The “Tazio Nuvolari” circuit of Mantua hosted the first round of the 2025 edition of the Internazionali d’Italia Motocross EICMA Series. The rain that fell on race day and earlier made the track particularly treacherous and challenging. Ben Watson (Beta RX450) made a positive return to the race after his long stop due to injury last year: tenth in the time practices that determined the line-up at the gate in the two MX1 races, the Englishman started in sixth position in the first race. Watson showed that he was already in good shape with his race pace by finishing in tenth position. In the second heat the start was less brilliant, but Ben started a great comeback that led him to cross the finish line in seventh place. These placings allowed him to finish eighth overall on the day. Tom Koch, making his debut on the Beta RX450, set the sixteenth fastest time in the MX1 time practices. In the first heat the German managed to recover for an unlucky start with a good comeback. Having started outside the top twenty, he recovered over the course of the race to finish sixteenth. The final heat was more troubled. After a good start, in eighth position, Tom made a couple of mistakes which caused him to slide down to seventeenth place. Koch finished in the top twenty overall for the day, eighteenth. Next weekend MRT Racing Team Beta Factory will be engaged in the second and final round of the Internazionali D’Italia Motocross EICMA Series, which will be hosted by the Tuscan track “Il Miravalle” in Montevarchi.
Ben Watson: “Eight months after my injury I am finally back behind a starting gate. Because of the bad weather the day was not easy, and the long stop did not help, but I still managed to complete two good heats. The first was particularly difficult because my forearms hardened after a few laps. I gritted my teeth and tried to improve lap after lap. In the second one it went much better even though the start did not help. Physically I felt better, and I was able to lap with better times. I hope the weather will be more clement in Montevarchi so we can have two dry races.”
Tom Koch: “Today I raced the Beta RX450 of the MRT Racing Team for the first time. The track conditions were very difficult because of the rain that did not let up all day. I was not doing very well in qualifying, but I knew that with some good starts I could have achieved better results. I struggled to find my rhythm during the heats and made a few too many mistakes. The first race of the year is gone but I have to improve my performance in the future. I would like to thank the guys in the team who had a lot of work to do in those conditions.”
