German MXGP win for Team HRC's Tim Gajser
TeutschenthalIt was Germany’s turn to host the MXGP World Motocross Championship this weekend as round 11 of the 2022 series visited the popular but challenging Talkessel Circuit, close to the eastern German town of Teutschenthal.
Famous for its fast and flowing layout, Teutschenthal features a hard-packed base and constant elevation changes which clearly suited Team HRC’s four-time World Champion Tim Gajser as he holeshot his CRF450R and took an early lead in race one. Based on Tim’s domination of Saturday’s qualifying race Gajser was the favourite to win today and soon into race one it was clear that the friendly Slovenian had the measure of both the circuit and his competitors, going on to win by almost six seconds.
Team Honda 114 Motorsport’s Rubén Fernández also worked hard in race one, rounding lap one in seventh place but pushed throughout the race to eventually finish in fifth.
Gajser’s teammate Mitch Evans also battled hard in race one, maintaining a strong flow throughout the moto to eventually finish in eighth, battling home-rider Team JM Honda Racing’s Henry Jacobi who finished in ninth.
Shiptocycle Honda SR Motoblouz’s Stephen Rubini had a challenging ride in MX2 race one, entering lap one in ninth place and battling hard to maintaining his race position whilst searching for opportunities to progress. His hard work paid off on lap 14 when he managed to make a pass and finish the race in eighth.
As the gate dropped for MXGP race two, all eyes were on Gajser and as the riders hit turn one he emerged in fourth place and pushed hard into second as they charged passed the timing beacon. Although Gajser seemed content to sit-back and not take risks he began a charge with around eight minutes to go. With a lowering sun and cut-up track to contend with Gajser eventually conceded to the safer approach and settled for second place which gave him the overall win. ‘Tiga’ extended his lead in the MXGP World Championship today to 101 points with eight rounds to go.
Fernández, Evans and Jacobi all had better starts in race two with Fernández entering lap one in fourth, Evans in sixth and Jacobi in eighth. Fernández soon lost one position and remained in fifth for the duration of the race giving the Spaniard fourth overall, just two points away from a podium finish. Evans raced well and remained in sixth for the duration of the race and Jacobi held onto eighth until lap 10 when he lost his flow and dropped to 11th at the flag.
MX2 race two saw a tough battle for Rubini. Suffering from a poor start-gate pick resulting from Saturday’s qualifying race crash the Frenchman battled hard to push back from 12th on lap one and consistently worked his way up to eighth at the finish. Rubini finished the day in eighth overall, frustratingly just five points away from the fourth place finisher.
It was good to get back to winning ways and taking another holeshot was a bonus too. I really enjoyed the track this weekend and I think that showed in my riding. I was fastest in every session I think and even had the fastest laps in both races, so to come away with the overall was the best way to end this event. Going one-two and extending my lead to over 100 points is more than I could have hoped for so I must thank the team and my girlfriend Špela, who’s birthday it was today for their support. We have all worked extremely hard and I couldn’t do it without the backing they give me.
Today was my best points tally of the season, so I am very happy with how the weekend went. I got my joint-highest moto finish with a sixth in race two and that was after an eighth in race one, so two results inside the top ten and not too far away from a top five overall. I knew the starts would be important, so that helped, but it felt good to be battling the whole motos and fighting for every position. Now I have a couple of weeks to improve more and I’m feeling confident that this is going to be the start of some really good results.
It was a good weekend for me. I was feeling strong in Saturday’s qualifying race but I made a small mistake and had a slow-speed crash and lost quite a few positions. I managed to push hard and come back to seventh, which was OK.I didn’t have the best starts today, but I was feeling good with my riding. I finished in fifth place in both motos and this gave me fourth overall. My results have been solid recently and this is what we want to see so I’m happy.
It’s such a shame that I had a crash in the qualifying race. I had good speed and felt strong. It was just a silly crash and unfortunately I broke the clutch lever so this made it tough and I qualified 14th.In the first race I still managed to get quite a good start and came around in ninth and still raced a good moto. I was strong but my final result didn’t show this so well. Then in the second race I started in around 15th place and came back to eighth at the finish which was again okay but I can do much better and I hope to show this at the next race in Indonesia.
Today was a good day showcasing our CRF models to the global audience and to the German GP fans who were there to enjoy the race action.In the MXGP class it was the home round for our CRF450R rider Henry Jacobi and he delivered strong rides in both races and it was a pleasure to see and hear the fans cheer and support Henry all weekend around the track.For the most part of both MXGP races we had four CRF450R bikes inside the top 10 with Tim, Rubén, Mitch and Henry all riding fantastically and giving it their all. I was proud to see that. Rubén just missed the podium for third overall, but his confidence will be well-boosted with his great riding, speed and physical condition.In the MX2 class there was delight from Rubini's performance, scoring solid eighth place results passing up the leaderboard throughout each race. And credit to Petr Polak and his great rides too proving himself and edging towards the top 10 as the season moves along.It's been a great day and we look forward to the long haul to Indonesia next.
