Fourth consecutive podium for Kawasaki’s rising star.

MXGP: Mathis Valin secures his fourth consecutive podium in MX2

In the first race, the young Frenchman took the lead on the long straight leading to the first corner, but was pushed off line into the corner by a rider starting from the inside lane, who cut the corner late, forcing the Kawasaki rider to lose momentum and drop to eighth. He immediately set about turning the situation around, making decisive overtakes almost every lap, until he reached fourth place before the halfway point, but with a gap of eight seconds to third. Closing the gap by less than a second per lap, he was ready to launch the decisive attack with four laps to go, overtaking the reigning champion on the inside for third place and moving into second a lap later, thus pulling away from his pursuers with the fastest laps on the track in the closing stages. His fourth-place start in the second race provided an excellent platform for another podium finish, as the order remained largely unchanged for much of the race in a high-speed pack; a tense lap midway through the race proved costly for Valin, who lost two places in a few corners, but it did not cost him the overall podium, his fourth in a row. The forty-four points earned over the championship weekend have brought him to within just six points of fifth place in the standings.