Jed Beaton and Kay de Wolf impress at penultimate round of the MX2 World Championship

Competing at the penultimate round the 2021 MX2 World Championship, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s MX2 racers Jed Beaton and Kay de Wolf both delivered impressive form to place fourth and fifth overall respectively. The duo capitalised on great starts in both races to secure their positive results with Beaton now advancing to fourth in the series standings while de Wolf moves up to seventh, with just one round remaining. In the MXGP class, Thomas Kjer Olsen continues to impress, securing eighth overall.

Carving a tight line through the treacherous first turn at Mantova contributed enormously to Jed Beaton’s great start in the opening MX2 race of the day. With the Australian then able to avoid the chaos that ensued through the following corners, the 23-year-old charged hard and moved into fifth place by the halfway stage of the moto, right behind Kay de Wolf. Despite numerous attempts to make the pass on his teammate and move into fourth, Beaton would ultimately secure fifth in the race and set himself up for a strong chance at the overall podium.

MX2 race two began with Jed making several passes during the early laps to quickly move into fifth place. As the race unfolded, the FC 250 mounted rider made two crucial passes during the second half of the moto to move into third, which secured his fourth-place overall result. Despite Beaton narrowly missing out on a visit to the overall podium, the points he scored move him up to fourth place in the series standings with one round to go.

Improving upon his strong seventh place overall result at the previous round of the MX2 World Championship, Kay de Wolf claimed an impressive fifth overall at the MXGP of Lombardia. A great start in race one saw the Dutchman battle up front for the duration of the moto as he held off teammate Jed Beaton while chasing after Tom Vialle in third. Ending the race just under two seconds behind the former MX2 World Champion was an outstanding result and an excellent start to the GP for de Wolf.

Another great start in race two once again placed Kay up front and amongst a tenacious battle for the top five positions. Frustratingly, two crashes restricted the youngster to a 10th-place finish in the moto but thanks to his strong performance in race one he secured fifth overall and now advances to seventh in the championship standings.

Earning a moto win at the FIM Motocross of Nations at Mantova just six weeks ago, Thomas Kjer Olsen clearly knows the fast way around the sandy Italian circuit, which the Dane illustrated in moto one when he claimed a strong eighth-place overall result at the MXGP of Lombardia. Boosted by an opening moto seventh-place finish, Thomas backed it up with a solid 10th in race two.

Returning to action after missing the previous three rounds, Arminas Jasikonis placed 18th in race one following a small fall before a sizable crash in moto two ended his day early.

Competing in the EMX250 class, Maxime Grau placed 13th overall and now lies 11th the championship standings with one round to go.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing return to Mantova on Wednesday November 10 for the final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the MXGP of Città di Mantova.

Jed Beaton: “A pretty good day today. I had good starts but still had to make a few passes to catch the leaders. I had a good charge going in race one and felt great on the bike in the second half of the race, but it wasn’t enough to do better than fifth. Race two was a lot better early on but the two guys up front made such a big gap that it just wasn’t possible to catch them despite having a solid pace.”

Kay de Wolf: “My riding and my speed was really good today. In fact, the pace at the front was really high so for me to be battling up front in both races, it’s gives me a lot of confidence ahead of the last round on Wednesday. It’s a shame that I crashed twice in moto two but overall it’s been a solid day and I can’t wait for the final round.”

Thomas Kjer Olsen: “I’m really happy with how things are coming together for me as the season nears the end. I’m seeing really good things with my riding, and I was able to push forwards from 14th to eighth in race one. It’s quite difficult to pass on this track, but I was able to make things happen. I actually ended up seventh as Tim Gajser was docked some places. I had a great start in race two but didn’t quite have the same feeling on the bike compared to race one. I could ride with a good pace, I just didn’t feel so good on the track so pushing was difficult. Eighth overall, I will take that and I’m really pleased with another solid result.”

Arminas Jasikonis: “It’s really nice to be back racing. I had a great feeling on the bike today and in race one I had a good pace and I was enjoying myself out there. I was in 14th and tried taking a different line to make a pass but I crashed, so that was frustrating. I was way down the field but battled through for 18th which wasn’t perfect, but I knew my speed was good. Unfortunately, in race two I had a big crash and took a big impact to my hip, so that ended my day early. I’m feeling ok now and I’m positive that Wednesday will be much better.”

Results – 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship, Round 17

MXGP – Overall

1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 47pts; 2. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) 47; 3. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 38… 8. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna) 25; 22. Arminas Jasikonis (Husqvarna) 3

MXGP - Race 1

1. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) 35:57:282, 18 laps; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 35:38:398; 3. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 35:41:006… 7. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna) 35:32:415; 18. Arminas Jasikonis (Husqvarna) 37:11:167

MXGP - Race 2

1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 35:41:191, 18 laps; 2. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) 36:00:280; 3. Tim Gajser (Honda) 36:03:369… 10. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna) 36:45:197

MX2 - Overall

1. Jago Geerts (Yamaha) 47pts; 2. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) 47; 3. Tom Vialle (KTM) 38; 4. Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 36; 5. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 29

MX2 - Race 1

1. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) 35:52:5405, 18 laps; 2. Jago Geerts (Yamaha) 35:54:349; 3. Tom Vialle (KTM) 35:59:850; 4. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 36:01:470; 5. Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 36:02:562

MX2 - Race 2

1. Jago Geerts (Yamaha) 35:57:115, 18 laps; 2. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) 35:59:765; 3. Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 36:31:713… 10. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 37:03:065

Championship Standings – After Round 17

MXGP

1. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) 661pts; 2. Tim Gajser (Honda) 658; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 646… 10. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna) 309; 22. Arminas Jasikonis (Husqvarna) 87

MX2

1. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) 689pts; 2. Tom Vialle (KTM) 570; 3. Jago Geerts (Yamaha) 563; 4. Jed Beaton (Husqvarna) 513… 7. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 441