Team HRC’s Tim Gajser leads the MXGP World Championship
LommelRenowned for its endless deep sand and relentless rolling-bumps the FIM World Motocross Championship visited the Flanders circuit of Lommel today. A huge test for both riders and machines alike.
As the start gate dropped for the first time today it was Team Honda 114 Motorsport’s racer Ruben Fernandez who lead Honda’s charge in the MX2 class.
Fernandez battled hard in the first few laps and capitalised on his competitor’s mistakes to push into third place, which he held onto for six laps. A string of mistakes then hit Fernandez which dropped him to seventh position where he eventually finished the race.
Team Honda Racing Assomotor’s Stephen Rubini struggled once again today, battling to find his form of recent years. Rubini disappointedly did not finish race two after a small crash and finished race one in 20th position. Meanwhile, Spaniard Ruben Fernandez battled hard throughout moto two swapping sixth and seventh positions and eventually coming home in seventh to give the CRF250R rider sixth overall today.
His overall position in the World Championship means that Fernandez is now only one point away from second place going into round seven in Latvia next weekend.
In the MXGP class Team HRC’s Tim Gajser showed great speed on the CRF450RW and qualified in pole position for today’s racing.
Following and early crash in race one, the four-time World Champion battled hard throughout the moto whilst hampered by crash damage to his goggle roll-off system. Gajser had to ride the rest of the race with severely impaired vision with rain and sand on his goggle lens hindering his progress. Tim finished race one in seventh position with high hopes of better luck in race two.
A much better start in race two gave Gajser a good chance to progress to the front and by lap two the Slovenian had pushed into second place. As the race-pace picked up, small crashes on lap four and six were a big setback for Tim, but he regrouped and produced some blisteringly fast laps to be within a bike’s length of second place on the final lap. Pushing so hard though brings risk and another small crash put an end to Gajser’s hopes of a podium finish.
The current World Champion finished the day in sixth overall and plans to regroup and focus hard on the next round in Latvia on one week’s time.
I was really happy with my speed this weekend, posting the fastest lap-time in qualifying and then running good lap-times in the races. However, I just made too many mistakes and that cost me in both races.They were tough motos and the rain didn’t help the conditions as it seemed softer than previous years, but I am proud to know that I never stopped trying, I never settled for a position and kept fighting until the end.There are a lot of races left, and even after these bad races, I am still leading the championship so I know I can ride better and that’ll help me out when we go to Latvia next weekend.
I had two solid motos today and scored some important points. I knew it was going to be a hard day on this track. The starts were also really important and I didn’t want to take too many risks today but I made the best out of the day with sixth overall and I’m pretty happy.I’m now only one point away from second in the overall championship and I really enjoy the track in Latvia which is the next GP so I’m looking forward to a good result.
Tim Gajser unfortunately had an early crash in race one damaging his goggle roll-off system which really restricted his vision during the whole of the race. Tim managed to salvage a good result despite the setback which is all credit to his determination.In race two Tim fell off three times and still finished the race in fourth place and we have to compliment his speed and his ability as one of the greatest sand riders of the current times.Tim still leads the World Championship and we’re hoping that he can move on quickly to racing without the setbacks of small crashes that rob him of valuable points.In the MX2 class Ruben Fernandez continues to make his strong presence felt. Today he managed sixth overall with a sixth and seventh in the motos respectively. Ruben is now only one point away from second place in the overall standings and we hope he can defend his position well at the next round in Latvia.
