Round 6 of the FIM Motocross World Championship visited Russia earlier this week, with the races being held on a Tuesday around International Workers' Day.

Coming off his first podium of the season in Portugal, HRC's Tim Gajser was looking to keep the momentum rolling. IceOne Husqvarna was back to full strength as Max Anstie returned from injury to join Gautier Paulin who is experiencing another strong campaign in 2018. Calvin Vlaanderen was our only MX2 pilot of the weekend, as the 114 Motorsports outfit sat idle with Hunter Lawrence & Bas Vaessen both injured. Lawrence will look to return at Round 7 in Latvia and Vaessen will be a few weeks longer. Our EMX 250 athletes were also back in action in Orlyonok, with Danish youth sensation Mikkel Haarup under the IceOne umbrella and German Jeremy Sydow on a private KTM effort. 

Tim Gajser got off to a strong start in Timed Practice as he set the fastest time in the session. Gautier Paulin was just a little over a second off in 3rd position, and Max Anstiewas 8th fastest. On the MX2 side, Calvin Vlaanderen was 6th fastest aboard his HRC machine. 

Vlaanderen had his best Qualifying Race performance of the season, earning himself 3rd spot on the grid for the motos. Anstie was 8th in the MXGP Quali Race, with Paulin10th. An early crash for Gajser had him starting in dead last, but the Slovenian was able to climb his way up to 14th at the end. 

Jeremy Sydow got off to a great start in EMX 250 Moto #1 as he grabbed the holeshot and led the opening lap. Unfortunately he would run into some bad luck and go down early on. Mikkel Haarup also had a solid start, running in 4th before he crashed as well and finished up 12th. Haarup got a tough start in Moto #2, but clawed his way up to 10th at the end for 11th Overall. 

Calvin Vlaanderen was 7th off the start in MX2 Moto #1 and rode a consistent race to finish up in 6th. The South African started off 7th again in Moto #2, but worked his way up to 4th this time. 6-4 Moto scores were good for 6th Overall and he now sits 6th in the Overall Points Standings. 

Gautier Paulin got off to a good start in MXGP Moto #1, taking the green flag in 4th. The consistent Frenchman would finish the race in 4th where he started, and Tim Gajser came from a 7th place start up to 5th. Max Anstie began his return to the races with a tough start back in 20th, but was able to work his way forward to 15th despite fighting off some arm pump. 

MXGP Moto #2 started in a positive way for Gajser as he sat in 3rd on the opening lap. The HRC lead man ended up 4th, going 5-4 for 5th Overall. Gautier Paulin was not so lucky and went down early on, putting him dead last on the opening lap. He put in an impressive charge however, and pushed all the way to 6th place which salvaged 6th Overall with 4-6 Moto scores. Max Anstie struggled with arm pump again in Moto #2 and ended up 16th Overall on the day. 

MX2 Championship Standings

1. Pauls Jonass
2. Jorge Prado
3. Thomas Kjer Olsen
4. Ben Watson
5. Jed Beaton
6. Calvin Vlaanderen
7. Vsevolod Brylyakov
8. Conrad Mewse
9. Henry Jacobi
10. Thomas Covington

MXGP Championship Standings

1. Jeffrey Herlings
2. Antonio Cairoli
3. Clement Desalle
4. Romain Febvre
5. Gautier Paulin
6. Glenn Coldenhoff
7. Jeremy Van Horebeek
8. Tim Gajser
9. Jeremy Seewer
10. Julien Lieber

The circuit rolls on with Round 7 at the Kegums circuit in Latvia on May 13th. 

Welcome to Olargues, a very pretty French village a bit lost between big mountains. The local organisation shaped and used their best and most difficult trails for Round 3 of the Enduro World Series. The rain didn't make it easier and all the riders had to ride through a lot of tough sections with safety and speed to have a chance to perform. The show didn't disappoint and our riders managed their effort on the best way possible!

DAMIEN OTON, 5th PLACE

“Taking into account the mistakes I made, I'm happy with my result! It's very motivating for the next rounds! These mistakes cost me my place on the podium but I think I was a bit too stressed and I couldn't concentrate properly! I was almost racing at home and I wanted to do too good! But like I said, I'm happy and I got some good points for the overall so it's a great weekend all in all!”

MARK SCOTT, 7TH PLACE

“I'm happy with my consistency but I got tired at the end, on the last stage I had two big crashes but I held on to my position. I was tight with Sam Hill and I just lost some time at the end but this didn't affect the result. I got 8th in Colombia and 7th here so yes, it's going in the right direction, I'm stoked!”

KEEGAN WRIGHT, 34th

“I felt good riding my bike on all the stages and had a very fun weekend but unfortunately on Stage 6 I got a front flat tyre about 20 seconds into the track and just rode and lost about two minutes on this stage! It's a shame but it's all part of racing and it's what we love! I go home for a month now and I'm gonna work on a few things and come back stronger!”

The next round will take all the enduro riders to Austria and Slovenia for a double country destination on the 30th June and 1st July! They're all