Podiums for Gajser and Fernandez in Trentino
PietramurataMirroring last year’s triple header in Trentino (Italy), today was the first of three races at the Crossodrome Ciclamino Circuit and like last year, the sun shone upon the beautiful landscape, high in the Dolomite Mountains.
In the MXGP class it was Team HRC’s Tim Gajser who lead the Honda charge to finish the day in third overall keeping his championship hopes very much alive.
Race one saw the Slovenian battle hard throughout the moto with fast and consistent lap times, but frustratingly couldn’t quite make passes on the challenging hillside circuit. Then in race two Tim had a poor start after tangling with other riders on the start-straight. He was down in 12th place on the first lap, but managed to push upto sixth place in the first few minutes - eventually finish the race in third after another frustrating moto.
Gajser was followed home by Honda SR Motoblouz’s Benoit Paturel taking his CRF450R to ninth overall. Also great to see JM Honda Racing’s Henry Jacobi holeshot race two and finish the moto in 11th after a small crash in the latter stages.
Following a good result last weekend at his home GP in Spain, Honda 114 Motorsports’ Ruben Fernandez improved again today in Italy, taking his CRF250R to third overall, followed by Honda Racing Assomotor’s Stephen Rubini in ninth overall.
In race one Fernandez battled hard from a good start to move up to sixth place on lap one and then set-about a race of attrition to be rewarded with fourth place at the finish. Meanwhile Stephen Rubini had an even better start, one place ahead of Fernandez, but struggled to defend his position to eventually finish the race in ninth.
In race two Ruben got off to a better start and rounded lap one in fifth place, to eventually move into fourth place on lap four where he finished the race. Meanwhile, Stephen Rubini struggled to make progress from 12th place at the start to finish the race in 11th.
After competing for the Canadian national team at the recent Motocross of Nations in Mantova, Italy, Dylan Wright rode his first MXGP today on a Honda 114 Motorsports CRF450R, finishing the day in 19th place with 8 MXGP points.
The next race in Trentino trilogy will be held this Wednesday, 27th October.
It was a really intense day of racing with two very hard-fought races.I made life difficult for myself with my starts and having to come through the field in both motos. I completed a lot of passes but it wasn’t quite enough to take the win. However, we come back here on Wednesday and I know that I’m very close and I definitely won’t give up fighting until the very end.I’d like to thank my team for all their work and to all the fans who came here and supported me. I truly appreciate it and they always bring a smile to my face.
It was a good day for me, especially the second moto.Unfortunately, I had a crash in the first moto and had to make my way back from 24th to 14th at the finish. In the second moto I had a really good start and and I could fight at the front. It was a really good race and I’ve waited a long time for this. I hope I can make two solid races on Wednesday.I really like the track here in Italy. It’s quite like the French tracks that I know so well and I’m also very happy with my CRF450R. The team did a great job, so I’m really happy. For a private team I think we’re getting some great results now.
It was a solid day of racing for me today. I went four-four for third overall.It was back at round two this year that I was on the podium and since then I’ve had a few bad races and some injuries which meant that I had to take time off the bike.I came back to GP racing in France and from then on I started to improve and this weekend I’m very happy to be on the podium again. My shoulder is still sore, but improving each week.Let’s see if I can keep improving and be on the podium again before the season is over.
Brilliant to see a double Honda podium here on day one of the triple round occasion at this spectacular Trentino venue.Ruben Fernandez returned to the MX2 podium with a third overall after two solid fourth place rides. This is a great boost for his confidence to take momentum into the next round in a couple of days time. Rubini also was shining bright today running as high as sixth and putting in faster laps as the race went on.In MXGP Tim was a pleasure to watch on track. Fastest lap of race two and challenging for the race lead. The end position feels like an under-reward for the performance delivered.In race two Jacobi and Paturel ran fifth and sixth for a long while. Paturel getting a season best sixth at the flag and Jacobi recovered from a fall to clinch 11th.Both great rides and brilliant to see a trio of CRF450R bikes running inside the top six.I'm looking forward to Wednesday's race already.
