Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Jed Beaton finished fourth overall at a wet and windy Hawkstone International.
Despite hugely challenging weather and difficult, sandy track conditions Beaton showed impressive speed around the iconic British circuit. Finishing fourth overall, the Tasmanian kicked his day off with a seventh-place finish in race one. Charging his way forwards from 20th, despite the near torrential rain, he broke inside the top 10 for a hard-fought seventh.
Saving his best until the day’s second MX2 moto, Beaton had a much more straightforward race compared to the rain-lashed first race. From a mid-pack start he quickly worked his way into third and then into the runner-up position where he remained alone for many laps before eventually securing a deserved second-place result for fourth overall.
“Today was my first race in quite a while so I was easing myself back into it,” said Beaton. “I got off to a really bad start in race one and with the heavy rain it was a tough opening few laps. I managed to get into a rhythm and started moving forward. It was raining the whole time so it was a bit of a miserable moto, but it was good to be racing again. The second moto was much better. I got off to a much better start and managed to avoid some chaos in the second turn. That put me into fifth position and then I made a few passes and moved into second. By the time I got there, the leader had checked out. It was great to be in second and ride my own race, which I held to the flag.”
MX2 Race 1
1. Roan van de Moosdijk (Kawasaki) 11 laps 30:09.507; 2. Rene Hofer (KTM) 30:23.226; 3. Mikkel Haarup (Kawasaki) 30:33.968; 4. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 30:41.395; 7.Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 31:02.455; 11. Jorgen Matthias-Talviku (Husqvarna) 32:16.060; 13. Josh Gilbert (Husqvarna) 32:30.969; 17. Tom Grimshaw (Husqvarna) 10 laps 30:19.180; 24. Jamie Law (Husqvarna) 31:56.990
MX2 Race 2
1. Tom Vialle (KTM) 8 laps 23:04.300; 2. Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 23:13.996; 3. Mikkel Haarup (Kawasaki) 23:32.781; 4. Josh Gilbert (Husqvarna) 23:45.817; 7. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 24:31.269; 8. Jorgen Matthias-Talviku (Husqvarna) 24:41.758; 13. Tom Grimshaw (Husqvarna) 25:51.849
MX2 Overall
1. Tom Vialle (KTM) 40 points; 2. Mikkel Haarup (Kawasaki) 40; 3. Rene Hofer (KTM) 37; 4. Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 36; 5. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 32; 7. Josh Gilbert (Husqvarna); 9. Jorgen Matthias-Talviku (Husqvarna) 23; 14. Tom Grimshaw (Husqvarna) 12; 21. James Carpenter (Husqvarna) 5