There’s a saying that goes: “If he didn’t have bad luck, he would have no luck at all.” This is a rather unfortunate club to belong to, and Matiss Karro might be forgiven for thinking that someone had donated him a fully paid-up membership. For the last few months, setback upon calamitous setback has beset him in short succession, a turn of events that would dampen the spirits of a less hardy soul. Matiss is made of stern stuff though, and has all the bounce-back ability of a spring-loaded, helium-filled rubber ball.
Talking to the friendly Latvian in the week leading up to the fourth round of the Maxxis British motocross championships at Foxhills, he was excited and apprehensive in equal measure. Besieged with daily requests from an eager rider sporting his very best “can-we-keep-the-puppy?” look, his doctor relented and said he could ride. The wrist would be painful, though, the medical man warned, and the pain would not be of the take-two-aspirins-and-phone-
Pain or not, duty – and the urge of racing coursing through his veins – called, and Matiss joined the throng making its way to Foxhills, determined to wring the most out of his Steve Turner Racing KTM. The Latvian was still getting the hang of things again during the qualifying, and posted the 9th fastest time. By the time that the all-or-nothing Superpole lap came round, though, all of the old familiar fire had returned, and he blasted to the second fastest time, less than a second shy of pole sitter Nicolas Aubin.
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a bit of general knowledge news. Matiss Karro has never been s shrinking violet when it comes to start-line contests, and he collected a full house by blasting to three holeshots on the day, thereby sparing your humble reporter the drudgery of thinking of a different opening sentence for each of the race paragraphs. Kristian Watley, who had clearly taken some afterburner Rice Krispies on the day, took the lead away in race 1, and after holding him in check for a while, Matiss had to relent to cross the line in second place, some 10 seconds adrift. Still, it was no mean feat for his return to racing on such a monster track after an injury-induced layoff.
Matiss led race two for the longest time, but the doctor’s predictions proved to be painfully true, and the longer the race progressed, the more his wrist felt as if a rugby lock forward had set about it with a sledgehammer. He had to yield to the onslaughts of Frenchman Nicolas Aubin, but he trailed him home by the length of a shadow, taking second position with a deficit of just over one second.
The Superfinal event, pitting the best MX1 – and MX2 riders against each other, was just a bridge too far for the plucky Latvian. Again he led for 10 laps, riding the stars from the sky. His wrist again started acting up, and he had to let off on the pace somewhat. Whatley came by, and then, in a crucial move, his teammate Jonathan Barragan also found a way past, which in essence grabbed overall victory from in front of his nose. He finished third in the Superfinal event, thereby securing second overall on the day. No one but the most cynical of observer would argue that this wasn’t a masterful comeback. The social media streams glowed like a nuclear-charged asteroid with praise for the young man, who had exhibited the kind of pluck and speed of which heroes are made.
The 64 point harvest on the day hauled Matiss from nothing to 8th in the championship standings, even though he has missed half of the series. More importantly, there is no doubt at all that his confidence has not been dented in the slightest by the series of setbacks.
Matiss is alway a cheery kind of fellow, but after a particularly good day, he beamed like a wartime search light. “It went really well today,” he opined in his multi-cultural drawl. ” I had some pain in my wrist, but I felt good on the bike and the speed was there. I’ll take the rest of the season one race at the time, and will aim to get into the top 10 in GP results, and fight for wins at the British Championships.”