Image: Foremost Media.

Finishing second outright in the Hattah Desert Race marked a coming of age for GasGas Racing Team newcomer Mason Semmens on Sunday, also picking up the 450cc class victory in a commanding performance.

Semmens showed a glimpse of what was to come in qualifying, taking out second position in the Top 10 Shootout before converting that into an outright podium finish on race day and achieving the fastest lap of the race in the process with a 30m21.408s.

Displaying great pace and consistency on-board the GasGas MC 450F, the 20-year-old finished within striking distance of the outright race winner Daniel Milner and just 38.486s adrift in his first full Hattah senior outing.

“I was loving the MC 450F here this weekend and the race was a good one, for sure,” Semmens commented.” To battle with Milner at the start of the race and have the opportunity to learn from him – there’s nothing like that – and after four hours I was happy with the end result.

“I’ve raced Hattah a lot, but never the full distance as a senior like we did today and it was definitely tough, so finishing second and winning my class was a great achievement for myself and the GASGAS Racing Team. We just kept pushing right to the end and I’m really happy with how it went!”

Semmens focus will now shift to the next round of the Australian Off-Road Championship set to be contested on 6-7 August at Queensland Moto Park, where he will revert to the GasGas EC 250F in the E1 category.