The Motocross World Championships head to Latvia for round six in the chase for MXGP and MX2 titles in just over a week’s time.
The stunning circuit of Kegums will no doubt be at its splendid best to greet the world’s foremost riders on April 23-24.
The Kegums track in Latvia is a circuit that has been kind to a handful of riders over the years, but none more so than nine-time World motocross champion Antonio Cairoli, five-time World champion Jeffrey Herlings and four-time World champion Tim Gajser.
Cairoli, Herlings and Gajser all have five overall victories around the white sand of Kegums, although only Cairoli has all five from the MXGP class.
The story of their victories is more than a decade old as this Latvian circuit has been around now for 14 years on the GP scene and Cairoli didn’t waste any time winning there.
The first for Cairoli came when we visited Latvia for the very first time in 2009, in his MXGP rookie season. The Italian was right in the middle of his prime and went 2-1 for victory and you knew straight away this was a place the legend felt at home.
A year later he didn’t win the GP, but it was one of the best battles of Kegums when he finished second to Clement Desalle, the Belgian going 1-2 and Cairoli 4-1.
On that day, Herlings in his rookie MX2 season took his first Latvian GP with 3-1 in the MX2 class ahead of Ken Roczen, who scored 2-3 results.
In 2011, it was again Cairoli with 1-1, and this time Roczen with 1-1 and Herlings 3-2, and a young kid called Gajser won the EMX class with 1-1.
The next year, in 2012, Cairoli won the 450 class with 1-2, but Herlings was missing from the MX2 points with injury and Gajser finished with 4-4 in the EMX and fourth overall in his class.
2013 and again it was Cairoli and Herlings winning MXGP and MX2, Cairoli with 2-1 and Herlings with 1-1.
In 2014 there was no Latvian GP, but Gautier Paulin went 1-1 at the MXoN at the Kegums circuit. A year later in 2015 Glenn Coldenhoff took a surprise win in MXGP ahead of Romain Febvre, Paulin and Cairoli. In MX2, Gajser could only manage 7-4 results for fifth overall.
The 2016 season arrived with Gajser now in the “big boy” class. He finished 1-4 for victory ahead of Cairoli who was 3-2 and Febvre scored 5-1. Herlings was again out of action.
The 2017 season saw Herlings top of his game, with a 1-1 and easy victory at Kegums ahead of Cairoli who went 5-2 and way down the points was Gajser with 14-31.
In 2018 it was again Herlings with 1-1, then Cairoli 2-2, Paulin 4-3 and finally 2019 and it was Gajser with 6-1, Cairoli 3-DNF and Herlings 1-DNS.
Jorge Prado got a 1-1 result in MX2 to start his success in Latvia, but has since not really put together another overall win, but has scored a moto win in MXGP.
In the 2020 season we had the triple header, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Herlings won the first of the three with 4-1 results, as Gajser won the other moto on that day.
Cairoli went 1-4 for the second overall victory and Glenn Coldenhoff went 2-1 for the third days overall and again it was Gajser who got a moto win.
Last year Gajser took the overall win with 2-2, and it was Prado and Herlings who took the moto wins. The Slovenian must have a lot of confidence coming into this year, although Prado is also known for putting together some really strong showings at Kegums.
So, with the 2014 season no GP, it is 10 GPs held at the Kegums circuit, and in the MXGP class Cairoli has his five wins, Herlings three in MXGP and two in MX2, and Gajser four in MXGP, and one in the EMX class.
As for moto wins in their various classes, Herlings has 10 moto wins, seven in MXGP and three in MX2, Cairoli has 7, all in MXGP, and Gajser 6, four in MXGP and two in EMX.
The only other riders to have moto wins from the MXGP class in the whole time we have visited Kegums are Febvre with two, Desalle with two, Coldenhoff with two, while Prado, Arminas Jasikonis, Ken De Dycker and Kevin Strijbos have one each. Of course, Paulin and Strijbos won the three races at the 2014 MXoN, two to Paulin and one to Strijbos.
Words courtesy Geoff Meyer
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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STANDINGS AFTER FIVE ROUNDS
MXGP – World Championship top 10 after round five:
- Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 236 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 203 p.; 3. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 184 p.; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 160 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 141 p.; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, HUS), 126 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, BET), 126 p.; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 125 p.; 9. Alberto Forato (ITA, GAS), 94 p.; 10. Jed Beaton (AUS, KAW), 82 p.
MX2 – World Championship top 10 after round five:
- Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 208 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 194 p.; 3. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 169 p.; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 154 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 150 p.; 6. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GAS), 138 p.; 7. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 136 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 133 p.; 9. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 116 p.; 10. Isak Gifting (SWE, KTM), 111 p.