle following his first top five overall in nearly four years.
“I knew I could be fast even though I didn’t have a good gate pick and I knew it would be a hard day but I stayed positive and pushed through the pack in both races for fifth overall.
“I was very fast in the first race, posting the third fastest lap of the race on the very last lap! It wasn’t easy with many riders to pass in both races but both the bike and my fitness felt great.”
