The teenager and his two title rivals were separated by just fractions of a second as they dominated both morning practice sessions but he spun at the gate and had to come from outside the top-ten to reach his eventual third place on the eighth of fifteen laps in the first points-scoring moto of the weekend. With his closest rival in the championship securing victory his points-lead has now been reduced to eight heading into tomorrow's second moto.
 
Mathis Valin: "I missed a good jump at the gate so my start was not so good but I rode a strong first lap even if it's not easy to pass on this track. I was quickly into the top-ten and I knew that my championship rivals were in front so I had to push but I didn't want to do anything stupid. I made some good passes to come back to third."
 
Bud teammate Benjamin Garib posted his best Qualifying of the season to earn eighth gate-pick and used that choice effectively for a top-six start in the first championship moto of the weekend. After surrendering two positions through the hectic opening laps the Chilean responded admirably to slice his way back up the leaderboard with a series of impressive passes to secure his eventual fifth three laps from the finish.
 
Benjamin Garib: "I was solid all day with fifth in Free Practice, eighth in Timed Practice and fifth in the first moto. I had a good start and could maintain the speed at the top all race with some good passes at the end. I felt good all day on the track; yesterday I thought it would be a mud race after all the rain but conditions today were just perfect."
 
On his return from injury Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team's Billy Askew qualified nineteenth and showed good race-pace to advance from just outside the top-twenty to finish fourteenth in today's first moto of the weekend.
 
Billy Askew: "It's good to be back, but of course I need to get used to racing at this level again. I haven't ridden tracks as rutty and technical as this before but I'm learning race-by-race, and this is a learning year for me. I'm sure we'll get there!"