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MX2, MXGP OF PATAGONIA - VILLA LA ANGOSTURA, ARGENTINA, 7 Juuli 2019

Henry Jacobi consolidates series fifth

Henry Jacobi of F&H Racing consolidated his fifth place in the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship standings after a tough day in the tropical heat of the Indonesian GP at Palembang.

The German faced a difficult start after crashes during Qualifying the previous day had left him with eighteenth gate pick and he was inevitably pushed wide at the first turn in the first GP moto; quickly moving from fifteenth to twelfth during the first five minutes he continued to charge to break into the top ten at half-distance. Having arrived with a cold infection he then had to be content with holding tenth to the finish as the high humidity and claustrophobic thirty-five degree heat affected all of the competitors. A better start in race two saw him thirteenth in the early stages but he moved methodically into the top ten and one final push saw him advance from tenth to eighth on the final lap to secure eighth overall. He remains fifth in the series standings but has moved significantly clear of his chasers with a sixty-one point advantage over the series sixth.
 
Henry Jacobi:” It was a very hard day for me; coming here with a little cold I didn’t feel good on the bike. Having the eighteenth gate pick didn’t help me for the starts, and I also made a couple of mistakes in both races but I fought really hard to score two top ten results.”
 
F&H team colleague Adam Sterry never felt comfortable in the heat of the first race to finish thirteenth but rode a strong second moto to gain two places in the final stages to finish ninth. Eleventh overall on the day, he remains eighth in the series standings but has moved significantly closer to the riders ahead of him and is now just twenty-two points shy of the series top six.
 
Adam Sterry: “It was very tough, I pushed my body to the limits and I struggled in the heat. I don’t really know what to say; I got a bad start in the second moto but pushed to the end to get a ninth place, which was an improvement from the first moto. The weather didn’t help this weekend, but we have one week to rest and prepare the second GP in Indonesia.”
 
Bud Racing Kawasaki's Mitchell Harrison had an unfortunate start to the day in race one when he crashed even before the first turn after tangling bars with another rider. Starting nearly a minute behind the rest of the field after straightening the controls the American set top-six lap times throughout the moto despite severe bruising to his shoulder and back but still had to be content with sixteenth place at the chequered flag. He advanced confidently from sixteenth to eighth in race two before a single error on the final lap cost him two places.
 
Mitchell Harrison: “In the first moto I crashed with Mitch Evans at the start and I was a long way last when I regrouped; the bike was damaged, my gloves were half way off but as it was possible to continue I came back in the race and when Prado lapped me I saw his lines and that helped me. I had a great jump at the gate in the second start but I wheelied; I was eighth at one stage but unfortunately a few guys passed me in the last laps. It sucks, but I rode well. I love the weather, it looks like home and the track was really unique, tricky with many ruts. I enjoyed it.”
 
Teammate Brian Moreau advanced from eleventh to ninth during the first half of race one but the French teenager was feeling the heat in the closing laps to come home eleventh. An excellent start in race two saw him quickly established in the first six and he even swept past the world champion for fifth after a few laps but he was soon to pay the penalty for pushing beyond his physical limits in the heat and had to slacken his pace; a couple of mistakes late in the race dropped the French teenager to sixteenth.
 
Brian Moreau: ”I had a decent start in the first race, but couldn’t pass Pichon and lost my rhythm; when I finally passed him I got to ninth but I had no more energy in the last ten minutes. It was a tough race.  I got a good start in the second moto as I came inside in the first corner; I was sixth and even passed Prado but then I couldn’t push anymore as I was exhausted and could only ride round to finish the race and save some points.”