Mathis Valin took the Kawasaki KX250-SR to a fourth-placed moto finish on their FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship debut at Cordoba in Argentina.
The French teenager had already justified the faith of the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 in choosing him to race the all-new KX250-SR on their entry into the MX2 world series with an impressive fifth in Saturday’s dry Qualifying race and he confirmed his skills in all track conditions when he posted laps more than two seconds faster than anybody else in a wet Sunday morning Warm-up.
Track conditions were still heavy for the first GP moto of the season but the debutant was in scintillating form as he rounded turn one third and soon swept into second to chase down the leader. He had already shown his rival his front wheel before he got into a tank-slapper on a rugged straightaway further round the lap and was thrown to the ground. Rejoining the race tenth he was again charging hard, even though he had damaged the front brake, until a collision with a backmarker saw him crash again and he unfortunately had to retire with a damaged radiator. Undaunted by this setback the teenager bounced back defiantly in race two.
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An untidy start saw him emerge thirteenth from turn one but he had already advanced into the top-ten by the end of the opening lap and continued to push. By half-distance he had advanced to sixth and continued to push hard right to the end of the first long thirty-minute-plus-two-lap moto of his young career – he was the fastest rider on track through the grueling last two laps – to defy the defending world champion on his way to claiming fourth place at the chequered flag. Despite his first moto misfortunes he heads back to Europe eleventh in the series standings, just five points off the top-six.
Mathis Valin: “I have always had a good feeling on muddy tracks so I enjoyed the conditions during the warm-up with the fastest lap time. In the first moto I got a great start in second position but at the end of the lap I had a big crash near the pit-lane. I damaged the bike and no more front brake; later I had another crash and the bike was damaged so I had to DNF. My second start was average but I made several passes to come through to fourth and during the last laps I could control Kay de Wolf who was behind me. I’m happy with my riding; it was not a perfect weekend but I learnt a lot in my first-ever MX2 GP.”
Words and Images by Kawasaki EU
