Look, let’s face it. Matiss Karro is a popular kind of chappie. More popular than a hot chocolate and pancake stand in cold and drizzly weather. His easy-going demeanour, laconic humor and never-say-die attitude have endeared him to fans far and wide. No wonder then, that British motocross fans have adopted him as their own, even though he hails from far-off Latvia. When he suffered yet another injury at the beginning of the 2013 season that scuppered his GP – and British Championship kick-off, one could almost hear a groan go up from his growing group of supporters. He returned with a bang, however, as is his wont, and despite precious little training time before the Dutch GP a week ago, he managed to wriggle himself well into the world championship points.
In reporting on the event, we sagely predicted that it will only get better from here on in. Kudos to the Latvian, therefore, for bearing this out, thereby preventing an unpleasant occurrence of editorial egg on the face. The young man was certainly more cheery than a New York policeman at a donut convention when he rolled up for action, and as soon as the clocks stopped ticking after the qualifying session, one knew that he meant business. He posted the fourth fastest qualifying time. In the superpole session, he actually went one better, thereby ultimately securing the third starting gate.
Matiss has never been know to shy away from start line confrontations of the racing kind, and he launched his STR Racing KTM to fourth off the line. A few laps into the race, he managed to secure third spot, and seeing as the leading pair of Tanel Leok and Tommy Searle had by now scooted off across the horizon, he kept it steady to secure third spot, as good a launch into his 2013 British Championship campaign as one could hope for.
Matiss got his split-second timing right at the start of the second race, and joined the fray just behind Leok and Searle. The GP veterans obviously held strong cards, but the Latvian was always withing sight of the leading battle, and this time he was far closer to the race winner when the checkered flag came out. The third race was a virtual carbon copy of the second as far as Matiss was concerned. He knew that he had an overall podium finish almost in hand, and again he did what needed to be done to finish third in the race.