Watson and Geerts on a tough first race of the year in Italy
The Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha MX2 Team’s had a tough day at the office. Ben Watson (4+9) suffered from arm pump in the international opening race in Riola Sardo, while Jago Geerts (14+DNF) had bad luck in both races. Watson started pretty well (fifth) in the MX2-race, but couldn’t follow the pace of the leaders. The Briton was suffering from arm pump and decided not to take unnecessary risks. At the end of the race Watson was able to move up one more place, finishing in fourth. Geerts had a terrible start, but managed to come back into 8th position. Unfortunately, he crashed on the last lap and couldn’t start his bike again.
Same story for Geerts in the Superfinal, with the best MXGP-riders. The Belgian couldn’t avoid a crash in front of him and had to start from dead last again. Like in the first race he came back strong (12th place), but was hit by another rider and had to quit the race. Meanwhile, Watson was suffering arm pump again. Nevertheless, he was able to finish in ninth place.
“When you only look at the results it wasn’t a good day for us”, says team manager Marnicq Bervoets. “But I also saw positive things today. Jago was riding pretty good, but had bad luck in both races. Ben, who was struggling with arm pump, wasn’t on his best level, but rode a smart race. We had some problems today. Also with the bike. It’s up to us to solve them as soon as possible.”
| #193 Jago Geerts | |
| “The riding itself was good, all the rest wasn’t. I had a really poor start in the first race. I was almost dead last, but could come back into seventh position. I tried to gain one more place in the final lap but crashed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t start my bike again. The second race, with the 450’s, was a bit similar tot the first one. After a mediocre start, somebody fell just in front of me. I couldn’t avoid him and had to start in last position. I fought back into 12th place, but somebody hit me, I crashed and couldn’t continue. A bummer. The results were not as I hoped, but the riding itself was pretty good.” |
| #919 Ben Watson | |
| “To be honest: this was a poor day. I was suffering a lot from arm pump. Kind of weird, because I never had that problem before. Because of that it was really difficult to race the way I wanted to do. I was riding under my pace by a lot. I decided not to take any risks. Now it’s up to me and the team to find an solve the problems. We will continue testing new thing. For sure we are going to change a few things, like the position of the handlebars. We still have a few weeks time to find the perfect set-up. The most important thing is to be ready for the first GP in Argentina.” |
RESULTSMX2-race
1. Jorge Prado (Esp/KTM)
2. Mikkel Haarup (Den/Hus) +25.329
3. Mattia Guadagnini (Ita/Hus) +29.015
4. Ben Watson (GBr/Yam) +32.957
5. Michele Cervellin (Ita/Yam) +33.848
14. Jago Geerts (Bel/Yam) +1 rondeSuperfinal (MXGP+MX2)
1. Antonio Cairoli (Ita/KTM)
2. Tim Gajser (Slo/HoN) +18.716
3. Jorge Prado (Esp/KTM) +27.058
4. Gautier Paulin (Fra/Yam) +38.435
5. Romain Febvre (Fra/Yam) +38.804
9. Ben Watson (GBr/Yam) +1:55.274
Jago Geerts (Bel/Yam) DNFNext race:February 3, Ottobiano (Ita)
