ESTA Motorsports Honda’s Aleksandr Tonkov took a long-awaited maiden MX2 podium today with a hard fought 3-4 result to take third overall for round 14 of the MX2 World Championship in Loket, Czech Republic.
Tonkov has shown great speed in many races this year, and after being incredibly close to the podium on a number of occasions, his hard work has paid off today, as good starts put him in a strong position for both 35-minute plus two-lap motos.
After a massive crash yesterday, in which he was lucky to walk away without serious injury, a sore Tonkov got a good start and settled into second place in the first race today. A hard-charging Alessandro Lupino caught the Russian youngster mid-moto, and the duo fought hard in an exciting battle for the runner-up spot to race-leader Jeffrey Herlings, before Tonkov was forced to settle for third, as he had run his brakes so hot that he had to ride more carefully in the closing stages.
Race two saw Tonkov power his CRF250R to the front with an impressive holeshot, but he dropped to fifth by the end of the first lap around a more technical Loket track due to heavy rain showers in the afternoon. The Honda racer rode a fairly lonely race, and after getting back to fourth he was closing in on third-placed Jose Butron, but the Russian concentrated on riding sensibly around the gnarly Czech Republic track to clinch the maiden podium he’s been so close to on a number of occasions.
Grand Prix winner Jeffrey Herlings was crowned MX2 World Champion for the second time after today’s races.
Aleksandr Tonkov #59: 3rd overall
“For sure I’m happy. We have a small team so this is special. We’ve had a bit of an up-and-down season, but we have good power with the bike and I could make some fast starts. I had a huge crash yesterday, probably my biggest this season, and there has been quite a few, so I was struggling this morning. It was hard on the jumps because I was so stiff, but the Honda doctor helped me a lot, and I have to thank him for getting me feeling good for the races. The first race was great, as I was second, but I had some problems with the brakes towards the end, because I was on them a lot and they got really hot, but third was good. It was pretty awesome to have that holeshot in the second moto. Somebody came up alongside me on the outside and I thought ‘who is that?!’ when I saw it was Jeffrey (Herlings) I said “OK, he can go!”; I still need to train a lot to reach his level. I was catching (Jose) Butron, but I got tired near the end, probably because of the crash on Saturday and the painkillers I needed for my shoulder and knee. I had a lot of pain, but I knew I needed to finish the race without mistakes for the podium. ESTA Motorsports made a great job this year, as we started from zero and now we have one of the best bikes in the paddock. We don’t have a big team, but we work hard together, and I’d especially like to thank my sponsor, my brother and Bader Manneh for all of their help.”
Roger Harvey: Honda Motor Europe Off-Road Manager
“Finally Tonkov has taken the podium we knew he was capable of for the ESTA Motorsports Honda team, and a lot of credit should go to his manager Bader Manneh, because he’s put a lot of effort into him this year. It’s great to see the Honda on the podium; conditions were incredibly difficult, as with the bumps and the hard ground underneath with a sprinkling of rain on top, it was really evil out there. Tonkov rode two good races, and I’m really impressed with him; it’s a long time since we’ve been on the podium, and we have known he’s had the potential to achieve this, but today he’s put it all together for the result he deserves.”