Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Mikkel Haarup has claimed eighth overall at the MXGP of Italy, despite injuring his right knee during qualifying at the 10th round of the campaign. In race one, the determined Dane battled hard for eighth, while in race two, a stronger start resulted in a seventh-place finish. With the season now reaching the halfway stage, Mikkel remains sixth in the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship.

Each day at the MXGP of Italy couldn’t have been more different. Throughout Saturday, heavy rain fell and created a challenging race track then on Sunday, sunny skies quickly dried out the circuit, resulting in near-perfect conditions for the GP races.

To gain further treatment on his knee, Mikkel skipped the warm-up session to give himself more recovery time before the gate dropped for race one. Starting from an outside gate because of his low qualifying position, the 22-year-old began the moto in the mid-pack and quickly set about working his way forward. By lap four, he’d broke into the top 10 and progressed to eighth a few laps later. From there, Haarup chased home red plate holder Kay de Wolf but was unable to find a way around the series leader.

Using the power of his TF 250-X, a much-improved start to race two saw Mikkel just outside the top five. As riders battled for position, Haarup comfortably held sixth for much of the moto before dropping to seventh on lap 10. He then maintained his strong pace to the finish, ultimately securing eighth overall for his efforts.

With 10 of 20 rounds now complete, the MX2 World Championship has reached the halfway stage, with Mikkel lying sixth in the standings. Up next for Haarup and Monster Energy Triumph Racing is a trip to Indonesia for a double header – two back-to-back events in Lombok before the series returns to Europe for the MXGP of Czech Republic on July 20-21. Ray Archer image