A historic event for British motocross saw the Dirt Store ACU British championship join forces with the Fastest 40 at the renowned Hawkstone Park in Shrewsbury at the weekend.
Gabriel SS24 KTM racer Cas Valk was just two points off the championship lead in MX2. It was set to be a great day of racing, with it all to play for.
He qualified 3rd, just 0.8 off of the pole. Lining up for race one, he secured a good start and battled with Searle and Rizzi. Setting the fastest lap of the race, he was eager to make the pass, but the race was cut short with a red flag and no restart, resulting in a third-place finish.
In race two, he again got a good start within the top 3 but made a mistake in the woods, dropping back to 5th on lap 1. He made the pass for 4th, but another mistake later on in the race meant Cas had to work hard to get back to the front. Consistent laps saw him work his way up to finish in third place.
3-3 on the day gave Cas third overall along with the red plate, now with an 8 point advantage over rival Chambers.
Cas: “It wasn’t an easy weekend, I felt great on the track and was able to push but couldn’t make it happen and struggled a lot to pass riders but still came away with a podium, not the easiest few weeks for me personally but I will keep going!”
For Josh in MX1, he qualified 10th after some issues with the bike set-up and 2 mistakes. This, however, didn’t prevent him from getting a good start in race one and finished the race in 4th. Race two he had another good jump out of the gate but with another rider hitting him in turn one and narrowly missing going down, he found himself back in 15th place and having to work his way through the field. He managed to get back up to 4th. With the result order of the second race Josh was joint on points for 3rd, finishing 4th overall.
Josh: “Another weekend of racing under my belt and there were positives to take away. Just missed out on a place on the podium after finishing joint on points which would have been nice but i have to remember we are still building and as frustrating as it is it will come again. Sweden up next!”
Team Manager Shaun Simpson: “Overall a positive day for the championship with Cas taking the red plate in MX2 and Josh moving back up in to 4th in MX1 with two rounds remaining. I feel both riders had more to give but a few things just didn’t go our way on the day. We will take the positives and this momentum on to next week in Sweden.”
Words by Gabriel SS24 KTM – Images by JHMX Photography
