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.”