F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo moved closer to clinching fourth in his first full-season of FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship racing with two spirited rides at St-Jean D’Angely in France.
The Norwegian gave himself space at the gate with an outside pick in race one and looked good heading into the first turn but he was dramatically stood up by the riders inside and flew through the fence on the outside of the track. Rejoining the race absolutely last he relentlessly pushed to make a strong pass into the top ten with ten minutes remaining, only to fall immediately as the rider he had just passed clipped his footrest. Undaunted he responded with his personal fastest laps to secure a top-ten ranking for good four laps from the end but with no chance remaining to advance even further as the gap to ninth was now too great. A switch of gate-choice for race two did not bring dividends as he was outside the top-ten at the start but he had battled to seventh within just six minutes and kept charging, making a dramatic pass for fifth two laps from the end and almost catching fourth. His speed deserved more than seventh overall on the day but more importantly he has consolidated his fourth place in the series standings and is twenty-two point clear of fifth headed to the final round in Turkey on 3rd/4th September.
Kevin Horgmo: “It was just me that was off yesterday but we made some changes to the settings this morning and I turned it around today. I was just unfortunate in race one when I collided with another rider at turn one and went straight into the fence. A start crash can always happen and was out of my control. I had good rhythm after a few laps and was strong at the end so I was confident for race two but my start was not so good and I had to work my way through the field again. I was riding some solid laps and even got close to van de Moosdijk for fourth until I made a small crash on the last lap. “
F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jed Beaton was also buried in the pack at the start each time but was able to convert seventeenth on the opening lap of race one into fifteenth at the finish. The Australian raced just outside the top-ten throughout race two to claim thirteenth at the chequered flag for fourteenth overall on the day. He is now eighteenth in the series standings.
Jed Beaton: “I’m slowly making progress back towards my pre-injury form but it’s taking time. On Saturday we made some good steps but Qualifying still didn’t go as well as I had hoped and I had to make the most of it from my gate-pick today. I tried to compensate through the first two turns in both races but after that it was difficult. It seems like there was not much passing here once everyone settled; the only changes of position were either really aggressive or mistakes. Hopefully we can end the season on a high; we’ll get some rest this week after three-in-a-row and then go for it in Turkey. “
