Undoubtedly, one of the most exotic destinations included in the calendar of FIM FIM World Motocross Championship this year is the world’s largest island country Indonesia, hosting not one, but two rounds. Pauls managed to adjust to the change of the time zones and the humid conditions quite well, finishing 8-7 for a 7th place in the GP classification.

Saturday’s qualification kicked off badly for the Latvian, suffering from a fall in the second corner right after the gate dropped. Pauls Managed to get up, and, despite having hit his shoulder quite hard and being dead-last, decided to continue the race. He managed to catch up with the rest of the pack, fighting hard and well, his determination placing him in the 13th position when finishing the race.

Sunday brought even more humidity and heat, nothing unusual taking into account the climate zone the track in located in. After a decent start being in the middle of the pack, Pauls struggled to find the right rhythm and still felt the ache in his shoulder that carried over from the crash on Saturday. Trying to find the right lines, he ended up in the 8th place, earning a handful of points that eventually catapulted him into the 8th position in the championship overall standings.

Second moto, being mellow and quite uneventful except for the fall of the race leader Gajser in one of the first laps, was analogue to the previous race. The young athlete avoided any large missteps and placed himself in the Top7 of the fastest riders. The stability of Pauls racing proved that he can easily call himself a definite Top10 rider in the MXGP class; however, lots of work still needs to be done, especially regarding the starts.

“The crash on Saturday set the tune for the rest of the weekend as I struggled with tons of pain on both motos the following day. Aside from that, I think that the result is decent and we came through with at least a handful of points and managed to jump to the No.8 spot in the overall standings. Hopefully, the shoulder will heal up during the week so that we can show what I’m actually capable of in these humid conditions,” said the athlete.

The next venue for the MXGP championship will be Semarang, another Indonesian location which will surely bring tons of exciting racing and ethnic vibes in the paddock.

Written by Nikola Serge

Image by Juan Pablo Acevedo