Round 4 saw the British rider bag P11 and P10 finishes at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, Takuma Matsuyama ends Race 2 in P12
The Junior Talent Team were back on track at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto for Round 4 of the FIM CEV Repsol Junior World Championship on Sunday in Andalucia, and it’s a day that saw Scott Ogden claim his equal-best result at this level. The British star finished P11 in Race 1 and then went one better in the afternoon to claim his second top 10 of the season in P10, capping off a good day at the office for the rookie. Teammate and fellow rookie Takuma Matsuyama was able to finish P12 in Race 2, with injured Tatchakorn Buasri seeing the chequered flag in both races during Round 4.
After crashing in Saturday’s Round 3 race, Ogden was fired up to earn good results on Sunday. And that’s exactly what the Briton did, taking the chequered flag just three tenths away from the top 10 in Race 1 before going out in blistering afternoon conditions to claim P10. In just his second race weekend at the circuit, Ogden was very impressive to take home his equal-best JWC result, matching the P10 he claimed in Portimao.
Starting from P9, Matsuyama unfortunately encountered an issue on the start line in Race 1 and eventually settled for P28, having gone back to pitlane to get the bike going again. There were no such worries in Race 2 though for the Japanese rider, Matsuyama securing a solid P12 in his second points scoring ride of 2020 as Matsuyama and Ogden emerge from Jerez will valuable points in the bag. Riding injured in Jerez, Buasri fought through the pain to finish both races in Round 4 on his first visit to the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto. Buasri crossed the line 18th in Race 1 as the Thai rider will now get some well-earned rest and recover for the next round of the Championship in Aragon.
Three other JTT riders will also be recovering after crashes in Jerez. Bill Van Eerde underwent successful surgery on his fractured left femur on Friday evening, with Mario Aji resting up after breaking three metacarpals in his left hand – the duo suffering the injuries in qualifying. Both those riders missed Rounds 3 and 4 in Andalucia, with Max Cook unfortunately missing Sunday’s action after fracturing his pelvis in two places during Saturday’s Moto3™ encounter. Van Eerde, Aji, Cook and Buasri will now focus on being fully fit for the remainder of the campaign as we wish them a speedy recovery, with the JTT riders hitting the reset button for the Aragon and Valencia rounds.
The JTT will be heading to MotorLand Aragon for Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2020 JWC in early October, with the two races days getting underway in northern Spain on the 3rd and 4th of October.
