Mitch Evans starts his season in Argentina
Mitch Evans, the newest member of the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, starts the next chapter of his career in Green this weekend in the opening round of the FIM MXGP World Championship at Villa La Angostura, the magnificent track in the shadow of the Patagonian Andes where he recorded his first-ever GP podium in 2019.
I always love to come back here despite the long travel; it takes longer for me to come here than to go back home to Australia from Europe. I really enjoy the track here; the fans are great, it’s a technical track and I believe that it will be rougher than usual with more riders on-track this weekend. That’s also a bonus; I always love coming back here as it’s not only a beautiful track but also a very nice country. I’m glad we came here one day earlier than in the past; it gives you a little more time to recover from the trip.
I raced my first-ever Grand Prix here and got my first-ever podium that day: that’s really good memories. Usually I’m pretty strong at the beginning of the season and, even after not having so much time on the bike, I’m confident with my speed and my fitness so I’m looking forward to a solid weekend. There’s not so many factory rides in the MXGP class, and one of them was for you at Kawasaki.
I have always had a little contact with Antti; it was always a team I kept an eye on and when I heard about the support they give, that was what I was looking for. We started talking to each other and, even though I had some other offers for World Supercross, GPs, America and Australia, I knew that I really wanted to continue racing the MXGPs and I felt KRT was the best place for me.
There was a lot of different things on the Kawasaki compared to the bike I was used to, but a lot of things that I really enjoyed. We didn’t do so much testing before Christmas but I was comfortable on the bike straight away and when we started intensive testing in January we soon found the best settings to suit me. I feel really confident on the bike now.
I live fifteen minutes from the workshop so I’m there pretty much every day and I’m really happy. That was something I was really looking for, being more involved with the team and having more inter-active support. When you come from Australia you don’t know anybody over here, and you don’t really know what to do, where to go so having that support is really beneficial. It’s the first time in my career that I have such a strong connection with the team members! Every day I go to the workshop I say hello to the guys and can see they are always super-busy and working hard. To see them investing so much time and energy to their job gives me even more appreciation of the work they do. I'm really thankful for everything they do for us. Another good factor is that if I want to try something new on the bike we can have it prepared and test it straight away.
I’m not stressed at all; we’ll just take it race-by-race. I want to focus on taking good starts and racing up-front; Romain got good starts at Hawkstone, and last year we already saw how good the bikes were out of the gate. It's quite funny; last year I purposely never took a gate next to a Kawasaki and now I’m on a Kawasaki!
F&H Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team reveals its new line up
The F&H Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team has revealed its new line up before the opening race of the season in Argentina. The team has had a good off season and is ready to perform in 2023. Kevin Horgmo finished fourth in the world championship MX2 in 2022 and is eager to improve on this result this year. Alongside him is the talented Spaniard David Braceras who moves up from the EMX250 Championship to the MX2 class.
The Grand Prix of Argentina will be held Villa La Angostura, one of the best tracks on the MXGP calendar. Both riders are eager to compete and, for David, it’s the first time that he will race an overseas Grand Prix so for him it will be a great experience.
Kevin Horgmo commented: ‘’The winter preparation went really well. I have enjoyed my time on the bike and we have improved a lot. The pre-season race didn’t really show that but I think that’s what these races are for and I have learnt a lot. Compared to last year I would like to be more consistent and don’t have any silly crashes. I was in a good position many times and let the result slip away. My mission is to improve and be even faster. All the hard work from the winter will pay off during the season. I’m looking forward to Argentina.’’
David Braceras commented: ‘’We did a lot of good training on proper tracks during the winter and I started to feel comfortable on the bike. We have done a lot of work with the bike and the suspension and other aspects are going really well. My goals for the first race in Argentina are see where I am and improve on that in the following races. I’m really enthusiastic to go to Argentina as the people there are also speaking Spanish. The track looks also really nice and I think I will adapt well to the type of sand of the track. It’s really fast and I think it will be a good track for me.’’
Nathalie Fase, Meam Manager added: ‘’F&H Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team will line up this season with two young, strong talented riders in the FIM Motocross MX2 World Championship. Kevin Horgmo who finished fourth in the world championship with us last season looks stronger than ever after a perfect winter preparation and is ready to go for it. Our new Spanish talented member of the team David Braceras has recovered well from a minor injury earlier this winter period and we are confident that everything will work out with him step by step during the season.
The composition of the team has changed slightly, a lot of familiar faces known for years already in the paddock, but also some new additions have made their entrance within the team which is refreshing! I myself recently became the mother of a sweet little boy, so I will have to coordinate the first races from home, Obviously, that is new to experience, but good preparation is half the work and my partner together with our crew is fortunately taking over many of my tasks on site.
We look back on a good season last year and together with all our sponsors and Kawasaki we are ready to take it even further. The complete F&H Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team is motivated to start the season in a positive way and build from there. Let the good times roll!”
Romain Febvre ready for the opening GP
After two solid pre-season races Romain Febvre and the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP are ready for the opening round of the FIM MXGP World Motocross Championship in Argentina this weekend.
It has been a busy winter for the Frenchman who underwent surgery straight after the final GP of 2022 to remove a pin in his leg. “The surgeon also took this opportunity to clean the knee so I had to wait until the end of November to get back training physically and later on the bike. For the first time in a while I can run and undertake physical training without pain, and that was great to have a strong winter to prepare the season,” explained Romain, who also decided to have further minor surgery on his forearms in January. “Two years ago I experienced pain in my arms and underwent surgery then last year, when I was back after six months, the pain returned. That’s pretty usual after you don’t ride for a long time, but after intensive training and testing this winter I felt the pain again so I didn’t want to take any risks and had surgery in January. I had to stop riding for a few weeks which is why I didn’t race the Italian International series.”
For the ninth time in his career, Romain will line up in the MXGP class where he won the world title in 2015. He narrowly missed a second title in 2021, his second year with Kawasaki, when the series went to the final moto of the season, and of course it’s his main goal this year to clinch gold again. “It’s impossible to explain what a great feeling it is when you are world champion. Already as a child I was dreaming to get a title at least one time; it was a dream initially but when I finally got it I wanted more. When you take part in any sport, whatever it is, you want to be the best but it’s not easy. Then when you miss it by just a couple of points like in 2021 you look back on the season and you see where you could have got those few more points. And that’s not easy to accept,” he said in analysis. With all his experience he knows how important the mental approach is. “The mental side is a big part of the puzzle! Even if you work hard and are ready for the challenge you know before the start of each race that it’s a tough affair. To be strong mentally can help you to handle the pressure, and that’s something that you must have in you. Either you have it or you don’t; you can’t invent it.”
The pre-season races were pretty good for Romain, who achieved several podium results, but now it’s time to line up for the first GPs against even stronger opposition. “I’m nearly at 100% now, and the season will be really long. I love that track in Argentina, and the goal will be to score as many points as possible at each round. I know that in 2021 I was missing some speed compared to Herlings at times, and that’s a point we have worked on with Kevin Strijbos. If I regularly take good starts, like in the first moto at Hawkstone, I know what we are capable of this season. Let's go!”