Evgeny Bobryshev – Moving to Florida but possibly still racing in Britain this year!
Former GP winner and two-time British Champion Evgeny Bobryshev has become an adopted Brit in recent years, and won the 2010 British Championship on a Honda before being signed to the factory squad for 2011, during which season he took his only career GP victory at Teutschenthal in Germany.
Words: Ben Rumbold. Featured Image: Dave Rich. All other images: MXGB
Bobryshev clinched his second British title in 2018 for the Lombard Express Suzuki team.
Rejoining the series in 2018, he took the MX1 title again after Jake Nicholls got hurt before the final round at Lyng. He has since raced for SC Sporthomes Husqvarna, again with Neil Prince, until the blanket ban on Russian athletes competing in FIM-sanctioned sport kept him out of the 2022 season. The ban was lifted in time for him to return at the second round in 2023, again at the Norfolk circuit of Lyng.
Despite a long lay-off for political reasons, Bobby was still competitive on his return to the British Championship last year.
After getting on the podium with 3rd overall at Schoolhouse, he managed to finish 6th in the MX1 series despite missing the final round at Monster Mountain. He also put in a sterling display at the VMXdN Foxhill event, battling Tommy Searle on his way to winning the main Team Races overall individually, racing for The Rest of the World team on a thinly-disguised CR500.
The 36-year-old has moved to Florida with his family to start a new life over there. Bobby is now trying to get over problems with his nationality Stateside, as he is interested in racing AMA Nationals, but the AMA are still affiliated to the FIM and so far, his efforts have been blocked.
Even attempts to compete in Latin America have also met with resistance, and even the Florida State Series has refused his entry.
It’s a massive shame for a man who married a Dutch woman and, as he says, “has spent more than half of my life away from the country of my birth. Still the FIM are everywhere, it’s crazy, and the fact that I’m Russian makes it very difficult to race anywhere.” When asked if he would return to the UK just to compete, he says “At the moment, I’m definitely not doing the full British Championships. I’m looking for a way to do some races in the UK, though.”
With issues getting permission to race elsewhere, we may yet see Bobby back in the UK in 2024.
Fingers crossed for Bobby that he can get through the red tape and compete somewhere worthy of his talents. It would be great for him to race Foxhill again as he was spectacular, and maybe we will see him back racing here if the dice roll that way. Either way, we wish him well.
