Bud Racing And Kawasaki; Twenty Years Together!

Motocross | 19 June 2026

Bud Racing And Kawasaki; Twenty Years Together!

Team Bud Racing and Kawasaki celebrate their twentieth anniversary this year; it has been a long and successful partnership for both parties. Representing Kawasaki in both the FIM 250 European Championship and the FIM World Supercross Championship, Bud Racing clinched its 24th title in Green last weekend in the French MX2 Championship and currently heads the EMX250 1-2!

There aren't many teams in the paddock that have been associated with the same manufacturer for so long, and that have enjoyed so much success together! Since their first appearance in the paddock in February 2007, Team Bud Racing has celebrated a succession of titles in French and European motocross and supercross; it has been twenty successful seasons, from the very first title in 2007 with Marvin Musquin (French SX2) to the latest with Francisco Garcia (French Elite MX2) last weekend.

The roots of Bud Racing date back to 1995 when Stephane Dasse, who clinched the French Open national title that year, started to prepare bikes in his parents' garage together with Philippe ‘Bud’ Darthail, who had previously been a GP mechanic to Yves Demaria. In the small garage - just thirty square meters! - Philippe, Stephane and his brother Sébastien launched Bud Racing, preparing suspension and engines and producing special parts such as cylinder heads and fork internals. They started to support young riders - they helped Marvin Musquin when he was starting his career in the 125 junior championship - and in 1997 they created the Bud Racing Team to provide more support to Marvin and teammate Loïc Rombaut. In their very first season they clinched their first title in the French supercross series.

Motocross, supercross or beach races, Bud Racing has always been involved in the sport at grass roots level and since day one the main goal of team owner Stephane Dasse has been to work with young riders. Even though the team also raced the world championship for several seasons with established riders such as David Vuillemin or Gautier Paulin the team’s main course for more than a decade has been to develop young talent.

After a highly successful season in 2024 with Mathis Valin, who won the European EMX250 and the French MX2 championships, 2026 is already another glorious year with a 1-2 in the French MX2 Championship for Spain's Francisco Garcia and Australian Jake Cannon, and they are also currently first and second in the European EMX250 series heading to the seventh round at Montevarchi in Italy this weekend.

Stephane Dasse, Founder and Team Manager, Bud Racing

“It’s great to celebrate twenty years of partnership with Kawasaki; our gratitude for their loyalty! We have always been very happy to work with KME; Kawasaki are good bikes with good parts and a highly positive mentality from their management. When we started working with Marvin Musquin in the French Junior Championship we got support from Kawasaki France and Fred Bassaler, and when we signed Gautier Paulin and David Vuillemin we got further support from Steve Guttridge and Kawasaki Motors Europe. We have worked with many young and promising talents such as Marvin, Dylan Ferrandis, Brian Moreau, the Coenen brothers, Mathis Valin and now Francisco and Jake, and it gave us a lot of satisfaction to help each of them on their path to becoming professional riders. We stopped racing GPs when the calendar exceeded fourteen rounds as we wanted our young riders to also focus on supercross and the French championship. I love to watch the 65, 85 and 125 races, to detect new talents that could become our riders in the future. We have the opportunity to be based in Hossegor, which is a nice area, and to have several tracks at the Bud training camp where our riders work under the guidance of Thierry Van Den Bosch, who succeeded Jacky Vimond in 2015. We have a long partnership with Kawasaki, but also with Thierry, and that has proven a resounding success for all parties.”

Shigemi-Tanaka, Managing Director, Kawasaki Motors Europe:

“Bud Racing has a history of discovering and nurturing young, talented Kawasaki riders helping many of them achieve championship success beyond what they thought possible on the European and world stage.

The Bud approach is the perfect example of our Team Green philosophy of not simply guiding riders to success on track but also creating complete professional athletes able to cope with the pressures of performing at the highest level. To be partners in this Bud Racing “ladder of ambition” for two decades has been an honour for Kawasaki Motors Europe. We wish Bud Racing even greater success developing talented young Kawasaki riders in the decades to come.”

Steve Guttridge, Kawasaki Europe Race Planning Manager:

“It’s been a remarkable journey and a fantastic experience working alongside the Bud Racing team for what has turned out to be most of my career so far with Kawasaki. We’ve enjoyed the highest of highs and some critical moments over those seasons in this toughest of Sporting environments together but always finding solutions together. So - in the spirit of Team Green Kawasaki – Bud Racing have brought through some of the brightest young grassroots super talents in the history of MX. Critically, they have ensured that those kids could make that step as the most well rounded individual professional athletes possible. It’s been an honour working with Stephane, his family and all the past and present team crew over the past 20 years. Here’s to the next 20 - Congratulations!”

Bud Racing highlights:

2026 Francisco Garcia: MX2 French champion

Tim Lopes: Hopeful French champion

2024 Mathis Valin: 250 European champion and MX2 French champion

2022 Amandine Verstappen: Women French champion

2021 Amandine Verstappen: Women French champion

Lucas Coenen: Junior French champion

2020 Amandine Verstappen: Women French champion

Quentin Prugnières: Junior French champion

2019 Quentin Prugnières: Hopeful French champion

2017 Brian Moreau: 125 European champion

2015 Xavier Boog: MX1 French champion