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MX2, MXGP OF SPAIN - intu Xanadú - Arroyomolinos, SPAIN, 7 Maggio 2023

Seventh for Kevin Horgmo in Spain

F&H Kawasaki Racing Team's Kevin Horgmo claimed seventh place in the Spanish round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Arroyomolinos on the outskirts of Madrid.

The Norwegian made life difficult for himself with early errors in each moto. In the first race he shot out of the gate top-five alongside F&H teammate David Braceras but already during the hectic opening lap was pushed down to fifteenth as he fell attempting a pass and faced a long chase through the pack to reach his eventual eighth place four laps from the end. Another good gate in race two was negated on the opening lap as he lost momentum after tagging another rider's rear wheel; from fourteenth on the first lap he again charged hard to reach seventh three laps from the finish with a series of impressive lap times. Seventh overall on the day retained eighth in the series points standings a third of the way through the championship.
 
Kevin Horgmo: "The bike was working perfect today and I got two really good starts but I fell trying to make a pass in race one and had to come back from behind; it was pretty difficult to make quick passes but I came to eighth at the finish. In the second moto I got another good start but touched someone's rear wheel in the corner and dropped many positions. I felt strong at the end as I came back to seventh; now I just need to continue building. The bike is good and the riding is getting better and better; I want to thank the entire team for their great efforts and we can look forward confidently to France."
 
David Braceras gave the vociferous Spanish crowd plenty to cheer as he raced top-six for two laps before two rude attacks by opponents, the first of which pushed him off the track and the second to the ground, relegated him to sixteenth. Urged on by the fans he regrouped to finish fourteenth. After a midfield start in race two the rookie persevered to push forward from eighteenth on the opening lap to again take the chequered flag fourteenth. He thus retains his fourteenth-placed ranking in the world championship standings.
 
David Braceras: "I started really good in the first moto and raced some laps in P6 but then I crashed with another rider and that pushed me down to sixteenth before I came back to fourteenth. I started really bad in the second race but came to fourteenth again; perhaps I could have taken even more but I used a lot of energy to pass one rider. I'm not happy with the results but I got some experience and the Spanish people are the best; they supported me so much. I could hear them all the way round the track when I was top six in the first moto."
 
Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Jack Chambers faced a difficult GP as opening lap incidents in each moto left him chasing all day. In the first moto he advanced from twenty-fourth to seventeenth and in race two from twenty-fifth to sixteenth.
 
After his early exit from the first moto of the FIM European EMX250 Championship round on Saturday afternoon BUD Racing Kawasaki's Quentin Marc Prugnières needed several laps of race two to discover the lines around the rutted track and, after a superb start which saw him third on the opening lap, an off-track excursion on lap three saw him pushed back temporarily to seventh. As the French youngster became more acquainted with the track he settled into a succession of solid lap-times which carried him back to fifth at the finish. Despite his first moto zero he will head to the next round of the championship in June eighth in the series standings with seven rounds remaining.
 
Quentin Marc Prugnières: « Yesterday I had to retire early in the race, but  my start was better today and already in the first few corners I gained several positions. The first part of the race was not so good; I rode too tense on the muddy track and it took me time to find the best lines. I was happy with the second part of my race; I could improve my lap times and physically I felt much better than last week in Portugal. During the last few laps I was able to keep the championship leaders behind me and they were pushing really hard! I can’t say that I’m happy with a fifth but the way I achieved it gives me confidence for the GP of France in two weeks as I will race the MX2 GP class there."
 
Australian teenager Liam Owens went to the gate optimistic of making further headway after opening his points-scoring account on Saturday but the fifteen-year-old got caught up in an incident halfway round the opening lap of race two on the heavily-watered sticky track. Undeterred he persevered to the finish to push from last to twenty-second, two positions short of the points, at the finish.
 
Liam Owens: "I'm very happy with my progress this weekend and I've learnt a lot. Timed practice went well; I had good speed, up there with the top guys. There are still some things I need to work on like my race-craft and starts but there were also a lot of positives. Yesterday the track was more like home; we don't get much of the conditions like it was this morning but it's good to learn. We fly back to Australia tomorrow, but I hope I can come back sooner than later. I love racing here in Europe; it's awesome."