Ben Watson | Photo credits: Yamaha Racing
The ninth round of the MX2 World Championship saw Ben Watson’s impressive results onboard his Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 YZ250FM around the sandy Mantova circuit in Italy. The 23-year-old Brit uncorked his first bottle of podium champagne on the third step of the box after finishing sixth and second in the two championship races. SM Action M.C. Migliori’s Maxime Renaux narrowly missed the box by 1-point and was classified fourth overall. At the same time, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Jago Geerts was ninth after a day spoiled by crashes.
Good starts bolstered Watson’s first podium finish in 2020. In the opening race, the Brit powered his YZ250FM to a top-three start with Renaux in tow. Geerts had a rider fall in front of him at turn-two but managed to stay upright, just, and completed the first lap in ninth.On lap-9, Watson was edged back to seventh by Geerts, who was starting to pick up the pace, but after trying to pass Boisrame for three laps, the ‘193’ desperately ran it up the inside the Frenchman but fell while executing the pass. An emphatic Holeshot in the final race allowed Watson to prove his potential finally. The ‘919’ challenged a maiden race victory but couldn’t quite get the job done and had to settle for the second position.
The FIM Motocross World Championship will return to Mantova on Wednesday, 30th of September, for round 10.
“It feels really really good to be back on the podium. It’s been a long time coming and it is now my third. It’s just finding those missing pieces that prevent me from being here more often. In training, I have been feeling really good, and during the races, it has been a bit of a struggle. Even today, I was down this morning and not feeling good at all, but I just managed to take two good starts and that played a big part in today. I was especially happy to have a solid second moto to get back on the podium.”
“I had a bad start in the first heat. Then I made some passes and got up to fight for the fifth place but had a small crash. I restarted in 11th and finished there. In the second heat, I got to third and felt really good but crashed and was back to eighth but I came forward back to fourth again but crashed again. I was closing in on the first three but crashed again and finished seventh or eight or something. It was not a great day, but it’s behind us now. We have two more rounds here in Mantova so I will be ready for Wednesday. “