DIRT NEWS

Maxime Renaux won the qualifying battle , delivered the goods with a second placing in the first race before leading every lap of the final race of the weekend to win the overall at the new Cordoba circuit . Being the first round and having won the qualifying , Renaux ’ s Yamaha YZF450FM had the sought after red plate adorning it as he headed into the business end . As the weekend wrapped up , the plate is still in-situ but only by a single point as Romain Febvre sits in second and Tim Gajser lurks in third . Despite the track being made difficult with the storms and there being 37 riders blasting from the gate , the entire field had lap-times within ten seconds of each other . Several of the expected frontrunners struggled with the track and got mired in the mid-pack battles , including the likes of Lucas Coenen in 8th , Jago Geerts in 12th and Jeremy Seewer back in 18th . As always , the first round always lights the fuse for the rest of the season and as there were some disappointed faces and downward stares , next round is expected to bring fireworks , bigtime . Meanwhile Yamaha are celebrating the Kando … If you don ’ t understand what that means , see the road news about Yamaha ’ s seventieth birthday .

KIWI RIDER 21