Day one at the MXGP of Sardegna in Sardinia, Italy ended with some memorable RAM Qualifying Races in both MXGP and MX2 categories which were dominated by Jorge Prado and Jago Geerts.
A sunny day coupled with the now well-known sandy track of Riola Sardo made for some challenging conditions for the riders who couldn’t lose a moment of focus as we witnessed during this first day.
In a remake of the first round in Argentina, it was Jorge Prado who dominated the Qualifying race and led from start to finish again. The second place was also devoted to Glenn Coldenhoff who delivered a strong performance over the whole race keeping at bay, in turn, Jeffrey Herlings, Calvin Vlaanderen, and Ruben Fernandez. Coldenhoff eventually held his ground to finish second and pocketed 9 points.
The third place was very disputed but while Herlings found himself third early on, he had to be patient as went down the order to 5th on lap 7 although the Bullet capitalised on mistakes from Vlaanderen and Fernandez to get back up to third in the last 2 laps.
Brent van doninck was one rider who displayed strong racing as he methodically went up the leaderboard from 6th to 4th while never getting overtaken. Romain Febvre raced similarly to van doninck as he followed him throughout race to finish 5th.
Vlaanderen finished 8th in the end although he showed some great speed and was fighting for the second spot as he closed on Coldenhoff when he suddenly crashed on lap 9, losing along the way precious points. Fernandez followed the same path as he was battling with Coldenhoff to end up crashing as well and finishing 6th. Between them was Jeremy Seewer who stayed pretty consistent to navigate his to the 7th place.
Mattia Guadagnini ended in 9th place while Benoit Paturel had a strong race to end up with one point and the 10th place and stayed the whole race within the top 10.
“It was a very good day, another RAM Qualifying win and more points gained. I felt already good in the morning and I knew I had to get a good start to ride in front. I managed to put a gap between the second and keep it so I am very happy with this racing today,” Prado said.
MX2
In RAM MX2 Qualifying Race, it was a similar fate to MXGP for the top place as Jago Geerts led from lap 1 to win his second RAM Qualifying Race in a row.
Kay De Wolf who is known as a sand specialist was one rider who showed great determination as he passed Thibault Benistant on the first lap to then set his eyes on Simon Laengenfelder over the next few laps. De Wolf eventually made a great overtake on the German to chase after Geerts for the lead. Although he settled for second in the end.
Laengenfelder did keep his third position after that even if Benistant got close to him towards the end. Benistant raced in 4th position after lap 1 until the end as he was not able to pass Laengenfelder and had to defend his place from Kevin Horgmo.
The 5th position was held the whole way by Kevin Horgmo who kept Liam Everts at bay while making a charge on Benistant at the end. Everts comfortably kept the 6th place.
While Lucas Coenen had a similar racing story keeping his 7th place after the first lap until the end, Andrea Adamo was eying a move on Coenen but had to settle for 8th.
Finally, Roan Van de Moosdijk got into the points as he moved up to 9th on lap 3 while Rick Elzinga moved down from 8th to 10th to fight this position with Cornelius Toendel during a few laps to hold his ground in the end in 10th.
Again a good race for me, Kay de Wolf was also pushing but I felt good on the track and I had a good pace. Today, riding felt very good. Even though this sand track is rough, I really like it,” Geerts said.
MXGP – RAM Qualifying Race – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 25:00.149
2 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:01.450
3 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:03.253
4 Brent Van doninck (BEL, Honda), +0:10.328
5 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:12.660
6 Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:15.017
7 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:16.135
8 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:18.798
9 Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GASGAS), +0:33.688
10 Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:41.399
MX2 – RAM Qualifying Race – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), 24:44.614
2 Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:05.879
3 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:11.037
4 Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:22.812
5 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:25.140
6 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:33.796
7 Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:40.644
8 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:49.158
9 Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +1:06.718
10 Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha)
