The renowned Hawkstone Park hosted round one of the British championship, with sunshine on the forecast.
With a total of 55 riders entered in to the MX2 class, this meant the class was split into two groups with the top 18 from both going straight through to the races and the remaining riders battling it out on the LCQ race for the last 4 positions.
Max was allocated to group one and qualified 2nd and Gyan in group 2 took pole position.
Race one Gyan was up there from the start and was riding well in the rutty sand and he crossed the line in 3rd. For Max however, disaster would strike as he fell on lap which subsequently caused a dislocated shoulder. He was assessed by the medical crew but had to sit out for the remainder of the day.
Gyan crashed on the opening lap of race two and was having to come from the back. He started to try and pick his way through the riders, but whilst doing so he had more bad luck as a slower rider caused him to crash again. He remounted and fought until the end and finished race two in 17th.
Max: “My first race at the British championship, I was feeling quite good on the Sunday morning, I came to the track with a good feeling, good weather, the track looked good, the first practice and timed practice went also went well, I had second in my group and in total was third place to the gate. I had a not-so-great start but managed to get round the first corner, I was in around 7th but out the back, I wasn’t taken out but someone pushed me and I ended up into the water off track so I crashed and got stuck. I got back going and was running for 2 laps trying to pass but then another rider cross jumped me, and I landed on top of them and dislocated my shoulder. Life is tough sometimes but l will give everything to come back stronger and fitter.”
Gyan: “First round of the British championship done in hawkstone. Unfortunately couldn’t finish the way we started with a p1 in qualifying. Riding was a bit rusty first few laps of practise but couldn’t train the whole week because of a little injury. Still got my rhythm and finishid first in my group. Solid first moto with a decent start and solid riding. Second moto again a decent start but crashed first lap which made me come from dead last and with an other crash, horrible riding and many mistakes i only finished 17. I know i really need go get better but we live to fight another day. Ready to put in the graft and see you in arco di trento in 2 weeks for round 3 of EMX250”
Team Manager Shaun Simpson: The riders had a good build up to the weekend and were looking forward to getting the 2025 British Championship underway. The riders were good in qualifying, Max was second in his group and Gyan first in his group, so the speed was there. They looked like they were enjoying the track and were riding well. This gave us second and third gate pick for the first moto. Gyan rode really well, solid, and calculated in the first moto. Didn’t make any major mistakes. Had the pace probably to win the moto had he got round tommy and maybe he was able to make an attack on Bobby Bruce but was happy with third place in the first moto, but in the second moto Gyan had a bit of a disaster. He had a crash on the first lap, then another crash and wasn’t really riding that well so we need to eliminate these mistakes in Gyans racing and get him to be more consistent in the EMX and British championship. You have to be in it to win it and the points make the prizes, so he definitely needs to be more calculated and not make these mistakes going forward because the speed and fitness is definitely there. On the other side of the awning Max had a disaster in the first race and came together with another rider and has dislocated his shoulder. The shoulder was relocated in hospital and he flew back home to Germany last night to have an MRI and some scans and checks this morning, so we are awaiting to see if there is any damage to the shoulder and what the recovery time will be. After we have that information, we should be able to make a plan going forward to get Max back on the bike as soon as possible. We will have to play it by ear until we have the information needed. It’s not been a very easy start to either championship this year, but the biggest challenges are given to the toughest soldiers so we must march on , make some changes and regroup and use this weekend off to be better, more consistent and come into the next round of the European championship in Arco De Trentino in 2 weeks time swinging. Massive thanks to the crew as always for their hard work and our sponsors for sticking by us, we will be better soon!”
Next Event: 13th April | EMX250 RD3 | Arco De Trentino
📸 JHMX
