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MX2, Kegums, LATVIA, 24 Märts 2019

Henry Jacobi second in England

Henry Jacobi took his F&H Racing Team Kawasaki to second place in the British round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship at Matterley Basin and is now also second in the series points standings.

The German started top five in both GP motos and quickly advanced to second place after just eight minutes of race one. Keeping the leader in sight as the pair maintained a high pace, Henry, breaking his own lap record time and again, increased the pressure in the final four laps, hauling in the leader at a quarter of a second each lap to close onto his rival's rear wheel on the final tour. It was all or nothing with six corners to the finish but the twenty-two year old came up just short and had to settle for a well-deserved second. A tense and hectic opening lap in race two saw the German pushed back to fifth place for a time, but he reacted maturely to retrieve fourth place within three laps and find a solid rhythm before once again showing his physical strength and determination as he posted the fastest laps of the leaderboard during the closing laps to make a clever pass for third, a move which secured him second overall in the GP. He goes to the third round of the series next weekend in The Netherlands just sixteen points off the series pace-setter.
 
Henry Jacobi: “My first race was pretty good. I had some special lines and I saw that nobody else was taking them so I thought that maybe I could win this race. I went for it, but I started my attack a little too late; I came up short in some corners and I just missed my opportunity. I had hoped to time it better in the second race; my start was OK in fourth or fifth, but then I got stuck a little bit during the first ten minutes as I wanted this podium so much; I put myself under a little bit of pressure and rode too tight during the first ten minutes. But then in the last fifteen minutes I found a good rhythm to pass Vialle and secure the second position overall, which is good for me and for the team. We made some really good steps during the winter; the team has only been in the world championship for a few years but everyone is doing a fantastic job and we had a very good winter preparation. I never had such a professional winter training and the Kawasaki suits me really well; I like the control in the corners and our trainer is so clever and give me such good advice. We are here now, second in the points, and we are determined to stay there !"
 
F&H teammate Adam Sterry had a frustrating home GP as early incidents in both GP motos cost him dearly and left him with a lot of work to salvage eleventh and fifteenth places at the chequered flag. He is now joint tenth in the series standings.
 
Bike It DRT Kawasaki's Darian Sanayei, the after-effects of illness during the winter months inevitably sapping his endurance and encouraging a cautious approach through the early laps of race one, made a charge back to fourteenth place in the opening moto until he had to pull out three laps from the end. The American again held fourteenth place for most of race two before the brave effort inevitably took its toll in the closing laps and he had to settle for nineteenth. Teammate Gustavo Pessoa continues to show the benefit of GP experience; the young Brazilian advanced from seventeenth to fourteenth during the second half of race one for his best result of the season to date.
 
There was further success for the F&H team in the FIM European EMX250 Championship as Dutch teenager Roan van de Moosdijk raced onto the podium in third overall after adding a third place finish on Sunday morning to the sixth place he had scored in Saturday's opening moto. Van de Moosdijk advanced from an initial fifth place to secure third place by half distance of the second moto and rode sensibly to maintain that position to the finish behind the two race-long leaders. BUD Racing Kawasaki's Jimmy Clochet, fourth in the opening moto, added a ninth place in race two to finish the weekend fifth overall.
 
Roan Van de Moosdijk: “ I didn’t get really good starts in either moto, which didn’t help on this track as it was difficult to pass. Yesterday in the first moto I struggled with armpump; today was a little bit better and I could ride easy and relaxed. We trained a lot on this kind of track this winter. I know this track but at the first round you always feel some pressure; it’s not like training but I’m happy to start the season with a podium."