The 16th round of the 2023 FIM Motocross World Championships offered some amazing battles on the typical Dutch sand track of Arnhem.
The great weather and track conditions meant that riders could express themselves to the fullest.
The typically tricky and tough Dutch sand track still offered many challenges for the riders who could not lose focus for a second.
In MXGP, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre won his 6th Grand Prix of the season in front of Red Plate Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado who keeps winning races to maintain his large points lead on Febvre.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer confirmed after his win in Sweden with a back-to-back podium asserting a bit more the 3rd place in the championship.
In MX2, the solid and consistent Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Liam Everts won his 2nd Grand Prix of the season in a last lap thriller that saw Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen finish second overall thanks to his win in race two and fighting spirit in the first race.
Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Simon Laengenfelder completed the podium with another race win to keep his podium streak going.
In the first of two MXGP class races, Prado clinched his 11th holeshot of the season, levelling with Seewer in the competition.
Seewer was just behind Prado but Febvre quickly overtook the Swiss in the opening lap to go second. Prado led the race but then got threatened by a fast Febvre who seemed to enjoy this tough track.
On lap nine of 18, Febvre made a great move to overtake the series leader and took the race lead.
Everyone thought that Febvre was going for the win after pulling away quickly but on lap 11, but unfortunately a stone got stuck into his rear brake to put it a stop in his flow.
The Frenchman struggled to switch back the bike and saw Prado and Seewer overtaking him. Febvre eventually got back to it and managed to get back to second on lap 17 after passing Seewer again. Febvre pushed for the win but was too short and Prado got another important race win while Febvre settled for 2nd and Seewer 3rd.
Behind the first trio, Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Pauls Jonass started very well in 4th on the turn of lap 1 in front of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Maxime Renaux but they both got overtaken by Renaux’s team-mate Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff who jumped to 4th place.
Coldenhoff kept that place until the end. Jonass couldn’t keep his position as Renaux, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser and SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery MXGP’s Alberto Forato overtook him between lap 5 and 7. Jonass moved down to 8th and finished in that position.
Renaux was 5th until lap nine when he made a mistake and moved down to seventh. Both Gajser and Forato took that opportunity to finish 5th and 6th respectively. Earlier, Forato passed Team Gebben Van Venroy Yamaha Racing’s Calvin Vlaanderen for 8th and unwilling forced him wide.
Vlaanderen went off track and crash and had to retire from the race on lap 6.
Unfortunately, De Baets Yamaha MX-Team’s Benoit Paturel and Team HRC’s Rubén Fernández crashed on the first corner.
Fenandez went to the pitlane for a goggle change and managed to move up to 17th which was really good considering how far back he was after that incident. Paturel could not go back on track after a bike issue.
In race two, Febvre took the best start to clinch the holeshot and took the lead. This time the French rider would not do the same mistakes and raced superbly to keep a good cushion at the lead. Febvre finally got the race win to go 2-1 and win his 6th Grand Prix of the season.
Behind him, Seewer got a great start once again to place himself 2nd. The Swiss managed to stay solid but got into a battle of the team-mate with the home rider Coldenhoff with 2 laps to go.
Coldenhoff showed great determination as he rode past Prado earlier in the race to go 3rd and kept charging forward as he was supported hugely by the home crowd. Seewer’s podium was in jeopardy if Coldenhoff passed him.
In the end Seewer managed to keep his cool and battle off Coldenhoff to stay 2nd and clinch the 3rd spot on the podium and get a back-to-back podium after his win in Sweden.
Coldenhoff who got tantalisingly close to the podium on his home GP had to settle for the 3rd place and the 4th overall.
Prado managed a pretty quiet race as he rode for most of the race in 4th place to get another podium with the second overall.
The only test for the red plate holder was to keep Gajser at bay for a couple of laps. Gajser in the end threw the towel with a couple of laps to go knowing it would be hard to chase after Prado and settled for another good 5th place and the 5th overall.
Renaux got a good start and placed himself in 3rd position but made a mistake on lap 4 to move down to 6th. The French rider kept the 6th spot until the end to go 6th overall.
Forato and Fernandez battled it out for the 7th place which Forato grasped on lap 6 and never gave it up again to go 6-7 for 7th overall while Fernandes showed that without a crash, he was well worthy of the top 10 as he finished 8th.
Jonass rode pretty much the whole race in 9th place to finish 8th overall.
Rounding the overall top 10 were Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Brian Bogers who went 9-10 for 9th overall, and MRT Racing Team Beta’s Ben Watson who went 11-11 for 10th overall.
“The second race was so much better,” said Febvre afterwards.
“I pulled the holeshot and rode my own race. I was feeling good, the track was heavy, but I could make the difference. It’s a shame for the first race that I could not win because I got a stone stuck in the rear brake but anyway, win number 6 so I am really happy about it.”
Prado said: “I didn’t get the best start in the second race and it took the first lap to get my position.
“I came into the weekend sick and I felt a bit worse this morning but this track today was really tough plus the sun came out to make it even harder. I gave my all, second overall, my points lead in the championship look good and next round is in Turkiye which I am excited to go and race there!”
RESULTS & STANDINGS:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:18.978; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:04.399; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:16.442; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:31.853; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:37.696; 6. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:41.573; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:59.313; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +1:05.777; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, Honda), +1:20.069; 10. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Kawasaki), +1:26.880.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 33:53.464; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:00.987; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:01.866; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:24.691; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:27.809; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:37.166; 7. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:39.251; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +1:09.327; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +1:22.180; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, Honda), +1:34.106.
MXGP – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 47 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 43 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 42 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 38 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 32 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 29 p.; 7. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 25 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, HON), 23 p.; 10. Ben Watson (GBR, BET), 20 p.
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 821 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 729 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 652 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 600 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 542 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 498 p.; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 456 p.; 8. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 414 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 295 p.; 10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 260 p.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), 35:37.472; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:04.062; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:13.357; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:22.893; 5. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:29.163; 6. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:33.499; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Honda), +0:40.191; 8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +0:43.760; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:58.107; 10. Isak Gifting (SWE, GASGAS), +1:11.670.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:13.330; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:04.503; 3. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:05.663; 4. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:14.156; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:26.546; 6. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:30.162; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Honda), +0:59.877; 8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +1:03.227; 9. Isak Gifting (SWE, GASGAS), +1:14.310; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:16.718.
MX2 – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification:
1. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 42 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 40 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 40 p.; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 38 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 38 p.; 6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 34 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, HON), 28 p.; 8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 26 p.; 9. Isak Gifting (SWE, GAS), 23 p.; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 21 p.
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 705 points; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 633 p.; 3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 603 p.; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 595 p.; 5. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 511 p.; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 501 p.; 7. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 462 p.; 8. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 462 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 460 p.; 10. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 325 p.
Photo courtesy Kawasaki
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