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MX2, MXGP OF AUSTRALIA - Darwin, Australia, 20 Září 2026

Kay Karsmakkers tenth in the world

DRT Kawasaki's Kay Karssemakers raced to sixth, his third consecutive top-six during the overseas tour which rounded out the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship, at Darwin in Australia to secure tenth in the final standings of the series.

He held a comfortable sixth place during the early laps of race one and was still within ten seconds of the leaders until a mistake on lap six cost him one position. The incident also unsettled the Dutch youngster for a couple of laps as he dropped back to eighth but he regrouped strongly to make a decisive pass at two-thirds distance to regain seventh. He maintained momentum to reduce the gap to sixth but ran out of time to mount a challenge. A forceful charge through the first few turns of race two lifted him to seventh but he needed half of the race to run down the rider in sixth. The gap to fifth was already extensive but a 7-6 day earnt his third consecutive top-six overall and confirmed his top-ten ranking in the final series standings.
 
Kay Karssemakers: "Sixth overall was a good way to end the season with three consistent GPs in a row. In the first race I made a pretty big mistake and went off track and then another which put me back to eighth but I fought back strongly to seventh. I don't know what went wrong at the second start; I was last into the first corner but I made some good passes already on the first lap and two more to sixth, close to fifth. I have enjoyed the travelling to the overseas GPs; the season went so quickly in the end and I still feel strong so now I'm Iooking forward to a good winter and a successful 2027."

Kawasaki Racing Team MX2's Mathis Valin classifies twelfth in the final championship standings despite being forced to sit out more than half the series due to injury; the French youngster is now back in training and will return to race action in two week's time for the season-ending Motocross of Nations at Ernee in north-western France as a key member of the home team.