Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin retained the series points lead in the FIM European EMX250 Championship with a solid fifth place in the opening moto of the Latvian round at Kegums.
The French teenager stayed composed all day around the rugged sand track in the Baltic state. Fourth-fastest in practice he rounded turn one sixth before making two decisive passes to advance to fourth by lap five. In the closing stages of the race he surrendered one position to an aggressive pass from a championship rival but he maintains a comfortable seventeen-point advantage over his closest rival in the series standings heading into tomorrow morning’s second moto.
Mathis Valin: “Usually I like riding in the sand but today I just didn’t felt comfortable as the track was slippery. I lost too much time passing Escandell for the fourth position, and the top three guys were gone; then my rhythm was not so good and Lata could pass me. Fifth is not too bad, but it’s not what I was expecting; we’ll be better tomorrow!”
Bud teammate Benjamin Garib continued to show the good rhythm of recent rounds after a difficult start to the series. The Chilean moved forward from an initial twelfth to tenth at the chequered flag for his third consecutive top-ten moto finish and the eleven point scoreline has seen him jump from sixteenth to fourteenth in the series standings.
Benjamin Garib: “I was happy with my riding today and I fought until the end for another top-ten. The track was really beat-up by the time our race came around but at least the weather was finally nice with no rain today. I’m enjoying my racing so I’ll keep building from here and tomorrow we will see what is possible.”
