MX-GP: De Dycker and Philippaerts log Portuguese top three finishes?

The fourth round of the FIM MX2-GP World Championship saw Bike it Cosworth Yamaha's Zach Osborne miss a first podium result for the 2010 YZ250F - with increased agility due to a new chassis - by just one point as the American gets closer and closer to his first silverware of the season. Agueda hosted the Grand Prix of Portugal and thanks to copious rainfall on Saturday the course with many jumps, drops and climbs was a rougher prospect than usual for race-day. 14,000 spectators attended the event despite the changeable climate for the first of two back-to-back meetings on the MX-GP schedule. Osborne set a decent pace across a wet and slick layout in practice and qualification and was not far off the speed marked by the leaders in the motos themselves. The 2009 Turkish GP winner chased Shaun Simpson to finish 5th in the first moto and was exercising a degree of caution at the venue where he broke his scaphoid and ended his season twelve months ago. In the second moto Osborne gelled with the track and enjoyed a lengthy skirmish with Dutch GP victor Jeffrey Herlings, only losing out to the teenager after some fraught run-ins with backmarkers. With 3rd position by the flag Osborne gained his first entry into the top three and missed the podium by a single point.

Elsewhere Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi's Harri Kullas was 8th overall with a promising start and decent ride to 7th in Moto1. The Finn was slower getting away in Moto2 but persisted to the finish to gain 13th. Team-mate Christophe Charlier steered the third YZ250F into the top ten with 10th place overall. The 2009 European Champion was competing with an injured right hand after damaging thumb ligaments in a mid-week training crash. He defied the pain to reach the flag ahead of Kullas in Moto1 for 6th but a crash at the beginning of the second race dropped him to 15th. Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Loic Larrieu crashed in the Qualification Heat and had to enter the gate down in 33rd limiting his options at the start of the motos. The Frenchman also hit the ground during Sunday. Eventually he managed two points for 19th in the second sprint. Alessandro Lupino was 17th and 11th for 14th overall and his best points haul of the season, despite a sore right wrist. Osborne is currently the highest-placed Yamaha rider in the MX2-GP table with 6th position and 2 points from the top five. Kullas and Charlier are 9th and 10th. Yamaha 3C Racing's Chiara Fontanesi was 5th overall in the second round of the FIM Women's World Championship courtesy of two 6th positions and holds 4th in the seven-race series, the third edition of the competition, on the YZ250F. Round five of the world championship will take place at Bellpuig for the Grand Prix of Catalunya next week. Zach Osborne, Bike it Cosworth Yamaha, 4th: "I am a little disappointed that I did not make the podium because it would have been sweet revenge after getting hurt here last year. However a 5th and a 3rd and some good points mean that it has been a good weekend. I think I am catching those guys slowly but surely. My first race was not my best of the year but it was still solid, and in the second I held it out as long as I could up there but ran into some lappers and Herlings passed me. I gained some ground on him a little bit but again got mixed up with slower riders. I enjoyed the rough circuit. It was a GP track; gnarly, rough, hard to predict. It was definitely good. I am so happy with the way things are going with the team. Everyone is pulling together and it is such a joint-effort." Harri Kullas, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi, 8th: "Overall I had one good, one bad. In the first race I had a good start and when Roelants crashed in front of me I had 7th. I could see Christophe in front of me but when I pushed he would do also and I could not get close enough. I was happy with 7th though. In the second moto I started badly and struggled to wake-up and this is something I need to work on. I rode smart but spent too much time behind Karro and Tonkov. Near the end I pushed as hard as I could. 8th overall was a good result for the day and I feel it is progress." Christophe Charlier, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi, 10th: "I did the best I could today but it was definitely hard with my hand. I had a crash at the start of the second moto but the first one was pretty good in the circumstances. I just have to let my hand heal and hope it is a bit stronger for Spain."