It was the first big weekend of International racing in Europe with major events in Italy and Spain. The biggest was in Riola Sardo, Sardinia, where Tim Gajser won both MX1 races to take the overall from Maxime Renaux, Romain Febvre, Glenn Coldenhoff, Jago Geerts, Ruben Fernandez and Ben Watson.
“The first race was a real battle with Romain, especially as I got arm pump, but I was able to hold on for the win. Race two was a lot easier after I passed Glenn for the lead, and I was able to run some nice consistent laps and pull away for the win. It is always nice to get the overall and it was awesome to see Ferruccio take the win as well. A good start but of course I know there is the MXGP championship ahead of us, so the aim is to prepare for that,” said Gajser.
HRC’s newest MX2 rider Feruccio Zanchi took the overall in his class from Simon Langenfelder and Oriol Oliver. KTM’s Andrea Adamo was second in the opening moot but crashed out at the tart of race two.
In Spain, Triumph Racing’s Mikkel Haarup and Camden McLellan successfully raced the opening round of the Spanish Motocross Championship with the experienced Haarup earning two second-place results and McLellan bringing his TF 250-X home with fourth and third-place finishes. The event held at the former GP circuit of Talavera de la Reina marked the first ever competitive motocross outing of the all-new Triumph TF 250-X. Husky’s Lucas Coenen won both MX2 motos.
Mikkel Haarup said: “Our first weekend racing in 2024, doing what we love to do, and it’s been so much fun. The whole Monster Energy Triumph Racing crew have been amazing and to come away with two holeshots and two second-place results feels great – I couldn’t have asked for much more. There’s still work to do, we know where we can improve, but it’s great to be racing. We’ve got the wheels turning on this awesome project now and I’m really looking forwards to the next pre-season race and continuing to build towards the first GP.”
In the 450 class, Josh Gilbert took the overall with 1-2 finishes on his first outing for the S24 Gabriel KTM team. Mattia Guadagnini won race two to take second overall from Jose Butron.