After five months of waiting, the 2020 motocross world championships finally resume in Kegums, Latvia this weekend.
Team HRC rider Mitch Evans and teammate Tim Gajser have been putting in the work preparing for the long-awaited gate drop.
With two race wins and two more podium finishes between the pair in the only two rounds of the season so far, confidence is high within the team that when the gate drops this Sunday, both will be ready to compete at the very highest level in motocross.
First up is the triple-header at the sandy track of Kegums, with the new one-day format meaning that the MXGP riders will be racing on Sunday 9th, Wednesday 12th and Sunday 16th August. It is a different experience for most of the riders to have races so close together but Gajser has been working hard in this break to prepare himself and Evans’ shoulder injury is fine after a warm-up event in France last weekend.
A third place in the first moto of the season at Matterley Basin, England was a great opening result for Mitch Evans in his first ever MXGP race on the Honda CRF450RW and he’ll be hoping to reach those levels again in Kegums, after a break that meant he was able to recover properly from the injury he sustained in round two at Valkenswaard. The Australian finished second in a French event last weekend and will head to Latvia buoyed with the knowledge that he’s back to race pace in what is his rookie 450 campaign.
“It’s great being back in Europe, and getting back into the swing of things in training, and back on my factory HRC bike,” said Mitch Evans. “I’ve been in south-west France and it is a beautiful area, so I’ve enjoyed my two weeks here, especially being able to do a race at the weekend. It was good to get in a gate drop before we head to Latvia this week. It didn’t start off too well in the first moto but the second went well and that’s why we did the event to try and get comfortable racing again, and blow the cobwebs out. My shoulder was feeling good, with no problems and I didn’t have any pain so I’m very happy with it.”
Sitting second in points, but with a lot of races still to come, Gajser knows that consistency as well as speed is crucial if he is to win back-to-back MXGP world titles. And like last year, he is making sure that enjoyment is the first element to this process, with there being little doubt that the Slovenian can’t wait for the first gate drop at a track that he won last year’s Latvian GP.
“It’s been a difficult year, with everything that’s happened these past few months so I’m super excited to get back to racing the world championships again,” said Gajser. “In the past five months, I’ve just been training hard, trying to stay in shape and maybe even improve myself in preparation for this time, but it certainly wasn’t easy. Now I’m ready to start the season again, as I get to Latvia pretty early to make sure everything is ready and make sure the bike is as good as it was before the break, when I won those motos.
“The calendar is probably the best they could do. I think it is good to do multiple races at the same track, to avoid moving around too much, with all the countries having different rules and different quarantines so that is a good idea. I think it will be interesting and different to have a one-day format, but it will be the same for everyone, so you have to be able to adapt and make sure everything is running smoothly, and quickly. I know my team is capable of making this happen though so I am confident.”