Source: IceOne Racing.

It was a busy weekend of racing with Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing competing in the final round of the Internazionali D’Italia Sidi Series and Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing in action at the Valence International Motocross.

Signing off on a productive Italian series, Todd Waters secured top ten results in both the MX1 and Elite races.

Carding a seventh place result in MX1, the Husqvarna rider recovered solidly from a crash on the opening lap of the Elite race to work his way forward from 26th to ninth.

“It’s been an interesting day but enjoyable one,” Waters said. “MX1 went well and I placed seventh but I wanted more from the Elite race. On lap one I was about fifth and crashed after the finish line.

“It dropped me to 26th but I dug deep and fought back to ninth. It felt good to pass so many guys even if I messed up getting a better result.

“After such a long lay off due to injury it’s been great to knock the race rust off prior to Qatar. We’ve worked on a lot of things and definitely feel like we’re further ahead and more race sharp than if we hadn’t been here racing this series.”

World champion Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) won the MX1 final from Jeremy Van Horebeek (Yamaha) and Romain Febvre (Yamaha), while in the Elites it was Van Horebeek who got the upper-hand over Febvre and Cairoli.

Facing extremely wet and muddy conditions at the Valence International Motocross in France, Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Dean Ferris endured mixed fortunes.

Falling foul to the conditions despite numerous times featuring at the sharp end of the MX1 class results, Dean Ferris endured a difficult day. Multiple crashes in both races prevented him from showing his true potential in the mud.

“I rode well but it’s just been a bit of a lottery today,” Ferris said. “The conditions were really horrible. In race one I was going well but got completely filled in and lost my goggles.

“Race two was a bit more of the same. I ran as high as fifth but crashes cost me dear. It’s just been a difficult day all round.”

Suzuki’s Clemant Desalle won the overall at Valance, heading Xavier Boog (Kawasaki) and Shaun Simpson (KTM).