Valerio Lata And Home Gp

There is no doubt, young Italian, Valerio Lata is making progress in the world motocross championships and despite some up and down results, he continues to give his Honda HRC PETRONAS team confidence that he will be making podium finishes more often in the future.

Before arriving in the MX2 class, Lata, having been recognized for his achievements, including being the 85cc World Champion in 2019 and the European 125cc Champion in 2021. It should maybe be added, in that EMX125 championship, Lata beat the current MXGP red plate holder, Lucas Coenen and twin brother Sasha, who is the current red plate holder in the MX2 class.

The HRC factory rider sits in ninth place in the MX2 championship points and at the last round in Latvia, Lata scored his best race result of the season, with a second place in the Saturday qualification race. Fired up to show his skills, Lata even led the qualifier, and he knows a race victory is just around the corner.

“My best race of the season and I feel like I am closer to where I want to be. All day I felt good on this track, and it is a nice feeling to be leading a race for such a long time. Now I want to finish the job of and take the win, but this is still a good step in the right direction and something I can build on for tomorrow and for the rest of the season.”

On the Sunday in Latvia, Lata didn’t have the same success, with a very poor first race, then a fifth place in the second race. The Italian racer is excited to head to the next round of the MX2 championship, with it being held in Montevarchi.

“Frustrating day because my riding was good, but the results don’t really show it. I was in the top five in the first race when I had a crash which meant I couldn’t finish the race and then in race two I had a good race, riding in third for most of the time, before finishing fifth. It was still a good weekend with a lot of positives, but I know there is more to come and that will be the goal at the next GP, which is a home GP for me in Italy.”

With the local crowd behind him, there is every chance for Lata to produce his best GP of the season, and his Latvian results will have given him a lot of confidence. Already with seven top five finishes over the GP weekends, Lata has shown time and time again that he belongs among the best MX2 riders in the World and obviously, the Italian fans will be doing their best to make his next GP a special one.