Preston Docks was host to round four of the Motul British Championship with Max Werner returning to racing. Sadly Oriol still was not well enough and withdrew from the weekend.
In timed qualifying Gyan qualified 4th fastest with Max not far behind in 7th. The times were quite fast in the sandy prepped track but as it developed over the course of the day this would see the times slow slightly but the action kept coming.
In race one Gyan shot out of the start and grabbed the holeshot, he lead for the first two laps before being passed by current MX2 world champion Kay de Wolf. Despite loosing the lead Gyan didn’t want to loose the tow and tried to stick with him, whilst also having to defend his second place from Charlie Heyman. Meanwhile Max had a top 10 start and improved to 6th in the opening laps. Unfortunately the race was red flagged due to a fallen rider needing medical assistance, the decision was made to re start the race with a staggered start to see out the final 10 minutes of the moto. Following the restart Gyan ended up finishing the first race in 3rd with Max racing back to fitness and coming 9th.
Race two neither Gyan or Max got the best of starts, seeing both of them start outside the top 10. Both riders advanced up the field and spent most of the race near each other, at times having to battle with one another. Gyan ended the race in 6th place for 4th overall, with Max in 8th for 9th overall.
Gyan: “Not an easy day in the end at Preston docks, I started the day 4th in timed practice which wasn’t ideal but I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike. I turned it around first moto taking the holeshot and battled with Kay, for some laps I followed him quite well which I am happy about. My pace was good. Unfortunately they red flagged the race so we had to re start and I made a mistake on the double which made third place pass me but overall I was still happy with my pace. Second moto I had a good jump out of the gate but lost some ground down the straight, I had to come from 15th and couldn’t find my rhythm in the first laps which was a problem but in the end I came back well to 6th, put in some good laps in the end but we will come back swinging for my MX2 debut at Lommel.”
Max: “My weekend started off quite alright, new track for me which I had to learn on the day. I had a solid timed practice I would say, I didn’t put a perfect lap together but it was alright. First race I struggled a lot with the set up of the bike and myself. Second race I didn’t get a great start so it was a difficult start to the race but I made the best out of it and had a solid 8th having come through the field from around 15th. Was a solid day but we keep going and work hard to get back to the normal me and we will be good for the next round of the British at Landrake but for now we focus on the MXGP of Loket this weekend where I will ride in the MX2 class.”
Team Manager Shaun Simpson: “Tough weekend at the British Championship for the team. As Oriol couldn’t make the race this weekend as he is still battling illness we were focused on Max and Gyan.
Gyan rode well in moto one showing good pace, I liked what I saw but in moto 2 with an average start the pace and race craft wasn’t there and once again we missed out on an overall podium which should be the minimum from Gyan at British Championship level.
Max had a decent day, he’s still working on his pace and racing himself back to fitness but didn’t take any unnecessary risk and put some solid laps together over the day. We will continue to work with Max to have him 100% ready for his EMX return in Sweden in 4 weeks time.”
Next Event: 27th July | MXGP | Loket, Czech Republic
📸 JHMX photography
