Round two of the Internazionali D’italia Championships took place yesterday, at the tight and twisty circuit of Alghero in Sardinia, with a host of MXGP riders getting warmed up for the season ahead.

One of them was Monster Energy Factory Yamaha’s Ben Watson, making his 450 debut with the team for 2021. Speaking to DBR exclusively, Watson spoke about his weekend at round two of the championship.

“Overall I am quite satisfied with my debut 450 race. During training I have had a really good feeling, and I was missing a little bit of that during the race. I do feel itā€™s normal to be a bit tight at the first race back so it was definitely a positive to still have pretty good speed.

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“During race one I had an average start and in the end managed to come through to third, a nice result but I would have liked to have just in general felt a bit more comfy during the race.

“In Moto two unfortunately I hit the gate, so I started last and had to have a come back race, in the end I finished seventh with a much better feeling than race one. The result wasnā€™t there but thatā€™s not what I am focused on right now. A great starting point and looking forward to continue improving with the new bike and team.”