Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee travelled east this past weekend – round one of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship was run at the old-school track of Orlyonok in Russia. The Grand Prix of Russia marked the start of the new season, which will consist of nineteen rounds in different corners of the globe. Conrad Mewse and Adam Sterry represented the team at the season opener.

Sterry faced an almighty challenge – he entered one of the deepest premier-class fields in history. The fact that he finished seventeenth in time practice, just under even three seconds down on pole position, serves as proof of that. Sterry battled around a similar position in the first moto and appeared to be set for a solid haul of points, but a mistake just a handful of laps from the end caused him to come up just short in twenty-first. It was quite clear that he deserved more though, so attention immediately turned to moto two.

Using the power within his KTM 450 SX-F, Sterry started moto two on the cusp of the top ten and appeared comfortable amongst the frontrunners. It was a strong showing – he battled with a couple of former Grand Prix victors for the duration before reaching the chequered flag in thirteenth. The eight points that he took in that moto left him in nineteenth in the overall classification, which is arguably not a true representation of his speed at round one.

Conrad Mewse, who has struggled with an illness over the last week, chose not to race and is instead focused on getting back to full fitness as soon as possible. Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee will return to their base now, before heading to the next round of the ACU British Championship on June 19.

Adam Sterry: "There are definitely positives to take away from the first GP. I was caught up in a couple of crashes at the start of moto one, and a small mistake by myself left me just outside of the points. I had a good start and a thirteenth in moto two – I felt good! The class is stacked and having a good start really helps. We got some solid points and this is something to build on."
 
Roger Magee (Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee Team Owner): "After weeks of very hard work by team manager, Bryan Connolly, on all of the paperwork required to attend the first MXGP of 2021, the team personnel and bikes arrived on time at Orlyonok, despite a change by the airline to the outbound flights at very short notice! 
 
"In MXGP, Adam Sterry proved that his winter training and preparation has all been worthwhile. Although he finished just outside the points in the opening moto, he redeemed himself in the second by avoiding the carnage in turn one to run in the top ten for most of the race until a mistake in the whoops section saw him demoted to P13 at the chequered flag. He was only eight seconds behind [Jorge] Prado in P8, which showed his consistent speed for the full-race distance.

"In MX2, Conrad Mewse chose not to compete in either moto as he said that he was still unwell from last weekend's vomiting bug."