13th in Loket for Watson at MXGP of Czech Republic!
After the two weekends in Indonesia, the MRT Racing Team Beta Factory made its comeback to Europe and took part at the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, the 12th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship 2023, held at the historic Loket track.
Ben Watson (Beta RX450), unfortunately coming off an unlucky start, finished the first qualifying session in 18th place. A similar scenario at the start of the first heat, although this time the British rider managed to make his way up to 14th position. In Race 2 Watson started off close to the top ten but after holding on to eleventh position for a long time, he lost a few positions at the end of the race and he finished 16th. In the Overall Classification Ben Watson finished 13th, same position that he also has in the Championship.
Alessandro Lupino (Beta RX450), who had been forced to skip the second Indonesian race after an injury suffered during the first one, also raced at Loket. The rider finished 16th in timed practice; however, he didn’t have much luck in qualifying and he was forced to drop out despite being close to the top ten, he was therefore one of the last at the starting gate for Race 1. Alessandro finished 20th in the first heat and 18th in the second. These placings allowed him to close the GP in 15th position.
Ben Watson: “The Loket track is one of my favourites and I was confident of a good result. The weekend did not start in the best way and in qualifying I finished 18th after a not so good start. In the first heat I still started behind but I managed to find the right rhythm and recovered up to 14th position. In the second race I got off to a better start and struggled for a long time with Forato. At the end I lost a few positions and finished 16th. I can’t wait to get on track at Lommel where I have always achieved good results in the past.”
Alessandro Lupino:
“I suffered quite a lot during the weekend and Saturday’s bad luck in qualifying forced me to work hard in the heats. In Race 1 I didn’t have a good feeling and I started badly, finishing 20th. In the second manche it went better but the consequences of the crash in Indonesia made their way in and I wasn’t able to ride as I usually do.”
Next weekend MRT Racing Team Beta Factory will be racing in the Belgian Grand Prix, the 13th round of the season, which will be staged on the sandy track of Lommel.
