Ben Watson rates his racing in Ernee
By Press Release on 6th Jun 22
Kawasaki Racing Team MXGPs Ben Watson finished ninth overall in the French round of the FIM Motocross World Championship at Ernee with two solid top-10 moto scorelines.
The Brit had to negotiate a chaotic first turn in race one to complete the opening lap eleventh before riding a solid race to finish eighth with his fastest laps of the race at the very end of the moto even though the track was becoming ever more rugged.
A lightening gate in race two saw him sweep through turn one fourth; he was pushed back to ninth as his line came together with others at turn two but quickly regrouped to regain seventh, a position he maintained for most of the moto before surrendering a couple of places in the closing stages to take the chequered flag ninth.
Ninth overall on the day he has maintained his 12th-placed ranking in the series standings.
Ben Watson
"I had a really good feeling in practice yesterday, but I crashed in quali and that gave me a difficult gate for today, but I rode two solid motos," Watson said.
"It was nothing special but it was too solid motos so we are going in the right direction.
"The track was really technical, which is how I like it, and it provided really good racing."
F&H Kawasaki Racing Teams Jed Beaton made a superb start in the first moto to run a solid sixth for more than half of the race before the effects of his recent injury lay-off forced him to slacken his pace slightly; he continued to race top-10 until a late error dropped the Australian to 13th. 11th on the opening lap of race two he posted a succession of solid laps to move into the top-10 mid-moto but the deficit of recent bike-time again took its toll in the closing laps and he finished 13th once more for the same position overall on the day. He remains 17th in the series points standings.
Jed Beaton: "I started off good for twenty-five minutes both motos but the last ten minutes were difficult each time. I missed a couple of GPs with my shoulder and it showed as Im still lacking race fitness. But it was another step in the right direction; Im showing at the start of the race what I can do and now I have to build fitness back up to take it to the end of the moto."
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