Cas Valk has made an impressive impact in his rookie MX2 World Championship season, delivering strong results right from the opening round. Speaking to Lisa Leyland from MXGP.tv, Valk reflects on his competitive pace – even against factory riders – and a consistent run of sixth place finishes at the first three GPs. He remains grounded in his goals but admits the strong results naturally raise expectations. Valk also speaks about adapting to varying track conditions, the support of having his sister Lynn under the same awning with the Van Venrooy KTM team, and his anticipation for the physical challenge of the deep sand at Riola this weekend. It’s a promising start not only for the young Dutchman but also for the Van Venrooy squad as they return to the paddock, now focused fully on the MX2 World Championship.
On if he expected such a strong start to the season…
I mean, I didn’t expect it fully to be quite close to the factory boys and even in front of some factory boys. But I had actually a really good winter… but the first moto of the year in Argentina when I finished third was a bit of a surprise, but then also in France I did the second moto sixth on a proper good racing track. It was really, yeah, actually not so much surprised, but of the third place of course, but places like sixth and seventh – not so much surprise. We work for to be as high up as possible, so then it’s really nice to finish the first three races with sixth overalls. It’s been really good.
On if he’s now adjusted his expectations…
To be honest, I didn’t really change my goals or expectations, but once you get some good results in, I mean you want more, more and more. It’s going good, you know, I’ve been quite close already three times to the top five, then you know, you start to aim already maybe for top five results. But it didn’t really change my goals, like my goal is still to go out there, learn as much as possible, try to take good starts and just be in the mix with the guys. You can then learn a lot and to be there with the start. I just try to stick in there the whole moto, that’s basically the goal so I didn’t change my expectations so much.
On the first three GP’s with tough conditions…
Exactly. The first GP, we had some up and down weather, like Saturday really good, then Sunday morning a bit of rain and then the afternoon was completely dry again. We then had Spain, of course which was a complete mudder so that’s always different. You never know what’s going to happen there. Then we had France which was up and down, so it’s not been the easiest three GP’s and especially for the team and stuff. It is a lot of work, a lot of cleaning, but I think we got quite lucky in France and we got a proper race track for MX2 in the second race. It was dry and I think that was also my best moto so far, I was really happy with this one.
On having Sister, Lynn under the awning…
It’s really nice. It’s really nice to have her close to me. We are in the same team, my whole family is here this weekend, so we are again here as a family. So this is really, really nice. Having one team makes it a lot easier for everyone, you don’t need to walk up and down the paddock and things like that. It’s really, really nice that she could join the team, quite late though, but that she could join the team and her first round here in Sardinia. I hope for a good result for her.
On racing in Riola – a deep sand track…
Obviously, it’s always one of the toughest GP’s of the year, the sand is really deep. It’s going to be very physical and tough. I mean, you just want to have a good start and just hold your pace, I think that is the main thing here. You don’t want to drop your lap times, because then you drop positions as well, so yeah, I always enjoy this track a lot, even in the pre-season trainings. A lot of teams come here always, also me, I was here in January. We did some riding already here this year, so looking forward for this GP.
