One rider that was very impressive at Hawkstone International was young Brit, Ben Mustoe. It was only his first race back after an injury last year – not exactly easy conditions to make a return to racing but he was still able to impress finishing fourth overall in the MX2 class.
We caught up with Mustoe to discuss his weekend, plans for the 2025 season and more…
GateDrop: Ben, you kicked off your Motocross season at Hawkstone Park and you were in fine form. 4-8 in the MX2 class for fourth overall. Can you talk me through your moto’s?
Mustoe: After qualifying, I was left with 14th gate pick which I wasn’t too concerned about. Hawkstone has a start straight which means that good starts can come from almost anywhere. I was able to get two good starts from near the outside. I had second place starts in both moto’s behind Valin. In the first moto I ran in second for two or three laps and tried to break away as much as I could. In the first race I was running a comfortable third place before I had a crash where my foot pegs got dragged in the ruts. After that I just ran a steady race to bring back a fourth. In the second moto I couldn’t break away in the same way as the first race and got passed by a few riders. I struggled to get the same flow as I did in the first race and finished that race in eighth.
GateDrop: You must have been happy with your pace and especially in the second moto, battling David Braceras for a while – an MX2 GP rider…
Mustoe: Yeah, really pleased with my lap times especially in moto one where I posted the second fastest lap time. My fastest lap time in the second moto was also one of the fastest but dropped off towards the end of the moto. Its good to know that I have the pace in the first laps to compete with GP riders but wish I was able to continue the pace further into the race.
GateDrop: How did you find the track? There were lots of ruts! A tough one for the first race of the year…
Mustoe: Hawkstone is always super tough, this year was no different. The track was very demanding and in particular the jump faces seemed soft. The dozers went out on track in-between moto’s and tried to flatten the jump faces but the ruts came back almost straight away within a few laps. It was hard to tell how deep the ruts were and each lap they got worse. In the first moto I was able to do the double into the bomb hole when the take off was smooth. Each lap the ruts got worse and I had a crash where my foot pegs caught on the sides of the rut.
GateDrop: Mathis Valin was in fine form, what was your thoughts on his pace?
Mustoe: As you say, Mathis was in fine form. I tried to stay with him for the first couple of laps to break away but his pace was much faster than everyone’s. It was good to have the EMX250 champion from last year to see the pace that is needed to race the EMX250.
GateDrop: You decided against racing the super final, what was the reason for that?
Mustoe: It is still very early in the year, and we decided that we had got what we needed from the day.
GateDrop: How has your winter prep gone? Did you just stay in the UK or did you go somewhere else in Europe to do some prep?
Mustoe: I haven’t really had much winter prep as I have only been back on the bike for five weeks following wrist surgery on a fractured wrist bone that had gone undetected for over eighteen months. I did get out to Magilligan MX Park in Ireland with my trainer Stephen Sword for a week’s riding where Phil McCullough has a superb facility and is well worth a visit.
GateDrop: What are your plans between now and the first British Championship at the end of March at Hawkstone again?
Mustoe: I am planning to continue what I have done with Stephen and getting as much seat time as I can. This is not as easy as I would like as I am still full time at school, I am in my final year of A Levels. It’s challenging to balance my school work and getting out in the week to ride.
GateDrop: You have the ASA United GasGas team behind you, you must be happy to have the backing from them behind you?
Mustoe: Yes this is my third season with Lee Tolan and the team. I honestly could not have hoped for a better set up. It is a really fun and supportive environment where the guys put no pressure on me whatsoever. Lee Tolan has been great to me giving me advice and he is a good person to have in my corner with all of the experience he has had running the team.
GateDrop: What are your goals for the British Championship in 2025?
Mustoe: My main goal is to ride to my full potential and complete all the rounds. If I am able to do that, the rest will take care of itself.
GateDrop: Do you have any plans to race the EMX250 series or even selected rounds of the series?
Mustoe: I would love to be able to ride the whole series. At the moment there are no plans, but hopefully that will change. The EMX races are really competitive, and I think they could make me a better rider when spending time in that environment.
GateDrop: I think you’ve raced some EMX events outside of the UK before, do you enjoy racing in Europe? The level is also very high!
Mustoe: I have only raced EMX in the UK. I did the EMX125 in 2022 and ended up getting an eleventh overall. In 2023 I raced the EMX250 class and was able to get a twenty-second and fourteenth. This was in my first year of racing the 250cc and feel that I could improve on those results.
