Mathis Valin made a sensational debut for the Kawasaki Racing Team when the teenager totally dominated the MX2 racing and was narrowly edged for victory in the Superfinal against MXGP opposition in the opening event of the 2025 motocross season at Hawkstone Park in central England.

The French teenager had already served notice of his intentions during morning practice as he topped the training session in fresh but dry weather; in the afternoon he took a clear holeshot in each moto and, lapping several seconds faster than the opposition, claimed a clearcut victory in each of the twenty-eight minute MX2 motos, winning the first by forty-three seconds and the second by twenty-nine seconds. In the Superfinal, the closing race on the programme against the more powerful 450cc bikes, he again excelled, taking full advantage of the five-second start bonus for the smaller bikes to lead until half-distance; he eventually finished a close runner-up, defeated by just one of the MXGP riders who had managed to pass him on a long climb.

The KRT duo in the MXGP class also enjoyed a satisfactory day as Romain Febvre and Pauls Jonass finished third and fourth overall from 2-3 and 5-4 moto finishes after the Latvian, on his Kawasaki race debut and racing for the first time in seven months since he was injured last summer, had qualified on pole from the morning Qualifying. A further solid race in the closing Superfinal saw the KRT duo finish in teammate Valin's wheeltracks in third and fourth.

Mathis Valin: "It was a very good day for my first race with the team to win both MX2 races! In the Superfinal I finished second; the MX2 started five seconds before the MXGP and even my teammates could not catch me! The track was really soft but I enjoyed it. I had a really good winter with the team and today's results showed that we did a good job and that I am ready."

Romain Febvre: "It was a good weekend to start the new season and we were even lucky with the weather so early in the year in the UK! The racing was good for me; it's always important to see how everything is going compared to other riders, to see how are the starts and so on. I started second twice and then took the MXGP holeshot in the Superfinal. I would have liked to win at least one moto and this holeshot was perfect but then I stalled the engine twice and also fell one time in this race. I feel ready physically, the bike is running perfectly and in all three motos I was happy with my riding. Now we have two more races before flying to Argentina; two great opportunities to prepare for the GPs."

Pauls Jonass: "The day went really well when you consider that it's seven months since my last race. The first race of the year is always exciting but especially so with a new team and a new bike. I was riding a little tight, particularly in the first moto, but that's normal for the first race back and I actually surprised myself as I had no arm pump. That was really positive and it was good to get the feeling for racing again. We got to know where the bike is working good for me and where we need to look to make adjustments. All-in-all I think we worked very well today and I felt I improved each session. And we couldn't have a had a better place to start. The track was rough but that's Hawkstone Park; it's old school, rough, and good for training and also to challenge the bike. That's why we like it."

Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager): "The main target at these pre-season races for the team personnel and the riders is to have a good training under race conditions to see where we are with the bikes, the starts, everything. Racing is always different to training; it's important to get nerves out of the way and feel comfortable for racing. Romain did a good training race with three strong motos and the same for Paulski; he was really impressive when you consider that he didn't race since Teutschenthal in the middle of last summer. It's not easy to get back behind the start gate after an injury so his performance today has given him a good platform to see what areas he still needs to work on and to build on for the future. And of course it was a very exciting day with Mathis; this was our first official 250 race and he did really well. We knew before we came here that he had been strong on the training tracks; the bike is really good and Mathis is comfortable with the bike, but it was important for him to get the first race under his belt with a very positive result so he can continue to build on his confidence from here."

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