The Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee squad returned to full strength at the fifteenth stop of the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship, an event that marked the end of the Belgian triple header. Conrad Mewse was feeling much stronger and ready to tackle the gruelling conditions, made worse by heavy rain, so joined Bas Vaessen and Adam Sterry on track on Sunday.
Mewse returned to the track with a vengeance – he recorded some of the quickest times in qualifying and eventually logged the third-fastest time of the session. That strong result left him in a great position at the start of the first moto; he settled in sixth early on, followed those guys in the top five and ran an impressive pace. Still not quite at his very best after that illness earlier in the week, he eventually crossed the finish in ninth and scored some solid points to aid him in his fight for eighth in the championship standings.
The second moto followed a similar pattern to the first, just slightly further down the order. Mewse ran as high as ninth at one point, before eventually settling for thirteenth at the finish. The eight points gained in the moto left him in eleventh overall on the day, just a single point from a spot inside of the top ten. Mewse has now established a comfortable gap over the rider in ninth in the championship standings – he is twenty-eight points ahead of his rival.
Bas Vaessen was again impressive, with some serious pace aboard the KTM 250 SX-F, but untimely mistakes cost him dearly. Vaessen clearly had the pace to record another top-ten result in moto one, but a fall early on meant that he could only salvage an eleventh at the chequered flag. Vaessen had a stronger showing in moto two, even though the result does not show it, as he charged from outside of the top twenty to twelfth at the chequered flag! That put him twelfth overall on the day, just behind his teammate.
The premier-class rider on the Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee squad, Adam Sterry, was held back by yet another crash on lap one of the first encounter. Sterry was hit by another rider and forced to retire with a bent machine but returned to secure nineteenth and two points in moto two. That left him down in twenty-second overall at the Grand Prix of Lommel. Sterry is twenty-eighth in the points with just three rounds left to run.
Those last three rounds on the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship calendar are going to be held at the picturesque venue of Pietramurata in Italy. That triple header will begin with the Grand Prix of Trentino on November 01.
Bas Vaessen: “I have got the speed to be in the top five. I should be in the top five! I have got the fitness too. The speed is good, the confidence is good and so is the bike. I just need to try to minimise the mistakes, then try to get inside of the top five in Italy.”
Adam Sterry: “Another tough day trying to build momentum, which is hard during the races. I again got caught up in first-lap drama and had to come from the back. The second moto was better, but still not where I want to be. I am going to try to finish these last three rounds strong and I cannot wait to get started in the off-season and begin testing.”
