Updates from Europe

April 25, 2019

by Gjermund Frostad

This weekend there were MX National Championships held in Sweden, UK, Denmark and Portugal.

Swedish National Saxtorp

Photos by MX Carro

Filip Bengtsson from the Bloms MX Husqvarna team was in a class of his own at the first Swedish Nationals round in Saxtorp. He totally dominated the heats and was 3 seconds a lap faster than GP riders Brylyakow, Gole and Strijbos. Anton Wallstén from Team MC Sport had a good results with a 4th place overall.

MX Nationals at Hawkstone Park, UK

Photos by Elliot Spencer

<From Rob Hooper Racing Press Release> — Poor starts for both riders in Moto 1 meant they were both playing catch up from the outset.  Houghton moved up to 8th from outside the top 15, but with two laps to go having moved into seventh in MX1 a machinery issue ended his run through the field and resulted in a 15th place finish.

Hammal’s own battle through the pack would see him work his way from outside the top 30 to 7th in MX2 but lacking his early season pace, which would have seen him rise higher up the order.

An improved start in Race 2 saw Houghton towards the business end of the race, and after an early race dip where he lost places, he steadily made back the positions to finish sixth in the race and 8th overall. Taylors second Moto had a similar makeup to race one. This time his start was worse, with him being well outside the top 30 when the riders came past timing on the opening lap. Again he gained places every lap to work his way up to 8th for 7th overall.

Team Boss Rob Hooper said of the MX Nationals round “It was mixed. It was not the best of days, but it wasn’t the worst.  It was a reasonable day for both riders but nothing outstanding.  Taylor didn’t have his race bike, so he felt on the back foot to start with, while Ryan is still getting over his rib injury so when you consider that it wasn’t a bad day, but we will be looking for more in the forthcoming weeks.

MX Nationals Denmark

Portuguese MX National

Photos by Kevin Raposo