Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team’s Jack Chambers and Bobby Bruce each displayed great spirit in difficult circumstances during the ninth round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Kegums in Latvia.
Chambers’ optimism after a strong ride in Qualifying on Saturday was dealt a blow in race one as he got closed down out of the gate to emerge outside the top twenty from turn one. After quickly moving forward he was unceremoniously bustled into a trackside ditch by an errant rival and had to do it all again to claim seventeenth on the final lap. A better getaway in race two saw him move into the top-ten by lap three before a fall dropped him downfield. He regrouped once more to pull back into the points in sixteenth at the chequered flag to remain fifteenth in the world series standings.
Jack Chambers: “It was a super tough weekend as one mistake in each race cost me. I got pushed into the trackside banners in the first race; it took me about thirty seconds to get unstuck and I came from last back to seventeenth. I had a good flow in the beginning of race two and stayed with the front pack for a while, but I just tucked the front wheel up the face of a wall jump. It was a stupid mistake on my part but I came back to sixteenth to finish it off. I need to turn some things around and have a couple of positive weekends.”
Teammate Bobby Bruce had two brave rides after dislocating a shoulder during Saturday morning practice. With the disadvantage of the extreme outside gate after sitting out Saturday Qualifying the English youngster had no chance of his usual good start but showed excellent pace to advance from twenty-fourth on the opening lap of race one to seventeenth before teammate Chambers pushed him back one position on the final lap. A clever first turn in race two saw him emerge fourteenth and within ten minutes he had pushed foward into the top-ten, holding that for seven laps before the effort of holding on around the brutal track started to take its toll; after landing on his injured left shoulder he was forced to withdraw ten minutes from the finish.
Bobby Bruce: “It was a really tough day; yesterday we didn’t even know if I would be able to race! My shoulder was already sore this morning so the plan was just to survive and put some points on the board; I got eighteenth in race one and the second moto was going really good. I raced top-ten for seven laps and was still P13 when my hand came off the bars and I had another big crash. It was so painful all day but I’m proud of my efforts and speed in such difficult circumstances; hopefully we’ll be healthy next weekend and be able to show what we are capable of.”
Words and Images by Kawasaki EU
