Crawford finished 14th overall after placing 18th in Race 1 and an impressive 10th in Race 2. The Queenslander admitted the conditions were tougher than he was used to.
“Qualifying was a real challenge especially for me coming from Australia. I’ve never raced in conditions that cold, windy and rainy. It was definitely something that I hadn’t been through before, so it was quite a shock. We tried to prepare for it and did our best in the tough conditions,” said Crawford.
“In race one I got a mid-pack start but made some good passes on lap one. 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 OK start, but not great – so I set about battling my way through and ended the race in 10th place. The second trace was definitely better for me and that gives me something to build on.”
Teammate Bailey Malkiewicz has been nursing a knee injury from a pre-season crash and rode out both races to finish 32nd overall.
Gordon Crockard, Honda Europe Off-Road Manager, was impressed by the grit shown by both Aussie riders. “The beginning of this season’s World Championship faced some very difficult conditions to add on top of all of the expectations and nerves that our riders were experiencing.
“I think next weekend will bring a great sense of relief when we hopefully return to more normal racing conditions. In particular our new starters in MX2 – Nathan Crawford and Bailey Malkiewicz did well as they’ve not competed in the MX2 class previously, so I think they did really well under the circumstances and the reduced track time due to the weather. They had a lot to consume and a lot to learn in a very short space of time.
“Nathan Crawford did exceptionally well to recover a big crash in race one and finish race two in 10th which is a very good result for his first weekend racing in the World Championships. His teammate Bailey is carrying some injuries, so hats off to him for persevering with all that he was up against.”
Photo: Haggis Hartman
