The 2023 FIM Motocross World Champs arrive in The Netherlands this weekend, where riders will discover a new venue in Arnhem for the 16th round of the campaign.
The MXGP of The Netherlands comes back to the MXGP calendar after 2021. Arnhem is a sand track that many riders would know as an ideal training facility although the context will be different in competition mode.
Along with MXGP and MX2, the EMX250 and WMX categories will compete this weekend in their eighth and penultimate round respectively this season.
In EMX250, Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Andrea Bonacorsi is the leader and red plate holder with two round wins and seven podiums out of seven rounds. Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan leads the WMX by 20 points after the New Zealander won the prevous three rounds.
Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado kept his good form and his large advantage in the championship thanks to his race win putting him on the third step of the podium along with the qualifying race victory in Uddevalla.
Racing on a sand track at Arnhem will be certainly an advantage for the red plate holder to get even closer to the mighty title.
The winning streak of Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre came to a stop but the French rider still managed an excellent second place in Sweden which confirms even more his impressive form in this second part of the season.
He is still 98 points behind Prado and with just four GPs to go, time does favour him.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer finally got his second GP win of the season with a solid weekend in Sweden. His famous fast starts helped him a lot at Uddevalla to clinch the victory and take his 11th holeshot along the way to take the lead in that competition in front of Prado.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff didn’t perform as he would have loved to in Sweden as he finished ninth overall and lost precious points to his victorious team-mate Seewer in the championship for the third place. He will surely take the opportunity of racing at home in The Netherlands to give everything and chase after the victory that eluded him so far this season.
Team HRC’s Rubén Fernández managed to come back to compete in Sweden after his crash in Finland and managed a good 8th overall given the circumstances with two top 10 finishes. He will be able to raise his level again this weekend in Arnhem.
Team Gebben Van Venroy Yamaha Racing’s Calvin Vlaanderen was quieter than usual in Sweden as for the first time of the season he didn’t finish in the overall top 10.
His home GP in Arnhem will definitely give him an extra boost from the support of the Dutch fans to bounce back.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings performed very well in difficult conditions in Sweden to get a good and encouraging fourth place overall which is the perfect timing for him to get his home Grand Prix in the Netherlands.
Herlings is going to have an immense amount of support from the Dutch crowd who will all come to get a glimpse at the record holder in terms of motocross Grand Prix wins.
Team HRC’s defending MXGP world champion Tim Gajser keeps building his fitness and rhythm as he finished 10th overall in Sweden but finished 5th in race two.
Gajser will definitely want to prove that he can be back riding at the top in The Netherlands and maybe even eying a podium.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Maxime Renaux has signed his highly-anticipated comeback in Uddevalla and didn’t take long to put his print in the race as he clinched the 3rd place in race two to get an excellent 6th overall.
With a back-to-back Grand Prix, it will be interesting to see if Renaux can get a momentum and starts to fight for podiums straight away.
Home Rider Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Brian Bogers is 15th in the championship and will also be competing in his home GP.
Bogers will hope to better his season’s best finish in Flanders where he managed to get 9th overall. No doubt that the support from the Dutch fans will help him in that quest.
© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ
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MXGP – World Champs Top 10 Classification after round 15 of 19:
1 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 770 Points
2 Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 672 Points
3 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 603 Points
4 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 553 Points
5 Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 521 Points
6 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 498 Points
7 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 456 Points
8 Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 380 Points
9 Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 281 Points
10 Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 230 Points
MX2 – World Champs Top 10 Classification after round 15 of 19:
1 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 663 Points
2 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 583 Points
3 Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 559 Points
4 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 546 Points
5 Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 501 Points
6 Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 462 Points
7 Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 461 Points
8 Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 433 Points
9 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 425 Points
10 Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 306 Points
WMX – World Champs Top 10 Classification after round 4 of 6):
1. Courtney Duncan (NZL, KAW), 185 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 165 p.; 3. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, KAW), 150 p.; 4. Lynn Valk (NED, FAN), 128 p.; 5. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 127 p.; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, YAM), 105 p.; 7. Sara Andersen (DEN, KTM), 103 p.; 8. Charli Cannon (AUS, YAM), 91 p.; 9. Britt Jans-Beken (NED, YAM), 84 p.; 10. Giorgia Blasigh (ITA, KTM), 73 p.