Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing MX2 tackled the seventh race of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship this past weekend. The Grand Prix of Latvia, run at the established venue of Kegums, played host to the round. Following a positive run, both Jed Beaton and Kay de Wolf entered with momentum on their side. The race was run in mixed conditions, with rain falling in the second moto.
Beaton looked at one with his FC 250 as soon as he took to the shallow sand, which resulted in him claiming pole position in the qualifying session. A brilliant way to start the day and the third pole of the year for the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing MX2 squad. Beaton turned that into a good start in the opening moto and chased the leader early on, before a mistake halted his momentum. Fourth was the position that he occupied when the chequered flag flew, despite making a late charge at the guy in third. 0.884 separated him from that position at the conclusion of the moto.
Misfortune thwarted his efforts in moto two. Beaton was caught up in a crash with another guy on lap one of the first moto but charged from the back to twelfth quite quickly. Another fall gave him even more work to do, unfortunately, and he was forced to charge from the back yet again. Thirteenth was his final ranking, which left him in eighth in the overall classification. Sixth is where he is sat the championship standings now, but 17 measly points separate him from a position in the top four.
Kay de Wolf learnt a lot in just his seventh outing as an MX2 star. De Wolf hit the gate in the first MX2 stint and had to battle from the very back of the pack – he was resilient whilst doing so and charged to ninth by the end. A much better start in race two meant that he fought towards the front and was able to show his true speed. Eighth was the position that he secured, along with the fastest lap of the race. That put him in ninth in the overall classification – he is eighth in the championship standings.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing MX2 will take advantage of a small break in the schedule now – the next round of the Grand Prix series will be run in Turkey on September 05. The relatively new venue of Afyon will host the first double header of the season.
Jed Beaton: “Today was a bit of a difficult one. I got off to a decent start in the first moto. I was trying to push for the lead on the first lap and nearly went down in the rollers, which rattled me a bit and then I could not really get back in the flow. I could not really find a good pace until halfway and then started doing good laps again. My start was not that good in the second moto; I made a few passes early though. [Isak] Gifting went down, and his bike landed right in front of me, so I went over the bars. I got up, charged hard and then went down once more whilst pushing. I felt like my speed was good – I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a pretty disappointing day and I lost a lot of points.”
Kay de Wolf: “I hit the gate in the first moto but got back to ninth. That was okay. I had a much better start in the second moto and stayed in sixth the whole time but got passed by two riders on the last lap and finished in P8.”
