Gajser maintains championship lead after tough MXGP of Flanders
Lommel
MXGP
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser continues to hold the red-plate, maintaining a 24-point lead as they leave the MXGP of Flanders after his five-four results in the deep sand of Lommel.
After qualifying third in yesterday’s race, the Honda CRF450R rider was able to get two decent starts in today’s GP-scoring motos, which gave him good track position and made things slightly easier for the 35 minutes plus two laps at Lommel – possibly the toughest motocross track on the planet.
In race one, it took the Slovenian a couple of laps to find his groove and by lap five he was back into fifth place, but he never really looked completely comfortable and wasn’t able to make a move on the rider in fourth place, despite pressuring him for the majority of the race.
Race two started off better, with the #243 into third early on and keeping pace with the leaders. However, keeping your momentum high is a difficult challenge in the deep sand and near the end, he had to relinquish a position and ended up just missing out on the podium as a result. His 34-point total still means he holds the red-plate with six rounds remaining, but he’ll be hoping for much more when they line up again in a couple of weeks’ time at the Uddevalla track in Sweden.
MX2
After fighting through the field in the qualification race yesterday, Team HRC’s Ferruccio Zanchi powered around the first turn inside the top five and set about tracking the riders in front. He was soon into third, and then by the mid-point of the race, with chaos all around him, he moved up into second place. From there, he held a good pace and looked like he would get his first ever MX2 podium result, but on the very last lap, the treacherous Lommel track finally took its toll and he dropped down to seventh.
Hoping to show that same speed in race two, he unfortunately got caught up in the deep second turn and had to remount in last position. Showing that same determination as yesterday, he was able to fight his way through the field to 12thbefore he received the chequered flag, but once again he was left ruing what might have been. He now has a weekend off before the series resumes in Uddevalla, Sweden which will be on hard-pack terrain and provide a much different test for the young Italian.
It was tough to find the flow here this weekend and on a track like this, it made my life really difficult. In the end, fourth overall on a day that wasn’t my best, isn’t too bad, so I have to stay positive and focus on making sure that I do better in Sweden next time out. It will be a totally different challenge but we will work hard on making that happen.
It was tough to find the flow here this weekend and on a track like this, it made my life really difficult. In the end, fourth overall on a day that wasn’t my best, isn’t too bad, so I have to stay positive and focus on making sure that I do better in Sweden next time out. It will be a totally different challenge but we will work hard on making that happen.
I was so close to my first race podium finish with a third in that first moto, but unfortunately Lommel caught up with me and I crashed on the last lap. It was disappointing to only finish seventh in the end, but to ride for a lot of the race in second place, I have to be happy with my riding. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the second corner of the second race and that left me last, and although I got up to 12th, it was a lot of effort and a tough race. Like has happened before, I think my riding is better than my results show, so my aim is to fix that.
I was so close to my first race podium finish with a third in that first moto, but unfortunately Lommel caught up with me and I crashed on the last lap. It was disappointing to only finish seventh in the end, but to ride for a lot of the race in second place, I have to be happy with my riding. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the second corner of the second race and that left me last, and although I got up to 12th, it was a lot of effort and a tough race. Like has happened before, I think my riding is better than my results show, so my aim is to fix that.
We knew this weekend would be a real difficult test for both Tim and Ferruccio and it proved to be the case at the end of the day. Tim wasn’t able to get a good rhythm in the races today and when that happens in sand, that makes it extremely difficult to finish on the podium. In the end, he only just finished off the box, so he was still able to perform at a high level, but we know he really wants to show that he is an excellent sand rider.
Ferro showed in the first race that he can cope with the toughest conditions, riding comfortably in second place and just keeping things smooth and consistent. Unfortunately at Lommel, you have to do that 100% of the time and he wasn’t able to quite make it to the end of the race. Then I think that mistake hindered his chances in race two, but he still fought hard to get up to 12th. Overall, his speed is good and we are excited for him to prove himself in the sand again.
We knew this weekend would be a real difficult test for both Tim and Ferruccio and it proved to be the case at the end of the day. Tim wasn’t able to get a good rhythm in the races today and when that happens in sand, that makes it extremely difficult to finish on the podium. In the end, he only just finished off the box, so he was still able to perform at a high level, but we know he really wants to show that he is an excellent sand rider.
Ferro showed in the first race that he can cope with the toughest conditions, riding comfortably in second place and just keeping things smooth and consistent. Unfortunately at Lommel, you have to do that 100% of the time and he wasn’t able to quite make it to the end of the race. Then I think that mistake hindered his chances in race two, but he still fought hard to get up to 12th. Overall, his speed is good and we are excited for him to prove himself in the sand again.
