Honda HRC fighting hard at the MXGP of Flanders

Ruben Fernandez and Valerio Lata both had difficult weekends at the MXGP of Flanders (Belgium), held at the treacherous Lommel circuit, where the deep sand really tested man and machine.

Coming into the weekend, the Honda HRC duo knew it would be tough, but some training sessions during the week had given them a bit of belief that things were heading in the right direction and they could adapt to the sandy terrain. However, as always, Lommel had other ideas and made things extremely difficult for the pair, but there were positives that both riders did look better by the end of the weekend.

After the rain on Saturday, the weather was thankfully better the whole day and gave the riders a rare dry track to negotiate for the two GP-scoring motos. After his disappointing qualification race yesterday, Fernandez rocketed out of the gate in the first moto and looked to be inside the top 10, however he once again fell foul in the second corner and had to remount in last place. Knowing he had a lot of work to do, he charged as hard as he could and made a lot of passes to receive the chequered flag in 14th place.

It was a good comeback, but he was desperate to avoid those first lap mistakes, and in race two he was able to do exactly that. He started sixth and moved up into fifth for the first portion of the race and was running good laptimes. However, he wasn’t able to keep the momentum – a key to riding in the deep sand – and dropped down the field, ending up in 12th place. It wasn’t what he was hoping for, but he showed signs that he was mastering the sand, and there is belief that he can do even better when the series visits Arnhem in a couple of rounds’ time.

Lata will also hope for more improvement by the time Arnhem – the next sand venue – comes around. The Italian definitely looked better today, especially in race two when he was running in third for a couple of laps. However, the consistency was an issue all weekend and his 13-11 results for 10th overall give a good impression of where his pace was in the motos. Still, this is the Italian’s first full season in MX2 and he knew coming in that there were areas he would need to work on. The positive is that he did improve over the course of the weekend and is still fit, healthy and highly motivated to finish the season strongly, as we approach the final quarter of the championship.

MX2 Race 1
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 36:25.125; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:28.751; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:44.137; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:55.301; 5. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:03.792; 6. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +1:11.616; 7. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +1:19.094; 8. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:39.477; 9. Nicolai Skovbjerg (DEN, Yamaha), +1:42.278; 10. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:46.968; … 13. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), -1 lap(s);

MX2 Race 2
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 36:32.079; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:11.405; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:16.539; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:18.928; 5. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:21.088; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +1:07.199; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:14.347; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:27.314; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:33.069; 10. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +1:39.189; 11. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:48.439;

MX2 GP Overall
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 50 points; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 42 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 33 p.; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 32 p.; 7. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 25 p.; 8. Nicolai Skovbjerg (DEN, YAM), 21 p.; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 18 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 18 p.;

MX2 Championship
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 704 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 666 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 655 p.; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 559 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 513 p.; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 467 p.; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 464 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 348 p.; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 324 p.; 10. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 314 p.;