Arminas Jasikonis Moves Up

Arminas Jasikonis of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory team lays seventh in the MXGP championship points after two rounds, and a stunning 3-3 last weekend at Valkenswaard helped get him out of the doldrums of a poor opening round in England.

“In my first race in England I crashed three or four times and it was just a disaster,” Jasikonis said. “I needed to ride with my head but instead I pushed too hard, causing more mistakes and crashes. In the second moto, I had a much better start but tangled with my teammate on the first lap and ended up on the ground. I was then almost last so to finish that race in 14th is not so bad. There are positives to take from here despite the result, like my speed in traffic and also my lap times, which were competitive. I know I’m strong and fast and I’m leaving here healthy, so we’ll draw a line under this one and improve.”

After the disappointment of the opening round in England, the tall Lithuanian grew to new heights at the second round in Holland. After winning the Saturday qualification race, many looked at the Husky rider to be a dark horse for a podium finish, and he didn’t let anyone down.

“To bounce back with a top-three result is a real boost for myself and the whole team. We all knew how important a good qualifying result would be here, because being on the outside of the start isn’t a good place to be at Valkenswaard. I rode a smart qualifying race and things came together perfectly. It was a great feeling being the first rider to roll onto the start for today’s opening moto, but I also realised that I needed to put everything together again and get another good result. I got an ok start in that first race and managed to complete a safe first lap and was sat in third. I felt good but it was so easy to make mistakes. I took things a little steadier towards the end, but it was great to get third. Race two was strange because when I was behind Tim, I knew I was in a good place for an overall podium result. I wanted to push harder but knew I couldn’t afford any mistakes. I did crash, and some laps later changed my goggles, but everything worked out perfectly and I got third again. We didn’t change anything for this GP, we just kept working hard, so we’ll just keep on working as we have been and try and back this result up with another strong result in Argentina.”

Now onto Argentina, and the volcanic soil of the Neuquen circuit. Another solid points haul and the Lithuanian can start to think about more podiums and maybe staying closer to the top five in the championship race.

Photo Copyright: Husqvarna