For the third GP out of the past four, wet weather affected the conditions for the gladiators of the MXGP World Motocross Championships at the weekend.
However, the MXGP of Germany provided more fantastic confrontations between the leading contenders in both classes at Teutschenthal.
What the weather could not affect, however, was the enthusiasm of the German fans, who created an incredible atmosphere in the tight valley of the famous venue.
The host club also worked very hard with the MXGP track crew to keep the circuit in the best racing condition possible.
After struggling more than most in muddy conditions so far this season, reigning world champion Jorge Prado took his sixth Grand Prix win of the season in MXGP, with two race wins for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing, achieved in his customary style of getting out early and holding off all challengers, although he certainly had challenges to contend with.
He leaves Germany with the red plate back on his machine, and a slender two-point lead in his pocket heading to Latvia.
In the MX2 class, the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing duo of series leader Kay de Wolf and Lucas Coenen battled hard, with the Belgian teenager coming out on top to make it three straight GP wins for Coenen. This moves him up to second in the championship table, 59 points behind his team-mate.
Tim Gajser took to the starting line first for Team HRC and knew that the start would be more vital than ever on the sticky circuit, which still had a hard base to affect traction amongst all the ruts. The Slovenian led the championship by six points over Prado after winning the qualifying race.
For the first time this year, Glenn Coldenhoff took the holeshot for Fantic Factory Racing, with Henry Jacobi again getting involved on his Sarholz Racing KTM with the front-runners, as Prado ran the German hero wide, allowing Gajser to briefly grab 2nd from the reigning champ.
However, Prado was having none of it and the pair got aggressive with each other in the first few corners! Just after completing the move on Gajser, the Spaniard made a decisive move up the inside of Coldenhoff to take the lead halfway around the first lap.
Gajser took some time to get past Coldenhoff, and when he finally did on lap four, Prado was already eight seconds down the track.
Leading as well as usual and setting the fastest lap on lap four to immediately squash Gajser’s hopes of catching, it was the 9th GP race win of the year for the #1 plate holder.
There was more battling going on behind him, though, as Calvin Vlaanderen worked his way forward for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, along with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings, who was outside of the top ten around the first corner.
Frenchman Romain Febvre, meanwhile, started touring, and pulled out of the weekend’s racing, turning straight into the Kawasaki Racing Team paddock on the third lap.
Gajser seemed to not have his full speed available to him, and later confessed to suffering with intense arm-pump issues.
Herlings fought past both the Slovenian and, on lap 14 of 17, Vlaanderen to take what would be a solid second place. Vlaanderen passed Gajser, but fell in a right hander by the start straight and gifted the position back.
They swapped places twice more, a loss of traction on a jump costing the Dutchman third position, and keeping the Honda man in the championship lead by a single point going into race two.
Standing Construct Honda man Pauls Jonass made a late move on Coldenhoff to claim 5th, but ultimately no-one could touch Prado who took a win by 13 seconds from Herlings after backing off for the last few easy laps.
The rain held off and let the track dry out, making it around five or more seconds per lap faster than race one, and with the confidence to move to a slightly more outside gate, Prado grabbed his 9th holeshot of the season, but he had company this time in the shape of Herlings as the Dutchman held an inside line in turn two to pass the Kawasaki Racing Team rider Jeremy Seewer for 2nd.
Gajser and Vlaanderen also got past the Swiss veteran to give chase to the flying Prado.
It looked like Herlings had got his claws into the reigning champ with a series of faster laps that put him just a second shy of the leader. Then he hit a rut a little too hard and although he didn’t crash, it hurt his momentum and he was almost immediately under attack from Gajser.
On lap 12 the Slovenian made his move in the middle of the valley, and took up the chase to Prado. Vlaanderen and Coldenhoff held on to fourth and fifth, and Seewer made a late move to grab sixth from TeamShip To Cycle Honda Motoblouz SR veteran Valentin Guillod.
Gajser, just as Herlings before him, got to within a second of Prado, but the Spaniard simply would not crack and kept up his pace to break the pursuit, eventually winning by just over three seconds. The Spaniard moves onto 44 Grand Prix wins for his career, two behind Gajser for sixth in the all-time win list.
Jorge Prado: “It was overall a perfect weekend. I’m super happy with my riding. Getting back to hard pack with more normal conditions for me. It was good with good starts too. Not much to say, I’m just very happy to get another win! We keep going like this with Latvia next, which is a good track for me so let’s get some sand riding next week!”
Tim Gajser: “With my first race I’m a bit disappointed you know, because I had a good start and was just behind Jorge (Prado) and Glenn (Coldenhoff) but couldn’t pass immediately so I lost a little bit of rhythm, so I used wrong line and got arm pump and survival mode until the end. Race two was much better, we got a very pace with Jorge and Jeffrey (Herlings). I managed to make a pass toward the end but had to settle for second, but riding was good and I’m happy to leave Germany with a podium. A big thank you to all my team.”
Jeffrey Herlings: “It was not easy in the second race. It was really unlucky twice for me to come back on Tim (Gajser) with some lappers in between us and I couldn’t get close enough to Tim. But anyway 2-3 and third on the day which is not that bad. I got injured a couple of times on this track so I’m very happy to come back home safe and keep fighting for the championship as it’s still a long season. Proud of my day! “
Photo courtesy GASGAS
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RESULTS & STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 36:00.648; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:12.895; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:14.689; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:17.094; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:22.867; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:31.524; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:40.501; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, Fantic), +0:45.931; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:50.795; 10. Henry Jacobi (GER, KTM), +0:57.896.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:36.969; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:03.329; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:07.378; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:41.166; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:49.615; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:54.007; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +1:11.756; 8. Tom Koch (GER, KTM), +1:19.029; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +1:24.930; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +1:26.354.
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 50 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 42 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 42 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 31 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 27 p.; 7. Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 23 p.; 8. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 21 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 21 p.; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 21 p.
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 50 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 42 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 42 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 31 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 27 p.; 7. Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 23 p.; 8. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 21 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 21 p.; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 21.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 35:07.874; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:03.664; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:25.075; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:54.760; 5. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:59.138; 6. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:10.063; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +1:15.887; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:17.707; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:35.788; 10. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +1:37.187.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 35:45.714; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:09.505; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:11.179; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:12.866; 5. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:26.367; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:42.902; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:59.027; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:09.723; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:14.332; 10. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:15.882.
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 50 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 44 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 40 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 33 p.; 5. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 32 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 29 p.; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 26 p.; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 24 p.; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 23 p.
MX2 – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 396 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 337 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 333 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 304 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 299 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 252 p.; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 249 p.; 8. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 226 p.; 9. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 178 p.; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 152 p.