Kawasaki loses Valin to injury, sparse starting grids for MXGP and MX2 in South Africa

Mathis Valin out due to injury, Kawasaki loses its MX2 rider. But between this class and MXGP there aren’t exactly packed gates for the GP in South Africa...

The scary crash in Portugal left its mark on Mathis Valin (Kawasaki MX2), forcing him to miss this weekend’s round in South Africa. He adds to the already noted absences of Kay De Wolf, Andrea Bonacorsi, Mattia Guadagnini in MXGP... In his case we’re talking about physical issues, namely a wrist injury and a vertebral compression, but we shouldn’t underestimate logistical costs and packed calendars. The main protagonists of both classes will be there, but the starting gates showing 26 riders for the 450s and 21 for the 250s, wild cards included, are rather thin for a Motocross World Championship. If in Montevarchi we had maximum participation with 40 riders per class, the trend reversed just a week later in Agueda, Portugal (48 in total), and it won’t be any better on the track near Johannesburg either.

"Following the advice of the doctors, Mathis will not participate in Motocross World Championship events until he is deemed fit to return to the track." The Japanese brand’s note is clear: no premature return, maximum caution for both the wrist injury and the more delicate vertebral one. Valin, who was leading the qualifying race at the Portugal GP before the crash, will have to undergo further checks before getting the green light to resume training, and only afterwards will they think about the green light to return to racing.

“Things like this can happen; we accept them as an integral part of the sport,” commented Antti Pyrhonen, Kawasaki Racing team manager. “The medical staff and the on-site team in Portugal did an excellent job; now it’s up to our medical professionals to guide Mathis toward full physical recovery. The main goal now is to define a structured path for his return to racing.”

Starting tomorrow, with the first practice sessions, we’ll have all the confirmations. Jago Geerts, for example, has already announced his absence, along with the MRT Beta team, of which he remained the only MXGP rider after Rick Elzinga’s departure (moved to Van Venrooy KTM). “I’m sorry I can’t take part in this weekend’s South Africa GP, see you in England!” he wrote on his social media. The numbers we mentioned initially indicate fairly low participation at this African round, the first in 18 years, at 1,800 meters above sea level and brand-new for all the Motocross World Championship competitors. The reasons are inevitably linked to the costs that teams have to bear; travel, especially outside Europe, always entails significant financial burdens...

Saturday, July 4 (full live coverage on mxgp-tv.com)
15:15 MX2 Qualifying Race
16:00 MXGP Qualifying Race

Sunday, July 5 (full live coverage on mxgp-tv.com)
12:00 MX2 Race 1
13:00 MXGP Race 1
15:00 MX2 Race 2
16:00 MXGP Race 2

-> Follow us on Instagram as well: @Corsedimoto