Australia’s Jett Lawrence and New Zealand’s Dylan Walsh locked handlebars in Germany at the weekend in dramatic style.
Lawrence raced to victory and took the championship lead of the German ADAC MX Youngster Cup at Gaildorf at the weekend, but not without a lot of pressure being applied by the Kiwi from Christchurch.
The sixth round of the series took place in front of a crowd numbering 18,000, with the battling in race two between Lawrence and Walsh perhaps the highlight of the weekend.
The 15-year-old Lawrence, riding for Team Suzuki Germany, proved his talent on Saturday with the second fastest lap-time in Youngster Cup qualifying, while Walsh took his Team DIGA-Process Husqvarna to qualify third fastest.
Fellow Kiwi Josiah Natzke (KMP Honda) qualified fifth fastest in his group.
In Sunday’s first race, Lawrence showed his impressive skills; after a good start, Lawrence took the lead in the second lap and taught all his competitors a lesson, performing his laps perfectly that saw him win the race by more-than 24 seconds.
Said Lawrence: “It was like a practice session. I had a good start so I was able to grab the lead. Then I just concentrated on myself. I could just ride my pace which made me win safely.”
The second race’s start didn’t go that well though. It took Lawrence a few laps until he reached second position.
For the rest of the race he was in a tight fight, with Walsh eventually taking the win.
The two riders amazed the spectators more than once: Lawrence was able to grab the lead a couple times but always had to give-up on the attacks of the older and physically-superior opponent.
New Zealand’s Dylan Walsh, working hard for a race win in Germany at the weekend. Photo courtesy Danny Relouw.
“My speed was good and I had a nice and hard fight with Dylan,” Lawrence explained.
“We even touched in the air and it was hard to prevent a crash. Dylan was very determined to defend his lead. It was a hard but a fair fight. I won the daily results and now I’m leading the championship with a 13-points gap. So it was a fantastic day for us!”
Lawrence’s 1-2 score-card gave him the top podium spot, with Walsh’s 6-1 for the weekend earning him the No.2 position. Natzke finished 9-15 for 12th overall.
After six of seven rounds in the series, Lawrence leads from German KTM rider Roland Edelbacher, with Walsh fifth overall in the standings, despite having raced at just five of the six rounds, and Natzke is ranked 15th (although he has only raced at four of the six rounds thus far).
The seventh and final round of this year’s ADAC MX Masters series takes place in Holzgerlingen on September 22-23.
Photos courtesy Steve Bauerschmidt & Danny Relouw
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