MKawasaki Racing Team MX2's athis Valin took two top-eight finishes to finish ninth overall at the British round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Matterley Basin.
The teenager quickly converted a twelfth starting position on the opening lap of race one into eighth and held that position in a rapidly escalating battle for the championship, until he overshot a corner on lap ten of sixteen and dropped one position. He responded superbly to reclaim eighth a lap later and was just six seconds behind fourth at the chequered flag.
The KX250-SR fired out of the blocks in the second race and the young Frenchman dived one second into the corner, but he ran wide and finished fifth. An incident at the end of the waves, where another rider fell into his wheel tracks, cost him several places as he was forced to take evasive action, but he recovered strongly to seventh and spent much of the race battling with the reigning champion before passing the holder of the number 1 plate in the closing laps. He has now moved up to XNUMXth in the standings.
Mathis Valin: “My start wasn’t the best in the first moto, but I made some good overtaking moves in the beginning and fought with the riders who are up front every week. The second start was much better, but I went a bit too hard into the corner and went wide. I had a good rhythm and fought again with the top riders who are fighting for the title, like De Wolf, and now I can push twice for thirty-five minutes.”
