Canada Heights made a welcome return to the British championship calendar after the last time they raced there was in 2022; with the sun shining, it was set to be another action-packed day of racing as the Gabriel SS24 KTM team travelled there with Josh Gilbert in MX1 and Cas Valk in MX2.
Words by Gabriel SS24 KTM – Images by JHMX Photography
With the red plate on the #172 machine Cas qualified first in timed practice.
Despite heading to the line in pole position, he found himself boxed in off the start in race one and had to come through. He put in constant lap times and was in some good battles throughout the race, moving up to finish 4th at the chequered flag.
In race two Cas got a much better start and by lap 4 was in second chasing down the leader Jack Chambers. As the race went on, the gap became less and less, and he put in a final charge to the flag, just coming short of the win by 0.665 of a second!
A 4-2 finish secured Cas third place on the podium. He is now second in the championship but only five points behind Chambers.
Cas: “Overall, I’m happy about the weekend even though it wasn’t the results I was coming for, but I was happy with my riding and feeling in race 2. Now to focus on the next EMX250 race in Teutschenthal next weekend!”
In MX1 Josh qualified second behind 5 x world champion Jeffery Herlings who returned for round two. Feeling excited for the days racing ahead and enjoying the track Josh, much the same as Cas was boxed in off the start in race one. He knew he would have to make some quick passes but in the opening laps had a small tip over which unfortunately escalated into a bigger crash as two riders landed on him. He remounted and managed to work his way back up to 8th.
In race two, he had a much better start and, despite feeling stiff, came home in 3rd.8-3 left Josh 4th overall on the day 3 points off third and remains third in the championship.
Josh: “Going into the weekend I was feeling good! I felt I was getting back to where I was before my injury but the day just didn’t go to plan unfortunately. Qualifying started well with P2 in qualifying behind Jeffery. Moto 1 I made one little mistake on an inside hump on the first lap and got hit hard by two other riders. From that point I was feeling really stiff and sore so only managed to get back to P8. Moto 2 was just to grab as many points as I could with feeling so beat up but still managed a P3. Not a great day but managed to come away with P4 overall. Just going to keep on chipping away and hopefully get back to where I was at pre season!”
Team Manager Shaun Simpson: “A tough day at Canada Heights for the boys. Cas started the day well in Quali with pole but struggled to pass riders quickly in both motos. His speed was good but made too much work for himself coming from behind in both motos. A lesson to be learnt on a technical but fairly one lined track.
“Josh was fired up for this weekend but luck just wasn’t on his side. He made the best of a bad job in Moto one and rode steady in Moto two considering he was a little banged up.
“We need to keep the hammer down through the next 3 weeks of EMX250 and MXGP and come back at Blaxhall next month for redemption.”
