The weekend’s MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina saw young Australian show some of the form that initially earned him the coveted factory Honda ride.
Meanwhile, his team-mate, Slovenian multi-time former world champion and series leader Tim Gajser, made it three overall wins out of three, extending his lead at the top of the 2022 MXGP World Championship to 17 points.
The qualifying race early in the weekend didn’t go quite to plan, but seventh gate pick still gave Gajser a good chance of starting well, and although he wasn’t able to do it in race one, he definitely utilised the power of the Honda CRF450R in race two as he swept across the holeshot line in first place.
By the time they crossed the line for the first time in race one, Gajser had worked his way up to fourth and was setting his sights even higher.
Posting the fastest lap of the race, he quickly worked his way into third, and then second and with a few laps remaining, he gradually closed right up to the back wheel of the leader.
Despite trying his hardest, he wasn’t quite able to find a place to pass on this technical Villa La Angostura track, and had to settle for second place.
The holeshot in race two gave him a much better platform to control the race, as he laid down more fastest laps to pull out a good margin to the second-placed rider.
In yet another display of controlled speed, victory never looked in doubt and he crossed the line over seven seconds ahead of the runner-up. This was his third two-one results pairing of the season, which was once again good enough to take the overall, making him undefeated so far in this 2022 campaign.
Team-mate Evans (pictured here) continued his improvement, taking eighth overall after his 10-8 moto finishes.
His speed was good in both races and showed that his ceiling is consistently rising every time he gets on the track.
Now, the target is to maintain that pace for the whole race, but this is understandable, given he missed over 15-months of MXGP action with a serious wrist injury.
Next up for Team HRC and all the other GP teams is the MXGP of Portugal, which is taking place on April 2-3 at another beautiful track in Agueda.
This should give both riders another chance to keep this momentum going, as it is a track both have performed well at in the past.
“I had a really good weekend here and it feels really good to come away with another overall victory.” said Gajser afterwards.
“This is such a nice place and track, and I am very pleased that so many fans came out to support us. I hope we continue to come back here because it an amazing event for everyone.
“In the first moto, I didn’t get the best start but came through the field and was fourth after the first lap.
“I knew it was a long race so I didn’t rush too much because it was a tricky track and it was easy to make mistakes. I eventually worked my way into second and I got close to the leader but I couldn’t quite make the pass happen, and had to settle for second place.
“Race two started off a lot better with a holeshot, my first of the season. I did run a little wide so I dropped into second but I quickly re-passed for the lead and then I set about pulling out a gap.
“By the midway stage I had a good lead and just settled down and controlled the race, winning by over seven seconds.
“It feels really good to win another overall and extend my lead in the championship, but I know it is a long season and I need to keep up this high level. A big thanks to the team for all their support on what is a really long trip down here to Argentina.”
Evans was similarly upbeat about his performance.
“I love riding this track and it feels good to make more positive progress throughout the weekend,” said Evans.
“I am really pleased with my speed and it felt good to be up there inside the top 10, battling with the top guys.
“Now, I need to work on getting my race fitness up to the level where I can do that for the whole race, but this is really encouraging for me and it gives me more motivation for the next round in Portugal which is another track I like.”
Photo courtesy Honda
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