Current leader of the 250 European motocross championship, Mathis Valin will join the Kawasaki Racing Team next season to compete in the FIM MX2 World Championship. The French youngster, who is enjoying an impressive first season on a KX250 with Bud Racing Kawasaki, will lead the factory effort in this class.
After a successful career in the 125 class, in which he won the Junior World Championship and collected a silver medal in the European Championship last year, Mathis, who celebrated his eighteenth birthday recently, started his rookie season in the 250cc class with Bud Racing Kawasaki by racing to victory in the Junior category of the famous Enduropale du Touquet; since then he has added the French Elite title and is leading the European EMX250 Championship after seven rounds.
Trained by Thierry Van den Bosch, a former Supermoto World Champion, Mathis has already won two rounds and five motos on a variety of different surfaces such as hardpack at Madrid, the mud of Saint Jean d’Angely and the deep sand of Lommel.
For his official entry to the MX2 World Championship next season with factory KX250 machinery, the Kawasaki Racing Team has reached an agreement with Team Bud Racing to allow the young prospect to enter his new challenge in the best conditions. Mathis will move to Belgium at the end of the season to start working with the KRT staff and to prepare his first attempt in the highly-competitive MX2 GP class.
Mathis Valin:
“It’s a dream came true! If anyone had told me earlier this year that I would be joining the Kawasaki Racing Team at the end of the season I wouldn’t have believed them. I’m happy and proud to join the team; I think that my results helped me to earn this position and now the goal will be to carry on working hard to continue getting good results. It’s a big change for me but already this season I have left my parental home so moving to Belgium, in a team where there are already some French guys, will be OK. When I was offered this opportunity to join KRT there was no hesitation; initially the plan was for me to stay two years with Bud in the European Championship, but, as I’m currently leading the series, it’s already time to move up to the MX2 World Championship next year and I will do my best to end this current season with some more successes.”
Shigemi Tanaka (General Manager, Marketing & Sales Division, Kawasaki Motors, Ltd):
“In Mathis we have a great example of the Team Green principle of nurturing talent and developing it within a structured and sympathetic environment. We are super excited to be re-entering the MX2 class with a factory team in 2025 and all the parts of a complex jig-saw are gradually falling into place. Mathis is a crucial part of this emerging team structure, and we hope that Kawasaki fans and young riders across the globe will both follow his progress on the new KX250 complete with the very latest engine and chassis technology identifying with him while he demonstrates the core values of our Team Green philosophy.”
Antti Pyrhonen (KRT Team Manager):
“We are very excited about this new opportunity with Kawasaki to enter the MX2 class and for sure it will be a different challenge. We will work next year with a young rider; it’s always interesting to educate them in training, riding and race tactics as well as everything else outside of racing; we need to support them with their living situation, travelling and so on. We are really excited about that, we have the experience to do it plus it’s a great compliment that Kawasaki give us the opportunity to enter the MX2 category because this way we can build the Team Green spirit from a young age all the way through to the premier MXGP class.
Mathis has impressed us; if you watched his career in recent years he already showed incredible speed in the 125 class, was successful in that class and immediately won races in the EMX250. He’s a young rider but he has already the winning mentality and that opens even greater opportunities to continue in the future. And it’s nice that he’s coming from the Kawasaki family; it’s been a great effort from everyone and I want to thank not only the Kawasaki factory in Japan for this opportunity but also Steve Guttridge at KME and Stephane Dassé from Bud Racing for their big efforts behind the scenes to make this possible.”
Steve Guttridge (Race Planning Manager, Kawasaki Motors Europe):
“Bud Racing does a fantastic job of bringing up the young pilots and has a famous history of developing French talent through to their professional career. So to join up all the dots and bring Mathis through into KRT at the first opportunity as we establish an MX2 seat within the factory team is perfect. All the young riders can now see that there is a ladder into a factory team with Kawasaki when they achieve their targets. Mathis gets on very well with the KX250 and is leading the EMX. He likes the base bike so there is one less thing for him to get used to as he moves to a different team set-up.”
Stephane Dasse (Bud Racing Team Manager):
“For sure it’s a great opportunity for Mathis to move to KRT next season, even if our plan was to keep him with us for another year. He adapted so well to the 250 that he immediately achieved top results, and Kawasaki will now give him the chance to move to the MX2 World Championship so we let him move on! For sure it’s great to see that our work with him is paying off, and to see that there’s a strong connection between Bud, KRT and Kawasaki.”
Photocredits Full Spectrum Media
