The first in the final trio of the 2020 FIM World Motocross Championship races set off today in the far-northern Italian province of Trentino.
The MXGP class saw championship leader Team HRC’s Tim Gajser take a comfortable start-to-finish win in race one further cementing his points tally in the premier class. Tim’s teammate Mitch Evans will miss the final 2020 races due to a wrist unjustly sustained at the recent Spanish GP, but Honda’s presence in the MXGP class was aided by Team SR Honda Motoblouz rider Jeremy Van Horebeek who brought his production CRF450R home in 13th in race one.
Race two saw Gajser start lap one in seventh position, which gave to likeable Slovenian quite a battle to progress up the field. ‘Tiga’ managed to climb his way up to a hard-earned fourth place at the finish giving him second overall – only one point away from the overall win.
Van Horebeek improved on his race one result with and 11th place finish in the second moto, giving the tough Belgian 12th overall with 18 championship points.
It was also a tough day at the races for Honda’s MX2 campaigners – mostly battling in the mid-pack, which makes for hard racing with limited results.
Honda 114 Motorsport’s new signing Morgan Lesiardo brought home the first CRF250R in race one – finishing in 11th place, 2.5 seconds ahead go his new teammate Bailey Malkiewicz in 12th.
In race two it was Team Honda Assomotor Frenchman Stephen Rubini who brought the first CRF250R over the line in 15th place, followed by Lesiardo in 17th and Team Honda Assomotor’s Alvin Östlund in 19th.
A challenging day overall for Honda’s MX2 campaigners, but all are hopeful to improve their results next Wednesday when the gate drops again in the beautiful Trentino mountains.