Round six of the MXGP world championship at Lugo saw Josh Gilbert in the premier MXGP class and Cas Valk wildcarding in MX2 again for the Gabriel SS24 KTM team at the weekend.
Cas put in some solid laps in timed qualification where he secured the 11th quickest time. Heading into the RAM qualifying race Cas got a good jump out of the start but by the first turn was caught up behind red plate holder Kay De Wolf as he crashed. Coming from behind he would finish in 17th place.
In race one Cas struggled to find his rhythm with the track and found himself fighting to keep his position but at the half way point he figured out his lines and started progressing forward to finish 13th.
In race two Cas had a much better feeling with the track and was able to hold his own in a good position for the duration of the race, he battled hard with the #451 of Mikula towards the end of the race but wasn’t able to make the pass and finished his day in 12th place for 11th overall.
Despite being back to full health fitness, this weekend highlighted that Josh’s bike fitness is still yet to come back to where it was before Argentina due to the missed bike time from injury. Nevertheless there were plenty of positives to take away from the weekend and a good base to build on from.
Josh had 17th timed practice and matched this in the RAM qualifying race despite his lens popping out of his goggle allowing loose dirt in.
In race one Josh made some good line choices and was charging hard throughout the race putting in consistent lap times and found himself in a solid 15th place. But with 1 and a half laps to go he had a big crash which cost him luckily only 2 positions to finish in 17th.
Race two saw a red flag on the first lap as Prado and Herlings gates didn’t drop, with Josh not getting a good start on the restart he had his work cut out. He made an early pass to get into 20th and was on the tail end of a train of riders looking to better his position. A small tip over in a corner mid way through left him in 22nd and despite his efforts to try and get back to the points exhaustion set in and he maintained 22nd to the flag.
Manager Shaun Simpson: “It was great to be at a new venue on the MXGP calendar in Lugo. The track looked fun but rough & technical which made for good racing over the weekend.
“Josh struggled a little this weekend as he races himself back to full fitness for the two day MXGP format which made Moto 2 difficult with some small mistakes in the closing stages. Saturdays qualifying sessions, the qualifying race and Moto 1 on Sunday were very positive with some good speed and racing around the top 15 is a good spot to be at the moment. We will continue to push on to get him up in to the top 12 over the next few weeks.
“It was Cas’s 2nd wildcard of the season and he battled hard all weekend showing his speed and stamina in the MX2 class. I was very happy to see him closing in on his first top 10 result in MX2, finishing 11th overall on the day. This will give him some extra confidence and fitness going in to France next weekend for round 4 of the EMX250 championship.
We will continue to keep the hammer down and continue to make progress each weekend. Big thanks to our crew for their hard work and all of our sponsors for their support.”
Words by Gabriel SS24 KTM – Images by Ray Archer
