Kevin Horgmo strengthens his fifth position in the World Championship MX2

F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo had never previously raced at the Intu Xanadu facility on the outskirts of Madrid but quickly showed his liking for the heavily-rutted track. Already extremely impressive during Qualifying as he earns fourth choice of start-gate the Norwegian muscled his way quickly from a fifth-placed start to move third on the second lap of the first GP moto and made a further dramatic pass one lap later for second. He soon moved clear of all chasers and appeared secure in that position but a momentary loss of concentration on lap eight of eighteen saw him slide out in a turn, the twelve-second delay dropping him momentarily to fifth; he quickly surged back to fourth but was not quite able to regain his top-three ranking at the finish. A GP podium looked possible after another top-six start in race two but a collision on the opening lap left him last and two falls after he was on the verge of breaking back into the top-ten restricted him to thirteenth at the finish. Ninth overall on the day, he has retained his fifth-placed world ranking and has extended his advantage over the chasers.

Kevin Horgmo: “I had a good start in the first race and was riding in second for a long time; it cost me a couple of places when I lost the front end but I was riding well so I was happy was that and felt good going into moto two. I was keen to move quickly from sixth but I collided with another rider near the end of the first lap and had to restart at the back. I crashed twice more; I didn’t have the flow after that and just tried to collect as many points as possible. I’m looking forward to Ernée next weekend. I have good memories as I won the 125 class last time I raced there in 2017. “

Jed Beaton, F&H’s rider in the MXGP class, showed good speed on his return to racing after an injury lay-off but was unfortunate in both moto. The Australian finished fourteenth in the first moto after a first-lap mid-pack collision had caused him to ride through the pack; in race two he held a strong fourteenth position until an incident mid-race cost him three positions.

Kevin Horgmo narrowly misses podium on Sardinia

F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo finished fourth after two strong motos in the Sardinian round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at the Riola Sardo sand track.

The Norwegian made good use of the third-placed gate-pick he had earnt during Qualifying on Saturday to once more choose the gate adjacent to the official’s box, thus giving himself elbow-room leaving the gate and a stunning line through the sweeping first turn as he narrowly missed the holeshot in each GP moto. He joined the leaders in immediately breaking away from the pack in race one until a small mistake on lap eight saw him slither to ground exiting a turn to temporarily drop from fifth to eighth; the incident clearly didn’t discourage him and he immediately charged again for a significant pass on a major rival in the points race on the penultimate lap to finish fifth. Third leaving the first turn in race two he clipped the trackside bank a few hundred metres later to surrender two places but hit back immediately with an inside pass for fourth before the completion of the opening lap and, settling into a solid rhythm to handle the extreme heat and rugged track, maintained his pace to the close, missing third by just over a second. Fourth overall on the day he has now advanced to fifth in the series standings, just twelve points shy of third.

Kevin Horgmo: “It was a really tough GP with two hard motos on a difficult track in the heat but I made a good start around third in both motos and that was a good base. I had a small tip-over in the first moto to fall back to eighth but I could come back to fifth after some nice battles with Mikkel as we both made some good passes up the leaderboard. The bike was working perfectly from beginning to end both motos and I still felt good at the end of race one so I was confident for race two. I was fourth almost all moto and tried not to make mistakes but I couldn’t quite make the pass on Thibault for third. I would have liked to be on the podium again, and with a little more luck it could have been possible; we will keep working for it at the next race.“

Kevin Horgmo consistent in difficult in Grand Prix of Italy

F&H Kawasaki Racing Team Kevin Horgmo was unable to repeat the excellent start which had taken him to third in Qualifying the previous day and was unfortunate to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time on the opening lap of race one. The Norwegian was on the edge of the top ten leaving turn one but then came misfortune at the tight turn three when the leader fell, pulling down more riders with him and the Kawasaki rider was left with nowhere to go as the line to which he was committed was blocked. By the end of the lap he had recovered to nineteenth and he maintained progress until he was twelfth after twenty minutes. With four laps to go, within seconds of making a further move into eleventh, he tipped over in a heavily-rutted turn to surrender the position again and eventually came home twelfth. Closed down entering the first turn in race two he was through to twelfth by the end of the first lap, broke into the top-ten after ten minutes and continued to push forward up the leaderboard. An awkward moment when he showed terrific reactions to miss a fallen rider as he closed down the top six cost several seconds but he regrouped strongly to take seventh at the chequered flag to defend sixth in the series points standings.

Kevin Horgmo: “I was stuck in the third corner after a mid-pack start in the first moto when they crashed in front of me and I had nowhere to go. It wasn’t easy to pass and I crashed two times to finish twelfth. The second moto I made a mid-pack start and we were almost riding a train with no-one able to pass. I almost crashed a couple of times but everybody else was on the edge too; a couple of the guys in front of me did crash and I ended up seventh. The starts were so important here. I don’t know why they didn’t work here today but I’m not worried; I had perfect starts in Latvia and I’m confident we can bring the starts back at Riola Sardo next weekend. I have raced the Italian championship there and we were there for pre-season training so I know the track well and it’s a good one for me. “

Overall Grand Prix MX2 Maggiora:
1 Jago Geerts 47 Pnt
2 Tom Vialle 41 Pnt
3 Stephen Rubini 37 Pnt
4 Simon Laengenfelder 35 Put
5 Kay de Wolf 30 Pnt
9 Kevin Horgmo 23 Pnt

World Championship Standings MX2:
1 Jago Geerts 291 Pnt
2 Tom Vialle 285 Pnt
3 Simon Laengenfelder 216 Pnt
4 Kay de Wolf 211 Pnt
5 Mikkel Haarup 211 Pnt
6 Kevin Horgmo 199 Pnt