Soil samples and fogged goggles – plus a couple of GP-winning wildcards – conspired to keep Dylan Walsh off the podium at round two of the 2021 REVO ACU British Motocross Championship fuelled by Gulf Race Fuels.
However, the super-fast Kiwi – team leader at REVO Seven Kawasaki – kept pushing all day on an increasingly brutal Cadders Hill circuit on the outskirts of Lyng in Norfolk and although seventh overall was disappointing, he still holds second in the MX1 title chase and is just seven points off the lead.
With James Dunn sidelined following his crash at the opening round at the start of the month, Dylan carried the weight of the team on his shoulders but he stepped up to the plate and in the opening moto even put a pass on four-time world champion Jeffrey Herlings – who was riding as a wildcard – for second before a crash saw him come home eighth.
Dylan holeshot race two and was running second behind wildcard Ben Watson in the early stages but with his vision impaired he slipped back to fifth.
The team’s next event is round one of the MX Nationals at FatCat Motoparc this coming Sunday.
Mark Yates (Team Principal)
“It’s just been one of those days but you can’t expect to have a good day every day. In the first race Dylan was riding well and looked fast but he had some issues with his goggles steaming up which meant his vision was badly impaired. He was running third behind Jeffrey Herlings and Ben Watson but crashed.
“He pulled a great holeshot in race two and ran third for a bit before he had a tangle with Adam Sterry that allowed Tommy Searle and Shaun Simpson to make passes so it cost him dearly.
“We’re not really where I expected us to be today. We came into Lyng with a good chance of fighting for the championship leader’s red plate but Dylan just wasn’t feeling it and wasn’t flowing, made a few mistakes and ended up finishing seventh overall and lost seven points on Tommy.
“But it’s not bad. At the end of the day we’re second in the championship and only a few points behind – we’ll just have to wait until the next round at Canada Heights to get our hands on the red plate!”
Dylan Walsh
“The sweat on the inside of my goggles kept dropping onto the lens so I struggled to see in both races which was very frustrating.
“I spent too much time on the ground. It was just one of those days where I struggled and everyone has those days but I’m not going to dwell on it too much because there are a lot more races to come and I’m still definitely in the hunt.
“My speed wasn’t as good this weekend but generally I’m happy with how fast I’m riding – my speed is definitely there. My starts are always dialled and every race I’m getting the bike more and more to my liking.”
Pics by Nuno Laranjeira