Wilvo Standing Construct Yamaha Official MX2 Team rider Aleksandr Tonkov finished seventh overall on Sunday at Matterley Basin, holding the same pace and speed as race leaders despite a poor start on the hard clay soil at Matterley Basin. Teammate Alvin Östlund struggled with lingering injury but held on to take valuable championship points as rain moved in over southern England.

Kemea Yamaha Official MX Team rider Benoit Paturel crashed in the first moto on Sunday and withdrew from competition with injury. The Belgian rider strained his neck and back muscles but race medical personnel found no broken bones after performing x-ray and ultrasound scans. His teammate Karlis Sabulis, a replacement for the injured Brent Van doninck, finished 11th overall, surprising all in his MX2 career debut.

Tonkov was faster on Sunday that Saturday’s top MX2 qualifier Max Anstie of Great Britain, and stayed in front of the British rider and his countryman Conrad Mewse over the heavy roost of white chalk that churned up during the race weekend. In the first race he finished seventh overall, taking advantage of the wide lines of the Matterley Basin hillside to pass from his 11th place start. Tonkov slipped back from an excellent start in second in the second moto to finish sixth overall.

Sabulis, from Latvia, only came to his new team as a replacement rider in the last two weeks, working with race mechanics in Belgium to find a proper fit on the YZ250F and to tune the engine for the fast MX2 starts. In 2016 the 19-year old has raced the EMX250 European Championship on a similar Yamaha YZ250, where after six races he was in 11th position in the points standings.

On Sunday at Matterley Basin Sabulis finished 12th in both motos, a remarkable achievement, working up from 21st in the first race. In the second moto he passed American rider Thomas Covington and Italian rider Simone Zecchina after a poor start, and held on despite the rainfall to take points in his first GP with an Official Team.

In the 2016 MX2 FIM World Championship standings Tonkov overtook Paturel and now sits fourth, ahead by five points. Östlund remains in 12th overall, pulling closer to the top 10 with seven more races in the season.

资料提供 [ Yamaha Racing ]