Josh Gilbert shines with overall victory at Spanish Championship opener!
Gabriel SS24 KTM and MXGP new boy Josh Gilbert started his season in style with an overall win at the Spanish Championship’s opening round at former GP venue Talavera de la Raina, just 125 km south-west of Madrid.
Words: Ben Rumbold / Josh Gilbert, Images: RFME Campeonato de Espana
With a field including new factory Nestaan Husqvarna MXGP pilot Mattia Guadagnini – twice a GP winner in MX2 – Josh took the holeshot in both races and set the fastest lap by nearly two seconds in the first moto, although Butron closed a little in the closing laps of the GP-length 30-minute plus two lap moto.
Josh Gilbert grabs a holeshot at the Spanish Championship as Jose Butron (#17) and Mattia Guadagnini (#10) jostle for position.
In race two, Guadagnini caught and passed the Cornishman after nine laps but Butron, who scored top tens in the AMA Nationals last year, was unable to get close enough to challenge.
On his social media, Josh gave a short but happy post about his day:
“Start as we mean to go on! 💥
First race of the year with the team and so many positives to take away! Couple holeshots, mega atmosphere and topped it off with a P1…
Thanks team for all the hard work 👊🏻”
The team themselves added the following statement:
“The first pre season race for the team was the first round of the Spanish championship at Talavera. The boys showed some good speed throughout the weekend and we came away with a podium!🏆
Making his debut on the KTM 250-SFX Cas put in the second fastest time in timed practice and this is where he would line up for the qualifying race – in which he finished 7th. Going into the motos he had two top 5 starts and was making good headway up the pack before a small mistake in moto one and arm pump in moto two cost him a better finish. He came away with a 7-6 scorecard.
In timed practice in the MX1 class Josh set the 5th fastest time and after a good start qualified 3rd ahead of the races. On Sunday he grabbed the holeshot in both races and lead from start to finish in moto one. In moto two he lead for the first 20 minutes just ahead of Guadagnini before catching some back markers wrong and the gap closed right up. He lost the lead but a 1-2 finish secured him 1st overall for the weekend! 🥇”
In the MX2 class, Guadagnini’s factory Husky teammate Lucas Coenen romped to a pair of moto wins ahead of the Monster Energy Triumph team pairing of Mikkel Haarup and Camden McLellan. Josh’s teammate Cas Valk, who will race in the Dirt Store British Championships as well as the EMX250 series this year, went 7-6 for 6th overall in the baking hard-pack.
Josh enjoys his first podium of the year, mercifully in the shade at Talavera de la Raina
Results – MX1 Elite:
| Pos | No. | Competitor | Total Points | Race 1 | Race 2 |
| 1 | 326 | Josh GILBERT | 47 | 25 | 22 |
| 2 | 10 | Mattia GUADAGNINI | 43 | 18 | 25 |
| 3 | 17 | Jose Antonio BUTRON OLIVA | 42 | 22 | 20 |
| 4 | 115 | Carlos CAMPANO JIMENEZ | 36 | 20 | 16 |
| 5 | 92 | Ander VALENTIN LASHERAS | 33 | 15 | 18 |
| 6 | 831 | Brice MAYLIN | 28 | 14 | 14 |
| 7 | 373 | Edgar CANET ARDEVOL | 26 | 11 | 15 |
| 8 | 51 | Sergio CASTRO ORTEGA | 23 | 12 | 11 |
| 9 | 124 | Simeo UBACH SALA | 23 | 13 | 10 |
| 10 | 501 | Roger OLIVER VILAR | 21 | 8 | 13 |
| 11 | 14 | Francisco HARO GUTIERREZ | 18 | 10 | 8 |
| 12 | 101 | Xurxo PROL ORMEÑO | 16 | 16 | – |
| 13 | 11 | Alejandro NAVARRO HUERTAS | 14 | 7 | 7 |
| 14 | 19 | Nil ARCARONS GALI | 12 | – | 12 |
| 15 | 7 | Nil BUSSOT FERRER | 12 | 6 | 6 |
| 16 | 38 | Fabio Aparecido DOS SANTOS | 9 | – | 9 |
| 17 | 18 | Gabriel BOHRER ANDRIGO | 9 | 9 | – |
| 18 | 95 | Mario MORENO MARTIN | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 19 | 111 | Lucas BODEGA GOMEZ | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| 20 | 219 | David JIMENEZ VILLALBA | 5 | – | 5 |
| 21 | 80 | Sergio SANCHEZ CANO | 5 | 5 | – |
| 22 | 44 | Victor BARTOLOME LOPEZ | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 23 | 5 | Carlos ABEL PEINADO | 1 | – | 1 |
| 24 | 313 | Alex ROMERO CARO | 1 | 1 | – |
Results MX2 Elite:
| Pos | No. | Competitor | Total Points | Race 1 | Race 2 |
| 1 | 96 | Lucas COENEN | 50 | 25 | 25 |
| 2 | 17 | Mikkel HAARUP | 44 | 22 | 22 |
| 3 | 8 | Camden MCLELLAN | 38 | 18 | 20 |
| 4 | 1 | Gerard CONGOST AGUILERA | 38 | 20 | 18 |
| 5 | 368 | Samuel Mattias NILSSON BUSTOS | 32 | 16 | 16 |
| 6 | 172 | Cas VALK | 29 | 14 | 15 |
| 7 | 6 | Elias ESCANDELL GIL | 26 | 15 | 11 |
| 8 | 365 | Adria MONNE VILES | 25 | 11 | 14 |
| 9 | 232 | Unai AGUILO AZORIN | 22 | 9 | 13 |
| 10 | 29 | Francisco GARCIA OCAÑA | 22 | 10 | 12 |
| 11 | 259 | Denis CANTO SERRANO | 18 | 8 | 10 |
| 12 | 227 | Pablo GUTIERREZ SOLIS | 16 | 7 | 9 |
| 13 | 305 | Antonio GALLEGO RAMOS | 16 | 12 | 4 |
| 14 | 315 | David BELTRAN YAGUE | 16 | 13 | 3 |
| 15 | 831 | Ethan Mackenzie LANE | 13 | 6 | 7 |
| 16 | 11 | Gilen ALBISUA FUENTES | 12 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 | 214 | Alejandro MIGUEL HERNANSANZ | 6 | – | 6 |
| 18 | 425 | Samuel PANZANO FERRER | 5 | – | 5 |
| 19 | 5 | Daniel RODRIGUEZ GIL | 5 | 5 | – |
| 20 | 382 | Manuel LOPEZ CARRERAS | 3 | 3 | – |
| 21 | 109 | Guilherme BRESOLIN | 2 | – | 2 |
| 22 | 110 | Richard PAAT | 2 | 2 | – |
| 23 | 666 | Alejo PERAL LOPEZ | 1 | – | 1 |
| 24 | 969 | Mauro OSINALDE MAYRATA | 1 | 1 | – |
