Team Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki’s Francisco Garcia has his eyes on the European EMX250 Motocross Championship silver medal after scoring his sixth victory in the last nine motos at Afyonkarahisar in Turkey.
The Spanish teenager, nominated last week to represent his country for the first time at next month’s Motocross of Nations, found himself closed down out of the gate in the first moto of the weekend but made a clever inside switch through the sweeping first turn to emerge fourth and he was quickly on the move. Clearly the fastest man on-track he swept into the lead already on the second lap with three superb passes, including moves on each of his season-long championship rivals, quickly establishing a clearcut advantage to win by six seconds, with the fastest lap of the race, and thus record his sixth victory in the most recent nine motos. Already assured of at least third in the series, he now heads into the final moto of the championship just nineteen points shy of the silver medal.
Francisco Garcia: “That was a great moto for me … again ! I made some really good passes early on and rode timed training laps to pull a gap. Now I look forward to finishing my season on a high tomorrow with another overall victory.”
The importance of a good gate-pick from Timed Training was emphasized for Bud teammate Jake Cannon when the Australian made a lightning start from gate six but was pushed wide at turn one to emerge seventh. Settling quickly into a good rhythm the teenager had already advanced to fourth on lap three, and was pushing strongly for third, when he was unceremoniously hit from behind by an over-enthusiastic chaser. Rejoining the race eleventh he needed a couple of laps to settle before charging again to cross the finishing line seventh, in the wheeltracks of sixth. He has now moved up to eighth in the series standings.
Jake Cannon: “I took the holeshot down the straight but drifted wide in the first turn to come out seventh. I made a few good passes already on the first lap to move to fourth, but then I saw a front fender coming straight for me and that sealed my race. I’m riding well and for sure I have the speed to finish top-three but I have to put it all together for a full race without any incidents.”
