Meghan Rutledge took runner-up in the individual championship for Bud Racing Kawasaki Monster Energy.
The Australian teenager started the weekend just four points from the series pace-setter and, despite never riding before at the Loket track in the north-western corner of the Czech Republic, she recorded third best time in practice and held an early second place in the opening moto on Saturday afternoon; unfortunately a fall on the heavily-watered track lost her contact to the leader and, despite significantly closing the gap during the second half of the race, she had to settle for second place, a difficult basis for the second moto on Sunday morning as her series rival would clinch the title with third place even if Meghan won the race. In an exciting race Meghan took the lead on the fifth of twelve laps, but her rival soon joined her in a three-rider breakaway and, with the title out of reach, she settled for second place when fellow Kawasaki rider Livia Lancelot challenged strongly as she did not want to risk an error with second place in the series at stake. The efforts of the Kawasaki riders ensured that Kawasaki clinched the Manufacturers’ title by an impressive 22 points.
Meghan Rutledge: “Of course I’m a little bit disappointed to miss the title by just a few points, but being second in the World Championship is awesome as it’s only my second year in the series and I will have many more opportunities to get this title. I will come back next year and for sure I will be stronger as I will have more experience; for example I never rode before this weekend on a track like this one in Loket! It was tough to get used to it but I’m not looking for excuses; I made the best I could and I’m still happy. Fontanesi and Livy were really fast this weekend, unfortunately I crashed in the first race and I couldn’t battle with Chiara for the moto win; in the second race today Livia was really fast, it would have been nice to win the race but I rode safe as I wanted to secure the final result in the series.”
