Despite not feeling the best Mitch Evans showed plenty of speed at the MXGP of Indonesian at the Rocket Motor Circuit in Sumbawa coming away with his best result of the year so far.
Evans had seventh gate-pick and in the opening moto he rounded the first bend in eighth, so the opportunity was there to move forward if he could make the moves on this soft-loamy track. After a couple of laps, he was into seventh, and then a few more he was into sixth, but by that time the riders in front had created a bit of a gap so he settled for sixth.
In race two Evans was once again working his way through the field, coming through from seventh place on lap one, to end up in fifth position. It was quite an effort from the Australian, including posting a lap time that was second-fastest, only slightly behind round winner Tim Gajser. His six-five results gave him sixth overall, his best in 2022, and with the 31-points also a season-high.
“Another season-best performance so I am very happy with that, especially after feeling so bad earlier in the day,” Evans said. “I really had to fight hard in both races to keep my pace up and keep the riders behind me, so this was a massive effort and it feels great to have that effort pay-off. Scoring 31-points and getting sixth overall after six-five moto scores is a nice boost heading into these couple of weeks off, so now I will keep working hard and keep this momentum for the next round in the Czech Republic.”
Evans will have a couple of weekends off to recuperate from all the travel and prepare himself for the final seven rounds of the season. Up next is Loket in the Czech Republic which takes place the weekend of July 17, and should feature a much more familiar challenge on the hard-pack hills near Karlovy Var.
