Team HRC gearing up for the 2020 MXGP season opener

After the successful results in the Internazionale d’Italia, Team HRC’s focus has turned towards the first round of the 2020 FIM world motocross championship and fine-tuning the new Honda CRF450RW to make sure it continues its excellent beginning at the amazing Matterley Basin facility near Winchester, England.

For defending MXGP champion Tim Gajser, it is a return to a track that he won his first moto of 2019 on, which then set him up for the record-breaking title-winning year that followed. It is a place that he enjoys riding and after winning five of the six races in Italy, he comes in full of confidence that he can have another good event in 2020.

Meanwhile team-mate Mitch Evans will be making his debut in the MXGP class and while that is a big deal for a lot of riders, the young Australian is just taking it in his stride. He quickly adapted to the more powerful 450cc machine in Sardinia and then showed everyone the massive progress he’d made when he won the Super-final in Mantova in his last outing. He also managed to get good starts in most of his races, something that will be crucial in this extremely competitive MXGP class.

Despite the recent bad weather in England, the track at Matterley Basin is still looking in extremely good shape and should provide the excellent racing surface that it’s been known for throughout it’s time on the world motocross championship calendar. The first time the MXGP riders hit the track is at 10:20am on Saturday 29^th February, with the qualification race at 16:10 that afternoon. The riders then get a warm-up on Sunday morning before their two points-scoring motos at 13:15 and 16:10.

Tim Gajser ²⁴³

I have been at home in Slovenia training there. We have had good weather so I’ve been able ride normally during the week. Basically, I’ve just been training hard and making sure I’m ready for this first GP. I’m really looking forward to starting this new MXGP season again as it feels like it has been a long off-season so I’m super excited to go racing again.
I really like the Matterley Basin track, it is probably my favourite track on the calendar, so I’m sure I will enjoy this race. I have heard that the weather forecast isn’t the best and that it might be a bit muddy but I’m not too worried about it and we will just see what it’s like when we get there. It is the first race of the year and we’ve put in a lot of hard work during the winter. I am feeling good on the bike, comfortable and I am ready to start the season.

Mitch Evans ⁴³

Since the last Italian race, I’ve been staying in Milan doing my weekly programme. Doing some gym work, some running and cycling and just making sure I’m ready for round one. After getting the taste for racing at the Internazionali d’Italia, it’s been hard having these last few weeks off but I’m really excited to get to England and race the first MXGP round with Team HRC.
While I’ve heard the weather could be bad, I don’t really care what it’s like. Whatever the conditions, it’s all the same for everyone whether its wet and muddy or dry and hard pack, it doesn’t matter and I think Matterley does a good job in the tough conditions anyway. Really, I just can’t wait to get this season started.

Marcus Pereira de Freitas

HRC General Manager - MXGP

With the success of the Internazionali d’Italia behind us, the whole team has been looking forward to heading to Matterley Basin and getting the MXGP season started. We know Tim likes the track a lot and rides very well there and we are hoping that Mitch can keep his momentum going after winning his last race. Of course it won’t be easy, but we want to get off to a solid start and show everyone that the new Honda CRF450RW belongs on this world stage of motocross.