The French teenager had launched his KX250-SR to a clear holeshot and was riding a perfectly-controlled race to extend his lead each lap. Overnight sleet and showers throughout the morning had softened the ground and the axle-deep ruts which formed in the turns were to prove his downfall as he became the first of several prominent victims in one particular long left-hander when the wall of the rut derailed the chain and caused his retirement. The organization scraped the surface effectively during the interval before the second moto, though conditions were still sticky as the sun broke through the clouds. After spinning on the wet mesh at the gate he was ninth out of the first turn and faced a long chase as overtaking inevitably proved awkward but the teenager pushed for the entire thirty-five minutes.  By lap four he was sixth and four laps from the finish swept into fifth, which is where he finished, just two seconds shy of third. The unfortunate first moto zero scoreline has put him temporarily back to seventh in the series standings. 
 
Mathis Valin: "For sure I made the job in the first moto; I took the holeshot, found my flow and had the pace. I pulled a gap and was controlling the race but as I came out of a corner the chain jumped and that was that. It didn't only happen to me; there were several more in MXGP. It is what it is; this is a mechanical sport and these things can happen. In the second moto I spun on the wet mesh and it was hard to pass here for everybody. Of course I am disappointed to miss my first GP moto win, but there were many positives this weekend; I proved that I can lead a race and we can take holeshots. So we keep looking forward; we have two weeks to work before the next GP."
 
DRT Kawasaki's Kay Karssemakers had yet another impressive weekend. Tenth is the first race was his third consecutive top-ten moto finish, and he was rewarded with eighth overall after a solid charge from mid-pack to snatch eleventh on the final lap of race two. The young Dutchman is now twelfth in the series standings.