Mitch Evans had his best race result of the year with a fourth in race two at the 2022 MXGP of Sweden, keeping pace with the riders in front of him and putting in the fastest lap.
Unfortunately, the young Aussie wasn’t able to make the best use of his prime gate-pick after claiming pole on Saturday and struggled out of the gate. Within a few turns he was just outside the top five, but as he tried to make another pass, he made a slight error crashed and had to remount. With the pack still close together, this meant that he was near the back of the field when he headed off again and with a lot of work ahead of him.
Evans was the only rider who was making moves, crossing the line in 27th on lap one, but making his way up to 10th place by the end of the moto. It was a monumental effort and although he was disappointed with the mistake, it was a great ride and gave him the confidence he could still get a good result in race two.
Knowing the start was crucial Evans made some nice moves to get into fourth by the end of lap one, and with everyone separated by just a few seconds, there was potential for the results to get even better. However, like race one, the top five were all running lap times so close to each other that passing was almost impossible, and although Evans did post the fastest lap time, he couldn’t make a pass and finished where he started, in fourth. The 10-4 result landed him 6th overall and equalling his best result of the season so far.
“After winning yesterday’s qualification race, I really felt like I could have been on the podium today, but unfortunately I made a small mistake on the first lap of race one and that cost me,” Evans lamented. “I fought back from near the back of the field, and worked my way up to 10th, which on this track wasn’t easy, so that was a good recovery, but I really hoped for more. Still, in race two, I made up for that with a strong fourth place finish, my best moto result of the season so that felt really good and gives me confidence that I can battle for the podium spots in these last three GPs of the season.”
Evans, who moved into 10th place in the championship, can also get excited for Finland next weekend as the fourth in race two was his best so far this year. This should give him a lot of confidence as the rider’s head to Hyvinkaa, a track that hasn’t seen MXGP action since 2014. This will mean that he’ll have as much experience as most of his competitors, and with a big boost of confidence from the three races this weekend, he’ll definitely be aiming for a podium position.
