It was another tough day at the office for Conrad Mewse and the Hitachi ASA KTM UK motocross team at the Grand Prix of Germany for Round 8 of the MX2 World Championship as they left with no points.
With MXGP rider, Graeme Irwin, still out of action due to the severe burns he received following an accident during the last round of the British Championship, it was down to Conrad Mewse and his KTM 250 SX-F to lift the spirit of the team at the sun-baked and hard-pack circuit in central Germany.
Mewse came into the event with another top-10 finish behind him following Round 7 in Kegums. Arguably, MX2 is more competitive than ever but, unfortunately, Conrad wasn’t able to rediscover that same devastating early season form that saw him tantalisingly close to the podium in the opening rounds.
Qualifying didn’t fair well for the 19-year old from Shepton Mallet, placing the #426 orange machine in 22nd place – 1 min 17 seconds back from Jorge Prado on the Red Bull KTM Factory machine who crossed the chequered flag first.
Morning warm-up showed more promise with Mewse clocking the eighth fastest time on the hard-pack circuit. Unfortunately, Conrad wasn’t able to show that as he was knocked into another rider at the start of Race 1 which catapulted him over the bars on the start straight. Battered, bruised and dead last, Conrad jumped back on and set some blistering lap times after a pit stop and worked his way up to 23rd at the flag but no points to show for his efforts.
Keen to make amends in Race 2, an issue with his suspension set-up saw Conrad struggling to find the same pace as in the first outing, and he crossed the line in 22nd.
With two non-scoring rounds this season, Mewse now finds himself down in thirteenth place overall but a return to the top 10 is well within his reach as the series heads for the British round at Matterley Basin – a circuit the youngster goes well at and will no doubt be spurred on by the support of the home crowd.
Conrad Mewse #426: “Not a great weekend for me. I felt good in the practice sessions but just couldn’t put it together for the races.
“Obviously in Race 1 I got tangled up off the gate and went down hard. I had to pit on the first lap to straighten things up, which put me about 30 seconds behind last place! On a track where everyone was so close it was hard to make up time.
“In Race 2, I span off the gate and was pretty much last around the first turn and then I had some issues with my suspension set-up. But I’m keeping my head up and onto the next race!”
Hitachi ASA KTM UK MX GP Team Manager, Roger Magee: “Conrad needs a bit of luck and has some work to do to get back on the pace. He knows he has the speed and talent. But we are trying some things to make him more comfortable within himself. We know he’ll be back showing his ability soon and he has blistering speed at Matterley Basin as well.
“We’ve had some good news in that Graeme should get the all-clear to be back on the bike this week and ready to go at Matterley. So, naturally, we are looking forward to having the team back at full strength.”
