Latvian motocross racer Pauls Jonass earned a third place finish last weekend in the sandy track of Ottobiano in Italy during the 11th stage of the FIM Motocross World Championship. The pints advantage over his teammate Jorge Prado has shrunken to just 9 points.

Whan asked about the last weekend, Pauls admitted that the speed he showed on the track was good, but he had some other things to worry about as well. “Unfortunately, the Italian GP didn’t turn out as good as I expected it to be. Yes, a third place finish is not too bad; however, it is not what we wanted to achieve before the start. Sadly, the starts were not as good as I anticipated. After I had passed the crowd that I was behind, my closest rivals were already way ahead and I could not catch up due to the lack of time. The speed was good, but I just couldn’t find the right rythm. Some other issues were also present – during the first moto my hand started to feel numb which is why I couldn’t really hold the bike. In the second moto during the last 10 minutes the blisters on my hands burst, so the last few laps I was holding back tears as the pain was so bad” Pauls tells us.

The Latvian admits that Prado seems to be in a very good physical condition which is why he needs to put in the additional work to surpass his teammate. “My teammate Prado is in a very good form and is riding really well. He is a very serious rival, that’s why I have a lot of space for improvement to be able to secure my spot at the top of the overall points standings. We’ll keep working hard to increase the points gap in Indonesia and to be on the highest step of the podium once again. At the moment, we are focusing on the riding part of my  trainings because I’m physically fit enough,” adds Pauls by saying that he needs to increase the intensity of the riding practices.

“There are still 450 points “on the table” which is why the real fight is still ahead. Nothing is over!” he grins mischievously.

At the FIM Motocross World Championship in France Pauls Jonass finished in the fifth position which allowed his closest rival Jorge Prado to approach the Latvian in the championship overall standings.

Despite the fact that Jonass enjoys a good mud race, this time he had to be enough with the fourth position after the first moto. After grabbing the holeshot in the second race and falling shortly after that, Pauls reached the finish line in the sixth place which summed up to ending up fifth in the GP of France. After half of the stages of the season Pauls is now 16 points ahead of his teammate Jorge Prado.

“On Saturday everything went well, I was happy with my riding. On the night from Saturday to Sunday there was a storm so the track flooded and really muddy. In the first moto I had a bad start since the starting line was not prime, and also had a little run-in with Prado. After that, I think I was third or fourth, but the racing was jerky – I wasn’t feeling myself which is why I definitely was not satisfied with the race” admits the racer.

“In the second moto after a long time I got a holeshot; however, a few corners later I crashed, and this resulted in having to start the race from the very end. I continued to persist and fought my way up to the sixth position. Of course, to catch up with the rest of the fast guys I had to risk it a bit more than usually. I ended the race in sixth position, but because of the crash I wasn’t really expecting a much higher place. Overall I have to admit that I am not happy with how the French GP went for me. We have to continue working and hope for the best.”

Jonass points out that the season is still only halfway done so a lot can change in the remaining 10 rounds. “I already had a practice on Monday morning. You have to work hard to be on the top. The fight is hard and the season long, which is why the the most important battles are yet to come. There is no room for errors. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the point standings, but, of course, it is a lot more soothing to know that there are a bit more than a dozen of them between Jorge and I.”

At the 9th stage of the FIM Motocross World Championship stage in Matterley Basin, Great Britain, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team pilot Pauls Jonass emerged victorious in both races. By doing so, he extended his lead over his teammate Jorge Prado in the championship point standings.

“In the first race I had a decent start being behind Prado. I passed him in the third corner and led the rest of the moto despite the fact that Jorge was closely following me the whole time. The second race started off similarly to the first one; however, I made a couple of mistakes that let Prado run off a bit. Nonetheless, later on I caught up and smoothly passed him. This was a very important victory – I just couldn’t let him beat me again” laughingly admits Jonass, who celebrated his last overall win at the GP of Russia while Prado had won three of the last six rounds.

After the next round half of the season will have passed. Pauls says that as of now, he is quite satisfied with how the season is going. “I am pretty happy with the results. There were a couple of GPs where I definitely wasn’t in my best shape and could’ve finished in a higher position. There is a battle going on between Jorge and I while TKO is already more than 100 points behind. Despite this, I cannot relax or lose focus. The most important thing now is to gain points after every single race.”

After being asked about his fitness, Pauls admitted that he’s feeling great.  “I’m very fit now; I had a bit of a downtime at the Italian and Portugese GPs, but now everything’s fine. The next two rounds are back-to-back, but I like that it doesn’t get boring during the weekends” he laughs.

The Latvian was blown away by the fans who had gathered to cheer him on at the famous circuit. “It was amazing to see so many Latvian flags weaving around the track. It felt like there were more of those than the British ones” he grins.