Motocross

Gajser wins MXGP of Russia to take MXGP championship lead, Prado takes seventh MX2 win

Posted:

Monday, June 10th, 2019

11:23 AM

Gajser wins MXGP of Russia to take MXGP championship lead, Prado takes seventh MX2 win

Tim Gasjer gets the jump on his way to winning the MXGP of Russia. Photo: Bavo

Tim Gajser and Jorge Prado solidified their MXGP and MX2 prowess as both now hold the Championship leader‰Ûªs red plates after another weekend at the top step of the podium at the 2019 Patron MXGP of Russia.

The weekend‰Ûªs warm weather and blue skies was matched by the blue water of the Black Sea and warm welcome of Russia‰Ûªs motocross fans. The picturesque location of the venue and the beautiful Russian community of spectators combined with the unexpected results made for an unforgettable weekend of racing.

Following yesterday‰Ûªs qualifying results Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP‰Ûªs Romain Febvre lined up to the gate in pole position and when the gate dropped for today‰Ûªs race one the Frenchman scored his second Fox Holeshot of the year. Team HRC‰Ûªs Gajser shot past the #461 almost immediately after they crossed the chalk and was into the lead as the opening lap kicked off.

Clement Desalle got into second with a pass on Febvre along with Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP‰Ûªs Arnaud Tonus. The returning World Champion Jeffrey Herlings was in 5th while current championship leader Antonio Cairoli was way back outside the top 15.

BOS Factory‰Ûªs Evgeny Bobryshev lost control of his Kawasaki on the main downhill section on the opening lap and crashed hard ending not only the race but his home GP. Tonus gained a spot as Desalle fell in a corner while Tonus‰Ûª Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP teammate, Gautier Paulin, crashed out of the top ten damaging his front causing him to fall again before making his way into Pit Lane and eventually the paddock.

Team HRC‰Ûªs Tim Gajser won his sixth moto and third overall in a row at the MXGP of Russia, which was also good enough to see him handed the red plate and the championship lead after eight rounds of this 2019 world motocross season.

Herlings then found himself in 4th after the fall of Desalle with Pauls Jonass and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP‰Ûªs Jeremy Seewer applying pressure. Seewer first passed Jonass but then Desalle surged past both Jonass and Seewer to take over 5th.

Italian Alessandro Lupino had a big crash and was unable to continue while fellow Italian and his friend Antonio Cairoli was stuck in 15th for 12 laps before finally making a pass on Jordi Tixier. Desalle was ejected from his bike at the end of pitlane straight with only four laps to go and was unable to rejoin the racing. Seewer took over the 4th spot while Gajser took the race win ahead of Tonus, Febvre, and Herlings. Cairoli gained 2 more spots in the closing laps to finish 12th.

The second and final race of the MXGP weekend started with a season first Fox Holeshot for Glenn Coldenhoff with Gajser and Tixier just behind. Tonus was quick to move past Tixier along with Seewer. Seewer‰Ûªs teammate Febvre fell in the early portion of the race from 7th costing him 6 positions with his former 7th place spot going to Cairoli.

Arnaud Tonus felt he could challenge for the win but was satisfied with second. Photo: Youthstream

Jonass passed Julien Lieber to get into the top 5 behind his former MX2 rival Seewer. On lap 7 Jonass lost his top 5 spot to Lieber as Cairoli also went by into 6th before making it past Lieber the next lap, at the same Gajser finally made his way around Coldenhoff for the lead.

Coldenhoff lost the 2nd spot to Tonus immediately before losing a handful of other spots in the following laps to Seewer, Cairoli, Lieber, Jonass, Herlings, Paulin, and Febvre. Tonus then closed in right to the back wheel of Gajser and made an attempt to take the lead but clipped a trackside haybale and fell instead.

The fall of Tonus didn‰Ûªt lose him any positions, only time to Gajser that he could not recover. At the finish Gajser took his 3rd MXGP Overall in 3 rounds via double race wins, the MXGP Championship leader's red plate, and the first ever Russian Overall GP victory for Honda. Tonus took second overall with his 2-2 finishes and Seewer scored his career first MXGP podium overall, best MXGP race finish, and put not only the second Yamaha on the podium but also joined his Swiss compatriot Tonus to make history as the first time two Swiss riders have stood on the podium in the premier category of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

Jeremy Seewer scored his career first MXGP podium overall, best MXGP race finish, third overall, and put not only the second Yamaha on the podium. Photo: Youthstream

‰ÛÏI am feeling really good but both races were really tough because Arnaud was really fast and pushing," Gajser said. "Overall, I am happy winning again and thanks to everybody at Honda, the bike is just amazing. Three races ago I was more than 40 points behind Tony and now I have the red plate.‰Û

Jorge Prado claimed his seventh overall victory from eight rounds of the 2019 MX2 class and a hot and hard-packed Grand Prix of Russia.

In the MX2 class Jorge Prado took pole position into today‰Ûªs races thanks to his win in Qualifying yesterday but spun off the gate for an uncharacteristic start outside of the top 10. Meanwhile it was Darian Sanayei taking his first Fox Holeshot of the year.

Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha Official MX2‰Ûªs Jago Geerts and youngster Tom Vialle where in second and third but Thomas Kjer Olsen was on a mission and made it past Vialle quickly.

Not much later Olsen made it into second passing Geerts on the downhill leading up to the finish. Prado has made his way up to 5th by this point and took 4th from his teammate Vialle on the next lap before battling with Geerts over 3rd.

Thomas Kjer Olsen earned a hard-fought second place overall MX2 class result. Photo: Youthstream

While the pair battled, Olsen took the lead from Sanayei who then was caught by Prado after he made it by Geerts. The next lap Geerts also move forward past Sanayei who continued to lose position to Vialle and Honda 114 Motorsports‰Ûª Mitch Evans. With two laps to go Prado took the lead from Olsen as they entered the turn at the bottom of the downhill. Geerts tried to reel in Olsen for a last lap pass but wasn‰Ûªt quite close enough.

The second MX2 race started with the 10 Fox Holeshot of the season for Prado with Darian Sanayei again getting a good start in 2nd. Olsen was in third just ahead of Marchetti Racing Team KTM‰Ûªs Iker Larranaga and Yamaha SM Action MC Migliori‰Ûªs Michele Cervellin.

Geerts didn‰Ûªt have quite as good of a start as in race 1 but made his way into 5th by lap 2 with a pass on the American Mitchell Harrison. The other American Sanayei was then passed by Olsen for 2nd as the Dane tried to keep Prado in sight.

Belgian Jago Geerts continued his good form with another podium in Russia with a pair of third places. Photo: Youthstream

Cervellin lost 4th to Geerts but gained it back as both him and Geerts shuffled Sanayei further back. After Vialle joined the top 5 by passing Sanayei on the 10th lap no further changes occurred at the head of the field. Prado passed the checkered flag for his 6th consecutive overall win and 7th of the 8 races so far this season. Olsen took both 2ndin the race and overall while Geerts took third and rounded out the podium.

‰ÛÏI felt pretty good this weekend, the track was hard but I felt good getting the Saturday Qualifying Race win and today I was in the back of the pack so I had to make my way up to the front, but I had good speed and fought all the way to the end to get the win. I am happy and looking forward to the next round,‰Û

Aussie Mitch Evans placed sixth overall after a hard-fought fifth in race one but he couldn‰Ûªt quite match that in race two and had to settle for 10th.

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:40.798
2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:02.718
3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:29.654
4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:37.212
5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:38.625
6. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:41.033
7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Husqvarna), +0:42.055
8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:43.723
9. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Husqvarna), +0:44.364
10. Max Anstie (GBR, KTM), +0:45.964.

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 33:31.603
2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:05.014
3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:09.910
4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:14.130
5. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:15.660
6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Husqvarna), +0:18.786
7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:20.842
8. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:21.359
9. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:23.306
10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:23.79.

MXGP Overall Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 50 points
2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 44 points
3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 36 points
4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 32 points
5. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 32 points
6. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 31 points
7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HUS), 29 points
8. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 27 points
9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 24 points
10. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 22 points

MXGP ChampionshipTop Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 351 points
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 338 points
3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 231 points
4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 220 points
5. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 212 points
6. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 208 points
7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 206 points
8. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 172 points
9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, HON), 170 points
10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 168 points

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 34:13.145
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:01.249
3. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:02.784
4. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), +0:16.702
5. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +0:27.598
6. Darian Sanayei (USA, Kawasaki), +0:31.130
7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:33.148
8. Henry Jacobi (GER, Kawasaki), +0:33.845
9. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Yamaha), +0:33.945
10. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:38.485

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 34:12.435
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:04.649
3. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:05.320
4. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Yamaha), +0:26.085
5. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), +0:27.956
6. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:33.047
7. Jed Beaton (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:37.728
8. Henry Jacobi (GER, Kawasaki), +0:46.019
9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:47.226
10. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +0:48.668

MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 50 points
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 44 points
3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 40 points
4. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 34 points
5. Michele Cervellin (ITA, YAM), 30 points
6. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 27 points
7. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 26 points
8. Henry Jacobi (GER, KAW), 26 points
9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 26 points
10. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 23 points

MX2 ChampionshipTop Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 347 points
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 327 points
3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 257 points
4. Henry Jacobi (GER, KAW), 236 points
5. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 216 points
6. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 214 points
7. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 210 points
8. Adam Sterry (GBR, KAW), 169 points
9. Davy Pootjes (NED, HUS), 157 points
10. Michele Cervellin (ITA, YAM), 132 points