Australian Jed Beaton says a come-back charge in the opening moto at Tuesday’s MXGP of Russia left him drained for the final outing of the day, which ultimately saw the Tasmanian collect a eighth overall despite the setback.

A heavy crashing during Monday’s qualification race didn’t play into the F&H Racing Kawasaki rider’s favour, however it was a clash in race one that forced Beaton negotiate his way through the field to be credited eighth.

Admittedly lacking energy, moto two saw the youthful talent salvage seventh, which has allowed him to retain fifth position in the MX2 World Championship standings.

“I felt a little bit stiff this morning during the warm-up as I had a pretty big crash yesterday during the qualifying race,” said Beaton. “My first start was okay, but I collided with Brylyakov in the first turn – I still managed to come back to eighth so I was pretty happy with that ride.

“I put a lot of energy into that race and it made the second one pretty hard – it was also very hot today so my body felt a little bit drained so I couldn’t push for the entire moto but I still ended up seventh. It wasn’t my best weekend of the year but I took some good points and I’m still fifth in the championship.”

The next round on the world championship calendar is scheduled for 13 May at Kegums in Latvia, marking the seventh stop of the series.