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It was a top 20 performance for two-time Australian champion Wilson Todd in his MX2 World Championship debut at the MXGP of Great Britain last weekend.

The DRT Kawasaki entry admittedly struggled at the beginning of the round, citing a lack of bike time, while he managed to find a more competitive pace for the final encounter, where he wound up 13th for 17th overall.

The Queenslander, who only returned to riding in December after suffering a fractured vertebra in supercross last year, believes it’s a starting point for his rookie season on the world stage.

“Went to struggle town in [practice and qualifying], and race one with my lack of bike time,” Todd commented. “[It was] much better in race two – started around 20th and come up to 13th, but happy with the flow and fitness.

“[I] was reeling in the six guys in front of me the last couple laps – it’s a starting point and we shall get better with some bike time.”

The MXGP series will visit the Netherlands this weekend at the Valkenswaard venue.

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Nathan Crawford says he was ‘just surviving’ after suffering a heavy fall in moto one at Matterley Basin’s opening round, the Queenslander still making a respectable debut in the MX2 World Championship.

The Team Honda 114 Motorsports rider was running near the top 10 during the first outing on Sunday before coming up short on the uphill triple, forcing him to the ground heavily.

He remounted and bounced back for a P18 result, while he managed a strong 10th place finish in the final moto to wind up 14th in his first appearance on the world stage.

“In race one I got a mid-pack start, but made some good passes on lap one,” Crawford explained. “I was hovering around 10th position and then had a big crash and after that I was just surviving and trying to get through the race.

“In race two it was an okay start, but not great – so I set about battling my way through and ended the race in 10th place. The second race was definitely better for me and that gives me something to build on.”

The MXGP World Championship heads to Valkenswaard in the Netherlands this weekend for round two of the series.

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Justin Barcia has expressed his displeasure with points leader Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) after the pair came together in the early stages of Atlanta’s ninth round of Monster Energy Supercross.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing rider believes he made a clean pass on Tomac, before the number three returned the favour moments later in a hard-pass manoeuvre.

Barcia later progressed through the field to finish an impressive second, moving him to just 23 points of the leader in the championship standings.

“I made a good clean pass, and he just pounded it into me,” Barcia stated on the podium. “He got me pretty good, and I was little not happy about that racing. All in all, putting that aside, what a great race – I tried to charge through the pack, I didn’t have the best start – I had a decent one in the heat race, the main event was a struggle.

“It was crazy racing and brutal track tonight – it was hard to pass, but I obviously made a lot of passes, and I had a good time. I made up some points probably too, so that’s cool.”

Tomac also made a strong charge after he crashed in a clash with Blake Baggett (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM), bouncing back to score fourth with last-lap pass on Martin Davalos (Team Tedder KTM).

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A dominant performance at Hawkes Bay’s penultimate round of the 2020 New Zealand Motocross Championship has promoted Kirk Gibbs into the points lead, the 2018 champion storming to a trio of race victories.

The Altherm JCR Yamaha rider was unstoppable at the third round over the weekend, moving by former leader and reigning champion Cody Cooper (Honda Racing) to grant himself a five-point advantage ahead of the season-finale.

“It was a really good day for me,” Gibbs stated. “I’ll go home and work on some more things that Josh [Coppins] and BT [Ben Townley] gave me to work on. It’s so helpful to have such good people to get information from. I’ll go there with a good mindset and put a couple of good races in and try to bring it home.”

Australians Caleb Ward (CML KTM), Morgan Fogarty (Husqvarna), Kyle Webster (Penrite Honda Racing) and Riley Ward (KTM) finished in positions five, six, eight and 10 in the MX2 category.

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Glenn Coldenhoff has declared his top 10 finish at Britain’s opening round of the 2020 MXGP World Championship was a ‘very good start’, the weekend’s event marking his debut with the all-new GasGas MC 450F.

Coldenhoff charged to a pair of sixth-place finishes for eighth overall, the Dutchman proving to be highly-competitive after crossing the line just over 30 seconds behind the leaders in both outings.

The 29-year-old is adamant improved starts will enable him to challenge for wins and podiums, which he’s eager to rectify as the series heads to his home country, the Netherlands, next weekend at Valkenswaard.

“It was a solid weekend for me, two sixth-place finishes is a very good start to the championship,” Coldenhoff explained. “Qualifying yesterday wasn’t great, which didn’t give me the greatest gate pick for today’s races.

“But it was what is was and this morning in warm-up I felt great and posted the third fastest time. That gave me some confidence heading into the races. My first moto start wasn’t great, but I pulled through from around 10th to sixth, so it was good to get the championship started with a positive result.

“The second moto was very similar to the first. I felt good, felt like my speed was there and had some good battles. I know that if my starts are better I can fight with the guys that were ahead of me this weekend. I’m looking forward to the next GP, it’s one of my favourites and I hope to get some solid results there too.”

Despite sitting eighth in the standings, Coldenhoff is just eight points behind second’s Tim Gajser (Team HRC),