Aleksandr Tonkov of Wilvo Standing Construct Yamaha finished on the podium in round four of the world championship MX2 in Patagonia, Argentina. Tonkov had an illness in the last three weeks and due to this he wasn’t completely fit. Despite this he still managed to finished third overall and scored some good points for the championship. Alvin Östlund finished in a strong eleventh position in the opening moto but unfortunately he crashed in the first lap of the second moto and was forced to retire from the race.
The team started the weekend positively on Saturday. Tonkov was third fastest in time practice and Östlund set the eleventh fastest time. With these results both riders were showing that their speed was ok going into the qualifying heat. Tonkov took the holeshot in the heat and was leading the field through turn one. He was riding a consistent race and came home in fourth position. Östlund finished the race in tenth position.
Both riders had a lot of self-confidence before the start of the first moto. Tonkov took a great start again and came out of the first corner in the leading group of riders. He worked himself up into third position and was riding in this position till the closing stages of the race.
He was keeping second place rider Max Anstie under pressure but wasn’t able to make a pass stick and crossed the finish line in third place. Östlund didn’t took a good start and came out of the first lap in thirteenth position. The differences between the riders were small and this made it difficult for the riders to overtake. He worked his way up into twelfth position and in the closing stages of the race he passed another rider to finish the race in eleventh spot.
The second moto started with a setback for Östlund. He crashed in the opening lap and was forced to retire from the race with a damaged machine. Tonkov took the holeshot and was riding really strong straight from the beginning. He changed places with Max Anstie, Pauls Jonass and Jeremy Seewer in the first few laps. He found his rhythm in the second part of the race and started to put the pressure on second place rider Jeremy Seewer. He wasn’t able to make a pass stick and had to be satisfied with third position!
Tonkov finished in third position overall and has moved up to third position in the world championship standings. Östlund had to be satisfied with eighteenth position overall and sits in tenth position after four rounds in the championship. Next weekend round five of the series will be held in Leon, Mexico.
Words: Press Release | Image: Yamaha Racing
