Bikesportnz

New Zealand’s Dylan Walsh continues to shine during his debut MXGP season in Europe.

The 2019 British MX2 champion and 2020 New Zealand MX2 No.4 was again on form, this time on the hillside Monte Coralli track in a hot Faenza, in Italy, at the weekend, the eighth round of this year’s Motocross World Championships.

It was the fourth MXGP appearance of Walsh’s career and he underlined his potential with an inspired opening moto.

however, because the second moto didn’t go according to plan Walsh had to settle for 19th overall.

Italian multi-time world champion Antonio Cairoli (KTM) twice finished second at the weekend and snatched the lead in this year’s COVID-19 pandemic-affected world series, benefiting from the absence through injury of his KTM team-mate, previous world championship leader Jeffery Herlings, from the Netherlands.

Despite not winning either moto, Cairoli still won the GP overall, his two runner-up results giving him 44 championship points. Slovenia’s former world champion Tim Gajser (Honda) finished fifth and first in the two MXGP races to claim 41 points and end up second overall for the weekend, while Spain’s Jorge Prado (KTM, 1-6), Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer (Yamaha, 3-4), Frenchman Romain Febvre (Kawasaki, 10-3) and Australian Mitchell Evans (Honda, 4-8) rounded out the top six.

Walsh, meanwhile, had a solid start to his day. After recording eighth fastest time in free practice, he went on to record the 20th fastest time in official timed practice, his best MXGP qualifying result so far this season.

In another great display of his starting prowess, the Honda CRF450R-mounted Kiwi crossed the holeshot line second, right behind 2019 MX2 world champion Prado.

Although he was edged to the outside to the exit of the corner, Walsh was able to run top-10 pace for almost half of the moto. Walsh fought hard for the 30-minute plus two laps duration of the race to finish 17th.

British MX2 champion in 2019 and New Zealand MX2 No.4 in 2020, Dylan Walsh (Honda CRF450) was again on form in Italy at the weekend, the eighth round of this year’s Motocross World Championships. Photo by CDS.

Moto two didn’t get underway the way Walsh had hoped, but the man from Canterbury put his head down and climbed up from way down the field to 15th.

Unfortunately a crash prematurely ended his second race (and he was credited with 28th). This was not what he nor the team had in mind, but the spectacular MXGP rookie definitely caught some attention this week and Faenza was an encouraging step on what was a very specific type of track.

Walsh is now ranked 26th overall in the MXGP series standings – despite having raced only four of the eight GPs – and he is ahead of notable riders such as Bulgaria’s Petar Petrov, American Thomas Covington, Britain’s Adam Steery and Estonia pair Tanel Leok and Harri Kullas.

The MXGP world championship is set to continue on September 27 in Mantova, Italy where Walsh’s JM Honda Racing team will attack the next triple header packed into one hectic week of racing.

“This was a step in the right direction, I feel,” said Walsh afterwards.

“I had a really good start in moto one and ran with the top-10 guys for a really long time. I made some good passes and picked up the pace of that group pretty well. With the level being so high I got a bit tired near the end and finished 17th.

“In the second moto, the rider on the left of me jumped the gate which caught me out a little. I worked my way up to 15th early on when I crashed and my bike got stuck in the fence. It took me so much time to get the bike out of there that I was already lapped once I could continue, so I DNF’d.”

Words by Tom Jacobs & BikesportNZ.com

Photos courtesy CDS

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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:

1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 35:06.974; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:01.756; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:12.467; 4. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +0:15.553; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:19.255; 6. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Husqvarna), +0:19.504; 7. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Yamaha), +0:22.152; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GASGAS), +0:25.201; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:40.468; 10. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:49.618.

Also: 17th Dylan Walsh (NZ, Honda).

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:

1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 35:15.947; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:04.959; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:10.499; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:25.451; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GASGAS), +0:34.581; 6. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +0:47.762; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:49.311; 8. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +0:49.897; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +1:04.063; 10. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Yamaha), +1:07.203.

Also: 28th (DNF) Dylan Walsh (NZ, Honda).

MXGP – GP Top 10 Classification:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 44 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 41 p.; 3. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 38 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 31 p.; 6. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 31 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GAS), 29 p.; 8. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 26 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, YAM), 25 p.; 10. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 23 p.

MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 285 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 278 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 263 p.; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 255 p.; 5. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 237 p.; 6. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 233 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GAS), 233 p.; 8. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 203 p.; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 201 p.; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 194 p.

Also: 26th Dylan Walsh (NZ, Honda) 17 points.

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:

1. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), 35:27.462; 2. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), +0:02.931; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:03.502; 4. Jed Beaton (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:04.197; 5. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), +0:18.609; 6. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Kawasaki), +0:24.212; 7. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:25.370; 8. Stephen Rubini (FRA, Honda), +0:25.968; 9. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Yamaha), +0:43.405; 10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:49.825.

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:

1. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 34:15.955; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:07.101; 3. Jed Beaton (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:11.101; 4. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Kawasaki), +0:14.561; 5. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:16.380; 6. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:17.711; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Yamaha), +0:40.395; 8. Stephen Rubini (FRA, Honda), +0:49.522; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:54.656; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KTM), +0:55.671.

MX2 – GP Top 10 Classification:

1. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 47 p.; 3. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 38 p.; 4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 35 p.; 5. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KAW), 33 p.; 6. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 30 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, YAM), 26 p.; 8. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 26 p.; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 23 p.; 10. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 21 p.

MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification:

1. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 354 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 333 p.; 3. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 259 p.; 4. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 247 p.; 5. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KAW), 210 p.; 6. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 191 p.; 7. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 188 p.; 8. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, KAW), 182 p.; 9. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), 162 p.; 10. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, YAM), 156 p.