Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Mikkel Haarup and Camden McLellan have successfully raced the opening round of the Spanish Motocross Championship with the experienced Haarup earning two second-place results and McLellan bringing his TF 250-X home with fourth and third-place finishes. The event held at the former GP circuit of Talavera de la Reina marked the first ever competitive motocross outing of the all-new Triumph TF 250-X.
Mikkel kicked off the weekend strongly by leading from gate-to-flag in Saturday’s qualifying race. Carrying that momentum into Sunday’s opening MX2 moto, the talented young Dane took an all-important holeshot, which set up a battle for the lead with eventual race winner Lucas Coenen. For much of the opening third of the race Mikkel fought hard with his Belgian rival before holding the runner-up position and settling into a positive rhythm during the second half of the race. Mindful of the fact that he was racing on a well-watered and in places, shadowy track, Mikkel completed the race in second. Unable to get the start he needed, Camden battled his way forward throughout the moto to claim a well-deserved fourth.
Looking to round out their participation in the Spanish season opener with positive results, the second and final MX2 moto saw Mikkel narrowly miss out on the holeshot with Camden buried in the pack as he exited the opening corner. Completing two very different races, Mikkel posted a solid, consistent performance to claim his second runner-up result of the day, while Camden was forced to work his way from outside the top 20 on lap one to an eventual third position at the chequered flag.
The Monster Energy Triumph Racing team will return to competition in Sommières, France in two weeks’ time.
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Mikkel Haarup: “Our first weekend racing in 2024, doing what we love to do, and it’s been so much fun. The whole Monster Energy Triumph Racing crew have been amazing and to come away with two holeshots and two second-place results feels great – I couldn’t have asked for much more. There’s still work to do, we know where we can improve, but it’s great to be racing. We’ve got the wheels turning on this awesome project now and I’m really looking forwards to the next pre-season race and continuing to build towards the first GP.”
Camden McLellan: “It’s been awesome to be racing this weekend. It’s been such a long, long off season, to finally be back behind the gate felt so good. It was a bit of a bittersweet day for me today, I didn’t get off the gate in any of my motos and also struggled with a little arm pump on Saturday, so that made things tough. I’m taking a lot of positives in the way I improved my riding today, so I’ll be working on my starts during the coming weeks so I can I hopefully get myself up front and be battling with Mikkel and the others. But it’s been a great weekend for the team and awesome for Mikkel and myself to be on the podium.”
Vincent Bereni – Monster Energy Triumph Racing Team Manager: “Overall, I would say that it’s been a positive weekend for us and the new TF 250-X. Obviously, today was a big, big day for everyone involved with Monster Energy Triumph Racing; so much work has been put in over many, many months, and to be back racing is very special. I think we can say this was a big first step for the team and the new bike. We can take a lot of positives, but also competing at this pre-season event helps us evaluate where we are at overall. Mikkel had three great starts, which was good to see, and battled hard during all the races. Camden struggled a little off the starts, so we have some work to do there, but again we saw some very good determination from him. This weekend was all about racing, learning, and improving, I’m happy that’s what we did, we now go away to work again and look forward to racing again in two weeks’ time in France.”
Ian Kimber – Head of Off-Road Programmes, Triumph Motorcycles: The pre-season race in the Spanish championship showed a solid start for the MX2 team in their preparations for the upcoming Motocross World Championship calendar, ahead of the first race in Argentina. It has allowed the team a good shakedown and the opportunity to focus on where improvements can be made. It’s positive to take a 2-4 and a 2-3, plus a number of holeshots through the races. Mikkel and Camden are showing how comfortable they are on the bike and how quickly they have adapted to it, allowing them to get up to race pace and contend for podium places immediately. It’s been a really promising start in Spain and sets a good baseline for the team preparations ahead of the season.”
Words: Press Release
Images: Ray Archer