Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Mathis Valin had a brave ride from last to fourth in the first moto of the Swiss round of the FIM European EMX250 Championship at Frauenfeld to retain his series points-lead.
The French teenager, undisputed fastest in both practices, was chopped off aggressively by his closest championship rival entering the first turn and faced a mountain to climb from dead-last in a field of forty. Passing rivals at will he was into the top-twenty already on the second lap and he continued to push hard, moving into the top-ten on lap six and continuing his charge to eventually finish fourth. He was rewarded for his tremendous effort as he retains the lead in the series-standings by eight points.
Mathis Valin: “I was feeling great in the Free Practice session and I confirmed that feeling with the pole position in the Timed Practice period. Then I had a good start, but Lata had a better one and changed his line; I hit his rear wheel and crashed, so I was last after the first corner. I did some good opening laps; I knew that it was important to pass early in the race to get the best possible result as we are close in the championship. I rode a strong race to finish fourth; I like this track and that helped me even though it was really hot today! There were many ruts on the track so there were a lot of different lines to make good passes.”
Bud teammate Benjamin Garib made a superb sixth-placed start and a clever opening two laps saw him advance to third and hold it for four laps before a small mistake dropped him to his eventual sixth.
Benjamin Garib: “I had a good start and was running third for a couple of laps before I had a small crash; I felt a little tired in the heat after the break in my rhythm but in general it was a good day. I know I have the speed because I was pushing and now I want to ride some more in front with the top guys. The track’s a little short but it’s kinda fun and rough.”
Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team’s Billy Askew needed time to settle during practice on a track which was new to him but the teenager was quickly on the move in racing to advance to nineteenth before a fall cost him seven positions. Undetered he responded to fight his way back to sixteenth at the chequered flag.
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media
