Apico squad battles the Fatcat heat

The first round of the Michelin MX Nationals at FatCat MotoParc had a new dynamic for the team to deal with…heat! Not something we’re used to in the U.K., though the depth of experience in the team with Ex-GP and Des Nations riders meant adjustments to the usual preparations.

Qualifying on Saturday was tough in MX1, where Stuart was unable to get his quick lap in until the last lap going 14^th fastest in MX1. Jamie also managed his fastest lap in the last of the session going 12^th fastest with Matt and Jack rounding off the group in 22^nd and 23^rd place, respectively.

On the Saturday with the Pro’s being in the same races as the Experts, all the MX1 riders were together. This was the same for the MX2 class. This would change for Sunday where the fastest 40 from Saturday would go into the Pro Class combining the MX1 & MX2 riders. All other MX1 & MX2 riders would fall into the expert class.

Stuart had a couple of consistent races on Saturday in the Expert/Pro MX1 Class, making his way from 11^th to 8^th in race 1 and 7^th in race 2. Jamie started in the Pro Expert MX2 in 12^th and dropped to 16^th by lap 3. He managed to regain his rhythm and climb back to 11^th where he finished race 1. Matt got out the gate in 17^thand had some battles throughout dropping to 19^th before climbing back to 17^th as they waved the flag. Matt’s second race was better, and he finished in 16^th place. Youth rider Jack Lindsay was in the Expert class rather than MXY2. This gave him some experience of lining up with the Pro’s on Saturday and having some battles with Matt before hitting the wall and suffering from heat exhaustion. He still managed to finish the race and his class in 7^th place race 1 and 6^th in race 2.

In Sunday’s fastest 40 Pro MX1/2 race, Stuart had a steady start in race 3, picking his way through the field and avoiding the thrills and spills to make up 7 positions to cross the line 7^th and 5^th in class. In race 4, Stuart had a similar start and tough first half of the race. The turning point seemed to be when teammate Jamie Law passed him and he managed to hang on to the back of the 2 stroke rider for several laps and eventually pass him, as they both made passes and finished the race with Stuart in 10^th (7^th in class) and Jamie in 11^th (5^th in class).

Matt was having a steady Race 3 when disaster struck and his footpegs caught a rut off a jump forcing his feet off the pegs. Matt retired from the race and DNS Race 4 as he’d broke a different bone in his ankle from last season. We wish Matt a speedy recovery and hope to see him at the racing again soon.

Back in the Expert class Jack made a mid-pack start to race 3 and started to make his way into the top 10 of a combined MX1/MX2 field before making a mistake and crossing the line 14^th and 5^th in his MX2 class. In Race 4 Jack again had a midpack start though quickly started to work through the field to 12^th by the midpoint and then had a small tip-off that dropped him to 16^th at the flag and 8^th in class.

Dylan: “With the tight schedule between the 2 main British Championships this year, there’s not much time to make too many changes in-between races. We have the bikes set up well and other than suspension setting changes we were ready for the weekend. The weather certainly added a dynamic we’ve not seen in a while and made it tougher on Saturday until we were used to the change by Sunday.

Stuart performed well consistently all weekend to finish 6^th overall in MX1 and Jamie gave a solid performance over the weekend with a great last race to finish 8^th. More bad luck for Matt with a broken ankle, though we’d hope to see him again before the end of the season. Jack had a good weekend, consistent as with the others, though he’s still learning and can make up points at the next round. We’re preparing now for Canada Heights this weekend and will continue to strive for results in the British Championship”.