Mathis Valin was back on his Kawasaki KX250-SR today after being forced to sit out the second moto in Spain following a crash during the first race; he is confirmed to contest the Grand Prix d’Europe, the third round of the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship and his first on home soil, at Saint Jean d’Angely this weekend.
The teenager, who lives just one-and-a-half hours from Saint Jean d’Angely, knows the track, where he won the European EMX250 championship round last year, perfectly. He will be cheered on enthusiastically by his fans this weekend as he lines up for the third GP of his career one week after his crash in Spain. “Last week in the first moto Mathis was riding an excellent race in the first moto; he was in fourth position for more than twenty minutes and was riding calm in the difficult conditions but unfortunately he had a small crash and twisted his wrist. Initial medical examinations at the track looked promising; on Monday he had further controls and luckily there is no fracture. He has undergone physio treatment and rest during the week, and when he went practising today – Thursday – the wrist felt quite good. Of course he will not be 100% but it will be good enough to ride and race. This is positive news and we are of course really happy that he has the chance to race his home GP, his first-ever Grand Prix in France,” confirmed KRT team manager Antti Pyrhönen.
In common with all of the teams involved in the championship, the Kawasaki Racing Team had a busy week after a muddy MXGP of Castilla la Mancha as they had to prepare the bikes and clean the team facilities before moving to France. “I can’t be grateful enough for what my staff did last week in Spain where the conditions were of course very demanding – technically, physically and mentally – for everybody; from Thursday to Monday we were working under extreme conditions so here in France we look forward to continuing where we left off in Argentina with a really good paddock and an amazing track,” Antti concluded.
