Spain’s leading rider Jose Butron may have banked the 2014 Fox Holeshot award and the 5000 euro prize for being the most prolific MX2 starter this season last weekend in Brazil but the 23-year-old is one of the last to confirm his plans for the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship.
Like at least half a dozen of his peers Butron has fallen foul of the age limit in the MX2 class and has to bump up to MXGP. An excellent landmark campaign in 2013 delivered third place in the championship but he struggled with the new, powerful KTM factory engine this year and even resorted to the counsel and help of Harry Everts to try and reverse his results and disappointing trend of superb starts followed by fading through the top 10.
He is currently ninth in the standings and can still be caught by rookie of the year Jeremy Seewer who trails the KTM man by 17 points. Butron was perhaps fortunate to have signed a two year deal with the Austrians during 2013 which meant that the factory were obliged to find a team in which they could provide works material for his move into MXGP.
KTM Sport Director Pit Beirer has been critical of the Spaniard this season after he turned down the chance to ride a full works 350SX-F alongside Tony Cairoli in 2014 in favour of another attempt at MX2. His stock has since fallen due to results but fitness test results have been extremely positive, according to the rider himself.
For 2015 talks with British Wilvo Forkrent team took place and there were even rumours that Butron would find a space in one of the Husqvarna set-ups. The latest link for the Spaniard is with the Italian Marchetti squad but final confirmation is not expected to arrive until after the Grand Prix in Leon, Mexico this weekend. “Nothing official yet but I know I will be riding the 350, full factory,” Butron said at the weekend in Brazil.
