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Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin Battles Through Shanghai Heat to Secure Top 10 in Championship Standings
Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin showed determination at the penultimate round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship in Shanghai, China, bouncing back from a race-one crash to claim ninth in moto two and strengthen his hold on tenth place in the series standings.
Overnight monsoon rains left the track sticky and the air sweltering, with temperatures soaring into the mid-thirties. A strong start in race one saw the French teenager exit turn one in second, but his momentum was cut short when a rival’s aggressive move sent him off-track and under the boards in turn three. After losing more than a minute, Valin remounted and rode a lonely but impressive recovery, consistently posting top-six lap times to finish just shy of eleventh at the flag.
Race two brought another challenge when he was boxed in off the start and shuffled back to fifteenth. Fighting back, Valin reached the top ten by lap three and pushed into ninth at half-distance. Despite his pace, the gap ahead was too large to close, and he settled for a hard-earned ninth in the moto and eleventh overall on the day. With one round remaining, he now sits firmly in tenth in the championship standings, just thirteen points from ninth.
Mathis Valin:
"It was a really tough day—the weather was crazy and something I’ve never experienced before. I had a great start in the first moto but got taken down in the third corner and lost so much time. After that, my riding and speed were good, but I was alone the whole race. In the second moto my start wasn’t good and the last few laps were hard after pushing so much early on. Still, we’ll give everything again at the final GP."