A good jump out of the gate in race one was negated at the first tight left-hander when several of the leading contenders got entangled to leave the young Frenchman with a long chase from twelfth after the initial sort-out. He quickly advanced to ninth before coming up against a mobile chicane who cost the connection to the leaders and left a mountain to climb when he finally negotiated him after ten laps. Once past into sixth and, with a clear track ahead of him, the Kawasaki rider immediately started lapping faster than the leaders to dive through to fifth with four laps remaining and he reduced the ten second gap to fourth to just three seconds at the chequered flag. Choosing a wider gate for race two in the hope of a cleaner run through turn one he emerged eighth; he moved quickly into seventh on lap two, but could advance no further as the leaderboard riders all kept station to the chequered flag. The 3-4-7 moto finishes over the weekend were sufficient however for him to head to the next round in Spain in two weeks' time fifth in the world championship standings.
Mathis Valin: "We made some good points this weekend but we have to work on making quick passes. I had tough starts in both motos so I stayed behind guys I shouldn't be behind for too long and couldn't find my flow."
Antti Pyrhönen (KRT team manager): "Mathis rode strong but it didn't feel like he could give his absolute maximum on the track this weekend so we will go back to training and find some adjustments to build from here. It was a solid start and it's a long series."
DRT Kawasaki's Kay Karssemakers rode a strong opening lap out of the pack in the first moto to establish himself in twelfth for half of the race; the Dutch youngster moved forward to eleventh at half-distance but the top-ten were out of sight and he then had a lonely ride to the chequered flag. In race two he quickly converted a top-ten start into a solid eighth, headed only by full-factory riders, and held that position until forced out of the moto after twenty-five minutes.