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EMX, MXGP OF TURKEY - Afyonkarahisar, Turkey, 7 Septembre 2024

Mathis Valin extends his EMX250 series lead

Bud Racing Kawasaki's Mathis Valin extended his series lead to fourteen points in the FIM European EMX250 Championship with an overwhelming victory in the first moto of the penultimate round at Afyon in Turkey.

Although a newcomer to the track more than thousand metres above sea-level in western Anatolia the French youngster already stamped his authority on proceedings during Timed Practice as he established pole position with a lap-time eight-tenths of a second faster than his closest rival in the points-chase and twice that margin to the other remaining title candidate. In the first points-scoring race of the weekend he confirmed his pace with a smart move at turn three on the opening lap to move from third to first and he immediately sprinted clear to establish a lead of more than two seconds on the opening lap. Taking full advantage of the superb handling and smooth power delivery of his KX250 the teenager rode an elegant mistake-free race to move ever further clear to build a ten-second advantage before rolling unchallenged through the last few turns for his seventh moto-victory of the campaign. The commanding defeat of his closest rival in the championship chase sees him take a fourteen-point advantage into the final three motos of the campaign.
 
Mathis Valin: "Today I had a very good speed on this track; I posted the fastest lap in the Timed Practice session, nearly one second faster than my rivals, and then the race was perfect. My start was good and I could take the lead already during the first lap. I pushed straight away to make a gap as it was really hot; I wanted to build a gap as you never know how the body could react in these conditions. When I came here I was not too confident as fast tracks and hard-pack are not my favourites conditions, but in the end I had a lot of fun today!"
 
Bud teammate Benjamin Garib continued to show his progress with fifth-fastest time during Timed Practice but the Chilean faced a frustrating race in the Saturday moto. A slight off-track excursion to avoid a fallen rider saw him complete the opening lap eighth and that was where he stayed in a leaderboard train until a small slip on lap eight of fourteen as he tried for a pass ended up costing two positions to finish tenth. Nevertheless his efforts saw him advance to eighth in the series-standings and he now has his eyes on seventh.
 
Benjamin Garib: "Both practice session went really well but I just never had a good feeling in the moto. I took a good start but a Yamaha guy crashed in front of me on the first lap; I was forced off-track and that cost me several placings. We will keep pushing like always; I look for another good start tomorrow and stay there this time."