HRC team rider Mitch Evans produced two excellent races at the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship with a three-seven result for fifth overall.
After storms hit the track on Friday night, the Saturday schedule was shortened in order to limit the damage but Sunday was a completely different story as the Matterley Basin circuit was at its picture-perfect best for the two MXGP motos.
The MXGP class rookie claimed third-place in race one after battling with former world champions Jeffrey Herlings and Antonio Cairoli. Evans wasn’t able to repeat his moto one start and was down the field as they rounded the first few corners after spinning off the start. By the time he crossed the line for the first time, the Australian was in 15th place and charging hard, and within two more laps, he was inside the top 10. Despite this being his first MXGP on a 450cc machine, he continued to overtake much more experienced competitors and eventually finished in seventh place, giving him an excellent fifth overall.
“It was a good weekend, excluding the start of that second moto,” explained Evans. “Everything else went really well. In the first moto I had a good start, avoiding some of the early race carnage and made my way into second for a little bit. Unfortunately, I struggled with my breathing a bit because of my chest infection and finished third. I felt a lot better in the second moto although I had to push throughout the race because of the bad start. I used a lot of energy to get around guys as fast as I could and I hit a bit of a wall with eight minutes to go. Overall it was a good weekend though, I’m happy with my MXGP debut and now I get ready for Valkenswaard next weekend.”
The team now head straight to the Netherlands in order to prepare for the second round of the MXGP championship, which will be held at the sandy Valkenswaard track on March 7-8.
MXGP – GP Classification
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 47 points;
2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 38 p.;
3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 38 p.;
4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 35 p.;
5. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 34 p.;
6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 32 p.;
7. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 32 p.;
8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GAS), 30 p.;
9. Henry Jacobi (GER, YAM), 23 p.;
10. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 21 p.;
Photo: Haggis Hartman