Youthful Australian Hunter Lawrence says he struggled to find his groove at the weekend’s second round of the 2018 MX2 World Championship in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, stringing together a pair of sixth place moto scores for sixth overall.

The Team Honda 114 Motorsports rider acknowledged his starts didn’t play into his favour throughout the weekend, although admits he just couldn’t match the pace of the front-runners, especially in the final outing of the day.

“It was a so-so weekend really, from my perspective,” Lawrence explained. “We got sixth from the qualification race but in the first moto I didn’t get a good start after being too aggressive with the clutch. I was around 16th to begin with but I was making passes and moving through the pack.

“Then I had a coming-together with another rider and dropped back down again. I pushed through to get sixth in the end and although I was disappointed to have only come sixth, I was happy with my riding and that I got close to the money points. In the second moto I got a really good jump out the gate, but I just couldn’t make it stick around the first bend.

“I just couldn’t get into my groove though and was struggling most of the moto. I gave it everything I had but I didn’t have anything for the guys up front this weekend. Next week is another round though and I’ll be giving it my all once again.”

The Queensland native, who currently sits sixth in the series standings, will have another opportunity to claw his way into the winners circle for the first time this season this weekend at the Redsand circuit in Valencia, Spain.