Once again, the final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship was a nail-biter with an intense second race that saw Tom Vialle secure his second title in the MX2 class after a hard-fought battle with Jago Geerts.
The pair entered the final heat of 2022 separated by just one point, with Vialle having the upper hand. Though despite plenty of tense moments and Geerts’ best effort, Vialle was able to get the job done and celebrate in style with the perfect 1-1 scorecard.
Meanwhile, in MXGP, Tim Gajser rounded out his championship-winning season with his 10th Grand Prix victory, as Romain Febvre made his first appearance on the box to place third overall. And there was more to celebrate, as Jorge Prado battled his way to the bronze medal position, ending his very tough season on a positive note.
In MXGP race one, the Holeshot went to Jeremy Seewer though Romain Febvre was quick to take over the lead during what was a beginning of a very busy first lap!
There were at least three changes for the lead before the riders crossed the finish line to complete the first official lap as Australian Mitch Evans steered the way ahead of Seewer, Febvre, and Maxime Renaux.
But Seewer fought back before Evans was able to assert himself in the first position. Meanwhile, his teammate Tim Gajser was down in 11th.
Renaux found himself in third after passing Febvre, before pushing past his teammate Seewer as he climbed into second place and then set his sights on Evans. Evans was fast though and set two consecutive fastest laps as he looked to pull away from the rest of the pack.
Valentin Guillod was looking very impressive too, as he took away fourth from Febvre and set the fastest lap of the race.
Further down the field, Glenn Coldenhoff lost the sixth position to Mattia Guadagnini and then was later passed by Jorge Prado as well as Gajser. Coldenhoff then crashed and got going in 14th where he remained until the chequered flag.
On lap eight, we saw a change for the lead as Renaux took away first place from Evans, with the Australian beginning to fade. Despite his best efforts, he was passed by Febvre, then Guillod and so on, before finishing the race in 12th position.
An impressive move came from Alberto Forato who passed Calvin Vlaanderen, Prado, and Febvre all in one go to move up to sixth.
In the final few laps, Gajser managed to get into fourth and began to challenge Guillod for third. Guillod looked solid until a mistake saw him go down on the final lap, which allowed Gajser into third and saw the Swiss drop to sixth.
Renaux won the race ahead of Seewer, Gajser, Guadagnini, and Forato.
In race two, for the first time in 2022, the Fox Holeshot went to Renaux who led Febvre, Evans, and Prado. But Febvre was quick into the lead and moments later Renaux crashed and only re-joined in 15th.
Evans then crashed big out of second place and did not carry on with the race, while Seewer took fourth from Guadagnini as Renaux looked to enter the top 10 after passing Vlaanderen.
Febvre then set the fastest lap of the race as he extended his lead over Prado to 4.342 seconds, while Gajser began to close in on the Spaniard.
Further down the field, Vlaanderen was looking to take back his lost position from Renaux but made a mistake and went down hard. He did not carry on with the race.
On lap 10, Gajser found a way past Prado and worked his way to catch Febvre. But Febvre held on and took the win and with it secured his first podium of 2022! Gajser ended up winning the Grand Prix tied on points with Seewer who was second and Febvre third.
In terms of the championship, Gajser collected his gold medal, Seewer secured silver while Prado rounded out the top three in the standings after a hard-fought GP.
This season Team HRC is the Championship winning team, while Yamaha wins the manufacturer standings with an impressive 805 points.
“It was a good day. Two solid races, finishing third and second for the overall,” Gajser said. “I was struggling with the start a little bit, with the altitude. But anyway, it was good. Couldn’t wish for a better ending to the season, it’s been an amazing season for us. Huge thank you to my team, we work super hard to be champions, and also everyone around me, the fans that travelled here today and also back home in Slovenia. It was a great season with so many highlights. It was special to start with so many overall wins in a row, then had a bit of a struggle but ending the season on the high note is really important for the next season. So yeah, a lot of highlights so it’s difficult to pick just one”.
MX2
In MX2 race one, the Holeshot was won by Tom Vialle who was the leading rider ahead of Kay de Wolf, Simon Längenfelder and Jago Geerts.
De Wolf and Längenfelder briefly battled for second, before Geerts was able to get in the middle of that to take over third place and focus on de Wolf ahead in second place.
It looked like Vialle, and de Wolf was settling into a good race pace, which was worrying for Geerts, but he was able to find his rhythm too and made a pass on the Dutchman on the third lap.
With Geerts in second, it was all eyes on the title hopefuls as Vialle got his head down to set the fastest lap of the race and extend his lead to 4.188 seconds.
Liam Everts dropped out of fifth and went back to eighth, before quickly finding his way past Andrea Adamo for seventh. He then passed Jan Pancar with two laps to go, to finish sixth.
With Vialle setting the pace in first, the leader did make a couple of mistakes, one of which almost cost him the lead! But he was able to keep it on two wheels, as Geerts continued his charge towards the front.
On lap 10, Geerts crashed but managed to get going just behind de Wolf, which meant that he had to do all the work again to salvage vital championship points. It took the Belgian two laps to get back into second place, but by that point, Vialle was too far in front.
In the end, Vialle secured the race win ahead of Geerts, de Wolf, Roan Van De Moosdijk and Längenfelder.
Entering race two, Vialle was one point ahead of Geerts in the championship and a good start was crucial to have the upper hand for the title. This time around the Fox Holeshot went to Geerts who immediately led with Thibault Benistant right there in second ahead of de Wolf and Vialle.
Though by the end of the first lap, Vialle managed to get himself into second position, as he focused on Geerts ahead.
There was no doubt that the gloves were off between the pair, as Vialle charged down the inside of Geerts in what can only be described as a championship-worthy pass. Geerts needed to re-group, but a couple of mistakes allowed Vialle to pull away.
Vialle made mistakes of his own, which meant that Geerts was straight back onto his rear wheel and was not holding back. The Belgian made several attempts which were almost successful but not quite enough as Vialle was fast to respond.
Around the halfway mark, Vialle crashed which also took out Geerts who was right behind him and had no way of avoiding the Frenchman. Vialle was fast to get going which was a crucial moment for him as he managed to get away from Geerts before he got back on the bike.
The gap was up to 5.094 seconds immediately, but Geerts was on a mission and the purple sectors he was setting proved just that. Geerts was looking to challenge Vialle once again but crashed for the second time which was another tough moment for the Belgian.
The gap was up to 12.186 seconds which eventually Geerts was able to bring down but it was not enough to catch Vialle who won the race and sealed the deal to his second MX2 World title! Geerts crossed the line in second place ahead of Moosdijk, Benistant and Längenfelder.
And there was no denying who the overall winner was, as two race wins saw Vialle on the top step of the podium alongside Geerts and Moosdijk who made his first podium appearance since coming back from injury only a few rounds ago.
In the end, Vialle won the MX2 Championship with a 4-point advantage over Geerts who suffered heartbreak in second ahead of Längenfelder who was third.
“It was a great one, I mean I didn’t get the best start in the second race, but I passed Kay and Thibault and was second behind Jago,” Vialle explained, “I felt good actually and then after two laps, I passed Jago on the start straight. Then Jago was pushing a lot, he passed me two times but I passed him back and then I had a little tip over, and I crashed… When I crashed, I thought, this is it, it’s finished, because we were both so fast, but when I saw that Jago crashed with me, I thought “no way” this is not possible and I managed to get going quickly. It was crazy and I was lucky there a little bit, but that is part of the game. It was a long race eventually, I was watching the clock a lot. I am happy, it was a tough season and to finish like this is so nice”.
Jago Geerts was left ruing his luck, “Honestly, I’m very disappointed,” a dejected Geerts said. “I really can’t believe my luck. I felt good on the track today and gave everything. In the first race I missed the start a little bit and then had a little crash, but still finished second. In the second race, I was just really unlucky with Tom crashing right in front of me and I could not avoid his bike. It cost me a lot of time, and then I had to push so hard to come back that I fell again, and from there it was game-over.”
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), 35:35.228
2 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:04.307
3 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:09.782
4 Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GASGAS), +0:14.401
5 Alberto Forato (ITA, GASGAS), +0:16.034
6 Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:18.931
7 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:23.582
8 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:25.213
9 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:26.724
10 Brian Bogers (NED, Husqvarna), +0:32.646
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 35:28.577
2 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:02.084
3 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:20.116
4 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:27.183
5 Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GASGAS), +0:29.654
6 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:33.305
7 Alberto Forato (ITA, GASGAS), +0:39.836
8 Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:50.034
9 Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +1:00.040
10 Brian Bogers (NED, Husqvarna), +1:04.134
MXGP – GP Top 10 Classification:
1 Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 42 Points
2 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 42 Points
3 Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 38 Points
4 Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 38 Points
5 Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GAS), 34 Points
6 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 32 Points
7 Alberto Forato (ITA, GAS), 30 Points
8 Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 27 Points
9 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 22 Points
10 Brian Bogers (NED, HUS), 22 Points
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
1 Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 763 Points
2 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 657 Points
3 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 589 Points
4 Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 578 Points
5 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 575 Points
6 Brian Bogers (NED, HUS), 428 Points
7 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 395 Points
8 Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 382 Points
9 Pauls Jonass (LAT, HUS), 350 Points
10 Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 308 Points
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 34:40.047
2 Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:10.015
3 Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:18.089
4 Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +0:25.823
5 Simon Längenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:29.658
6 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:39.076
7 Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:44.717
8 Andrea Adamo (ITA, GASGAS), +0:45.908
9 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:48.473
10 Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +1:04.158
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 33:51.211
2 Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:06.022
3 Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +0:23.505
4 Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:26.610
5 Simon Längenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:27.812
6 Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:37.609
7 Andrea Adamo (ITA, GASGAS), +0:57.357
8 Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:59.866
9 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +1:03.034
10 Stephen Rubini (FRA, Honda), +1:24.307
MX2 – GP Top 10 Classification:
1 Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 50 Points
2 Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 44 Points
3 Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 38 Points
4 Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 35 Points
5 Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 32 Points
6 Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 29 Points
7 Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 27 Points
8 Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 27 Points
9 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 24 Points
10 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 24 Points
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
1 Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 758 Points
2 Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 754 Points
3 Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 596 Points
4 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 527 Points
5 Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 510 Points
6 Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 445 Points
7 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 443 Points
8 Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 437 Points
9 Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 384 Points
10 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 310 Points
