The second round of the Spanish Motocross Championship served as the first MX race for Jorge Prado after he spent part of January racing AMA Supercross in the United States. The current MXGP World Champion was capable of topping the podium in his hometown after two rough motos battling against Ruben Fernandez. The MX2 class was a different story with Marc-Antoine Rossi sailing a day-dreaming debut on his GasGas Factory Racing as he won both motos in big fashion.
The Spanish championship is normally hosted over two days, Saturday and Sunday, but with the weather conditions the promoters decided to hold the race on Saturday.
MX1:
Jorge Prado and Ruben Fernandez exchanged moto victories throughout the day. In the first, Fernandez got the better of Prado at the start, and from there the HRC rider led all the laps, although he had to deal with pressure from Prado. The breakaways played an important role in the chase for Prado, as Fernandez was able to open up a gap on his way to victory. Ander Valentín (Yamaha Ausio) finished third ahead of José Butrón and Carlos Campano.
The second moto was similar with Fernandez grabbing the holeshot over Prado. But this time both fought hard back and forth right at the beginning. Prado had a crash and was on fire trying to catch Fernandez who tip-over laps later. This left the door open for Prado to retake the lead. From thre on, Prado led the race en route to the overall for the first time in Lugo. Fernandez finished 2nd and Ander Valentin was once again on a strong third over Butron and Campano.
This is the first podium of the season for Ander Valentin, who now sits 2nd in the championship standings, 7 points behind Jose Butron who claim the Red Plate despite being 4th overall.
MX2:
Marc-Antoine Rossi swept both motos on his first race as a GasGas Factory Racing rider. The young Frenchman pulled two holeshots and never looked back. On the other hand, Samuel Nilsson rode smoothly but fast as he went 2-2 in order to take the Red Plate over current champion Gerard Congost who finished 4th overall via 2-6. On the other hand, Honda HRC´s Ferruccio Zanchi crashed on both starts and had to charge from behind the Top 20. The efforts pay off as he ended on the box via 4-4.
RESULTS
Top 10 MX1 Overall
- Jorge Prado (GasGas) 2-1
- Ruben Fernandez (Honda) 1-2
- Ander Valentin (Yamaha) 3-3
- Jose Butrón (KTM) 4-4
- Carlos Campano (Yamaha) 5-5
- Fabio Dos Santos (Yamaha) 6-7
- Sergio Castro (Kawasaki) 7-8
- Roger Oliver (KTM) 11-6
- Alejandro Navarro (KTM) 8-9
- Nil Arcarons (Yamaha) 12-11
Top 5 Championship Standings post Round 2 (of 7)
- Jose Butron 82pts
- Ander Valentin 75
- Carlos Campano 68
- Sergio Castro 50
- Josh Gilbert 50
Top 10 MX2 Overall
- Marc-Antoine Rossi (GasGas) 1-1
- Samuel Nilsson (KTM) 2-2
- Ferruccio Zanchi (Honda) 4-4
- Gerard Congost (GasGas) 2-6
- Adria Monne (KTM) 11-3
- Elias Escandell (KTM) 5-7
- Bobby Bruce (Kawasaki) 10-5
- Gilen Albisua (KTM) 7-10
- David Beltran (KTM) 10-9
- Manuel Lopez (GasGas) 12-13
Top 5 MX2 Championship Standings post Round (of 7)
- Samuel Nilsson 79
- Gerard Congost 73
- Elias Escandell 58
- Adria Monne 55
- Lucas Coenen 54
