Phoenix Tools Apico Kawasaki team arrived at Canada Heights with just Gert Krestinov in attendance as Carlton Husband was forced to the Maxxis British Motocross Championship round due to his ongoing shoulder injury.
Qualifying took place in dry conditions and the track was in great condition ā Gert quickly got to grips and posted a number of fast laps and set his fastest time at the end of the session to finish ninth.
Going to the line for the first race Gert was feeling confident and made a good start and was inside the top five on the opening lap, but on the start of the second lap he suffered an issue with a stone in his rear brake and crashed.
Quickly remounting, Gert pushed hard to recover to sixth at the finish.
It was another strong start for the 28-year-old Estonian for the second moto and he quickly caught the tail of the top five. Continuing to push forward he passed Brad Todd on the third lap before making Jake Millward his next victim to secure fourth at the chequers.
The sixth and fourth place finishes gave Gert fifth overall and he now sits sixth in the championship.
Unfortunately for the team the results were overshadowed by the theft of one of the team race bikes from the team awning during the opening moto of the day. Posting on Facebook the team wrote: “The team had a race bike stolen from under the awning today at Canada heights, there will be a cash reward for information leading to the return of the bike, please share and thanks in advance.”
Team Owner Barry Moore: “Gert rode extremely well with two good starts and fifth overall. It was a very positive result and another step forward. Itās a shame he picked up a stone in race one in the rear brake otherwise we could have been battling for a podium.
Gert Krestinov: “Qualifying was OK but I knew that I would be better in the races. In the first race I started well and then on the start of the second lap a stone got caught in the rear brake and I crashed into the fence. It bent my bars and bike a bit so I had to work hard to come back through to finish in sixth.
“The second race was good with another strong start, I quickly got around Tombs and Todd and then Millward towards the end for fourth so I was happy.
“Fifth overall on the day was good and a step in the right direction but Iām just really gutted that today was overshadowed by the theft of my spare race bike from the team awning.”
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