Tough day at the office for Honda HRC in Lommel

Lommel lived up to its moniker as ‘the toughest track on the planet’ for the Honda HRC duo of Ruben Fernandez (MXGP) and Valerio Lata (MX2) as they struggled to navigate the sandy terrain, finishing 23^rd and 15^th respectively.

On a day that continued the season-long theme of rainy MXGP weekends, intermittent showers peppered the deep sand circuit, located just outside the town of Lommel, Belgium. This made things even more treacherous for the riders in both classes as the sand got even heavier, causing even more problems for the best motocross riders on the planet.

Fernandez’s day started off well in free practice as the Spainiard posted the fifth fastest time, however he couldn’t build upon that in timed practice and instead had to start in the middle of this MXGP field, with all the chaos that ensues. He actually rounded the first turn high up the field, but as he attempted to negotiate turn two, he hit the deck and watched as the rest of the field went past him. He charged up through the field and was on track to get near the top 10 by the end of the qualification race, but a crash in the middle of the moto ended those chances. Instead he crossed the line down in 23^rd, knowing he has a lot of work to do, in order to challenge the top riders in the GP-scoring races tomorrow.

While Lata avoided any major incidents in his qualification race, he still struggled to match the pace of the top 10 in any of the sessions and instead had to be content with taking the chequered flag in 15^th place.  He knows there is work to do for tomorrow and for the future because this result isn’t satisfactory for him or the team, but right now his aim is to give 100% and keep a consistent pace without risking too much on a track that very easily catches out riders.

Thankfully the forecast is better for tomorrow, but the circuit is likely to get even rougher as more racing takes place throughout the day. This will make harder for the HRC duo, but they are well aware of the task in front of them and will doing everything in their power to improve upon today’s results.

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MX2 Qualification Race
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 26:09.242; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:04.841; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:06.557; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:13.239; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:21.063; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:37.385; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:54.906; 8. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:29.270; 9. David Braceras (ESP, Honda), +1:30.559; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:31.645; … 15. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +2:05.156;