Tim Gajser and Team HRC win again in Italy
MaggioraThe MXGP World Motocross Championship visited the popular and celebrated Italian circuit of Maggiora today. Situated 80km northwest of Milan, Maggiora’s super-steep hills and brutal descents provided a spectacular backdrop for a great day’s racing.
In the MXGP class it was once again Team HRC’s Tim Gajser riding the CRF450R who took maximum points from the day and retained the championship leader’s red-plate.
In race one the Slovenian took a good start, but had to work hard - making his way to the front around the mid-race stage showing patience and a Champion’s wisdom. Once in the lead Tim immediately opened up up a comfortable gap using the Honda’s power to great effect on the tricky hillside circuit.
Tim’s teammate Mitch Evans struck bad-luck on lap one getting tangled with other riders and had to battle his way back from the back of the pack to finish the race in 13th. Meanwhile Honda 114 Motorsport’s Rubén Fernández had a relatively routine race in seventh place for the entire moto, but still a great race result for the MXGP rookie.
Tim Gajser rounded lap one of race two and in third place once again, but this time the 25-year-old pushed into the lead on lap four, going onto win the race by over 20 seconds.
Rubén Fernández had a better outing in race two, rounding the first lap in seventh place and pushing up to sixth on lap six. Fernández eventually finished the race in fifth and also finished the day in fifth overall. He now sits in sixth in the championship, only a handful of points away from a top five place.
The friendly Australian Mitch Evans had a better showing in race two, pushing hard to make his way back from a mid-pack start to finish the race in sixth, giving Evans ninth overall.
Hats-off though to Tim Gajser this weekend. His 50-point haul from today’s win puts ‘Tiga’ 81 points ahead of the MXGP World Championship with just seven of the 20 races run. Today’s win was Tim’s 39th career GP victory.
Honda’s success in Italy continued into the MX2 class where Shiptocycle Honda SR Motoblouz racer Stephen Rubini took his CRF250R to third place overall; his career best result and his first podium in the MX2 class.
Although the Frenchman struggled in the qualifying race, he got a great start in race one and rounded lap one in second place. Although at some moments a challenge for the lead looked possible, Rubini rode a sensible race a came home in a very comfortable second place, almost 13 seconds ahead of the third placed rider.
In race two Rubini had some work to do after rounding lap one in 10th. By the mid race point he was up to sixth, but lost two positions on lap 11 and regained those places by the finish. This was enough to gift the likeable Rubini with his first MX2 podium and a career best GP finish.
Round eight of the championship visits the deep sand of Riola Sardo in Sardinia next weekend.
Today the conditions were a lot different than yesterday and that allowed more lines to form, which gave me more opportunity to make the passes I needed. I was able to get two good starts and move into the top three in both races early on. From there, I just had to choose the right time and the right place to make my moves and try to control the race afterwards. The track certainly wasn’t easy after the rain but I enjoyed creating my own lines and I’m just really enjoying my riding at the moment and this win was a nice moment. A big thank you to Team HRC for all their work with the bike, and just being great people to be alongside during a race weekend. Also thank you to all the fans who come to these races, it is much better this year having a good crowd to cheer us along.
Other than my starts, I had a good couple of races, especially race two where I came from 14th on lap one, to finish in sixth place. This was my best moto result of the season and it was such a nice confidence boost to be passing guys, coming through the field and pushing right until the very end. Of course, I’d prefer to be up front to begin with, but I know that will come as I am doing all the right things off the grid, so I’m just going to keep working hard and I’m sure next weekend in Riola will be much better.
On Saturday the track was really fast and there weren’t so many lines to make passes, but I finished the Qualifying Race in fourth place, so that gave me a good pick on the start-gate for Sunday’s races and this helped a lot.I didn’t manage to get a great feeling from the track all weekend, but even after what I’d call a bad ride, the result still wasn’t so bad for me with two solid results in both motos.Riola in Sardinia is next for us. A very sandy and tricky track for everyone. Not one of my favourites, but I’ll do my best and try for a good result.
It feels so good to get onto the podium in MX2 and I’m so happy.The way the track was on Saturday, it just looked like a track made for me, but the weekend didn’t start so good with a crash in the Qualifying Race. Although I qualified in 13th, I still felt that I could do a lot better in Sunday’s races, but being honest I didn’t think that I’d be on the podium.I got a great start in race one, but in race two I came around in 10th place on the first full lap. I was fighting hard in the race though and was in a fast group of four or five riders and I was still chasing the lead riders, but I was also being chased hard from the riders behind me. This forced me into a small mistake and I lost a couple of places. Even though I wasn’t at the front in race two, it was still a nice moto and a nice battle.Since the beginning of the season I’ve felt great on my CRF250R and we don’t make too many changes from race to race. It’s easy to see that I’m enjoying riding my Honda and even on this tough track with lots a challenges we can still compete with the factory riders in other teams.
I’m so happy. Absolutely brilliant weekend.Stephen Rubini’s second place in MX2 race one was so exciting, followed up with his podium finish and third overall. For Rubini this was such a tremendous performance and well-deserved.Tim dominated the MXGP class and he was so good today. Rubén Fernández and Mitch Evans fought hard for their results with strong lap times. Henry Jacobi also battled hard today.It’s been a very good day.
