Josh Gilbert shines with overall victory at Spanish Championship opener!

Gabriel SS24 KTM and MXGP new boy Josh Gilbert started his season in style with an overall win at the Spanish Championship’s opening round at former GP venue Talavera de la Raina, just 125 km south-west of Madrid.

Words: Ben Rumbold / Josh Gilbert, Images: RFME Campeonato de Espana

With a field including new factory Nestaan Husqvarna MXGP pilot Mattia Guadagnini – twice a GP winner in MX2 – Josh took the holeshot in both races and set the fastest lap by nearly two seconds in the first moto, although Butron closed a little in the closing laps of the GP-length 30-minute plus two lap moto.

Josh Gilbert grabs a holeshot at the Spanish Championship as Jose Butron (#17) and Mattia Guadagnini (#10) jostle for position.

In race two, Guadagnini caught and passed the Cornishman after nine laps but Butron, who scored top tens in the AMA Nationals last year, was unable to get close enough to challenge.

On his social media, Josh gave a short but happy post about his day:

“Start as we mean to go on! 💥
First race of the year with the team and so many positives to take away! Couple holeshots, mega atmosphere and topped it off with a P1…

Thanks team for all the hard work 👊🏻”

The team themselves added the following statement:

“The first pre season race for the team was the first round of the Spanish championship at Talavera. The boys showed some good speed throughout the weekend and we came away with a podium!🏆

Making his debut on the KTM 250-SFX Cas put in the second fastest time in timed practice and this is where he would line up for the qualifying race – in which he finished 7th. Going into the motos he had two top 5 starts and was making good headway up the pack before a small mistake in moto one and arm pump in moto two cost him a better finish. He came away with a 7-6 scorecard.

In timed practice in the MX1 class Josh set the 5th fastest time and after a good start qualified 3rd ahead of the races. On Sunday he grabbed the holeshot in both races and lead from start to finish in moto one. In moto two he lead for the first 20 minutes just ahead of Guadagnini before catching some back markers wrong and the gap closed right up. He lost the lead but a 1-2 finish secured him 1st overall for the weekend! 🥇”

In the MX2 class, Guadagnini’s factory Husky teammate Lucas Coenen romped to a pair of moto wins ahead of the Monster Energy Triumph team pairing of Mikkel Haarup and Camden McLellan. Josh’s teammate Cas Valk, who will race in the Dirt Store British Championships as well as the EMX250 series this year, went 7-6 for 6th overall in the baking hard-pack.

Josh enjoys his first podium of the year, mercifully in the shade at Talavera de la Raina

Results – MX1 Elite:

Pos	No.	Competitor	Total Points	Race 1	Race 2
1	326	Josh GILBERT	47	25	22
2	10	Mattia GUADAGNINI	43	18	25
3	17	Jose Antonio BUTRON OLIVA	42	22	20
4	115	Carlos CAMPANO JIMENEZ	36	20	16
5	92	Ander VALENTIN LASHERAS	33	15	18
6	831	Brice MAYLIN	28	14	14
7	373	Edgar CANET ARDEVOL	26	11	15
8	51	Sergio CASTRO ORTEGA	23	12	11
9	124	Simeo UBACH SALA	23	13	10
10	501	Roger OLIVER VILAR	21	8	13
11	14	Francisco HARO GUTIERREZ	18	10	8
12	101	Xurxo PROL ORMEÑO	16	16	–
13	11	Alejandro NAVARRO HUERTAS	14	7	7
14	19	Nil ARCARONS GALI	12	–	12
15	7	Nil BUSSOT FERRER	12	6	6
16	38	Fabio Aparecido DOS SANTOS	9	–	9
17	18	Gabriel BOHRER ANDRIGO	9	9	–
18	95	Mario MORENO MARTIN	7	3	4
19	111	Lucas BODEGA GOMEZ	7	4	3
20	219	David JIMENEZ VILLALBA	5	–	5
21	80	Sergio SANCHEZ CANO	5	5	–
22	44	Victor BARTOLOME LOPEZ	4	2	2
23	5	Carlos ABEL PEINADO	1	–	1
24	313	Alex ROMERO CARO	1	1	–

Results MX2 Elite:

Pos	No.	Competitor	Total Points	Race 1	Race 2
1	96	Lucas COENEN	50	25	25
2	17	Mikkel HAARUP	44	22	22
3	8	Camden MCLELLAN	38	18	20
4	1	Gerard CONGOST AGUILERA	38	20	18
5	368	Samuel Mattias NILSSON BUSTOS	32	16	16
6	172	Cas VALK	29	14	15
7	6	Elias ESCANDELL GIL	26	15	11
8	365	Adria MONNE VILES	25	11	14
9	232	Unai AGUILO AZORIN	22	9	13
10	29	Francisco GARCIA OCAÑA	22	10	12
11	259	Denis CANTO SERRANO	18	8	10
12	227	Pablo GUTIERREZ SOLIS	16	7	9
13	305	Antonio GALLEGO RAMOS	16	12	4
14	315	David BELTRAN YAGUE	16	13	3
15	831	Ethan Mackenzie LANE	13	6	7
16	11	Gilen ALBISUA FUENTES	12	4	8
17	214	Alejandro MIGUEL HERNANSANZ	6	–	6
18	425	Samuel PANZANO FERRER	5	–	5
19	5	Daniel RODRIGUEZ GIL	5	5	–
20	382	Manuel LOPEZ CARRERAS	3	3	–
21	109	Guilherme BRESOLIN	2	–	2
22	110	Richard PAAT	2	2	–
23	666	Alejo PERAL LOPEZ	1	–	1
24	969	Mauro OSINALDE MAYRATA	1	1	–