Dylan Walsh (JM Honda Racing) continues his MXGP learning curve. The British Kiwi scored a solid 14th in the second moto of the GP of Lombardia, round nine of the FIM Motocross World Championship. His team mate Artem Guryev placed 27th in Mantova 1.
The first leg of the Mantova triple header presented riders with very different meteorogical conditions than those in Faenza two weeks ago. In much cooler weather and under rain-threatening skies the JM Honda Racing riders battled on the compact Italian track famous for its shallow sand surface.
In what was his fifth participation in the premier class Walsh managed to pull off his best time practice session yet. Less than 3 seconds behind polesitter Tim Gajser the #53 JM Honda Racing rider qualified 19th. As far as the gap to the front concerns Guryev also rode his best qualification of the season.
After a solid start Dylan started to move forward and circulated 13th when his progress was halted due to a mistake on lap three. Unfortunately his clutch had been bent in a tussle and the damage forced hime to retire eventually. Walsh fared better in the second race although a stronger finish might have been possible still. The British MX2 champion started in eighth and challenged Desalle for seventh in the opening lap when he hit the Belgian’s rear wheel and went down. Relegated to a place just inside the top-20 he remounted to 14th.
Artem struggled to find his best riding in the first moto and had to settle for 24th. A corner crash in the final moto and some mistakes undid his hard work of coming back. Eventually the combative Russian came home 25th.
Dylan Walsh: “Not a bad day overall but there’s of course still a lot of room for improvement! My first goal is now to put together two consistent motos. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t continue in the first moto because I was going quite well.. In the second moto I was in a really good position at the beginning of the race but I went down when I tried to pass for seventh. I bounced back all right to finish 14th.”
Artem Guryev: “Mixed feelings really. In the first race I just couldn’t find a good flow or a consistent speed. The second moto my riding was better and I had a better feeling on the bike too. I suffered several crashes in race two but the track was very slippery and sketchy in some places. Luckily I’m healthy so let’s get some rest now and prepare for next race on Wednesday.”
