The 15th round of the 2023 FIM Motocross World Championship at Uddevalla, in Sweden, turned out to be eventful with weather changes throughout the day making the conditions a challenge for the world’s best.
In the MXGP class, Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer returned to the top step of the podium for the second time this season, bringing to a halt the win streak of Romain Febvre, the Frenchman forced to accept second overall for the weekend.
Leader’s red number plate holder and fastest qualifier Jorge Prado finished third to keep a healthy cushion in the championship standings lead.
In the MX2 class, Simon Laengenfelder also took his second Grand Prix victory, extending his podium streak to five in a row. Solid in second was Belgian Liam Everts who now has back-to-back podiums in front of his team-mate and red plate holder Andrea Adamo, who fought hard for his third step of the podium with a race win along the way.
In MXGP race one, Febvre managed to pull out the holeshot and took the lead in front of Prado.
Febvre seemed to get a good grip on the race but Prado started to increase his pace and got closer to Febvre. Maybe due to the pressure applied by Prado or a loss of focus, Febvre made a mistake on lap seven of seventeen and crashed to let Prado take the lead. Prado didn’t need another opportunity to maintain the lead to win the race in front of Febvre who finished second.
Seewer made a great start and was in third quickly, showing great speed and good control throughout the whole race to keep his position until the end and was never worried by the excellent and returning Pauls Jonass. Jonass made quite an impact for his first GP since his injury to ride in fourth place from start to finish.
Dutchman Glenn Coldenhoff showed determination to overtake many riders on a difficult track after an average start. He found himself ninth on the opening lap but charged forward. He first capitalised on mistakes from Slovenia’s defending world champion Tim Gajser and fellow Frenchman Maxime Renaux early in the race to move up to seventh.
He then made an excellent pass on Australian Mitch Evans on lap eight and kept going to catch and overtake Rubén Fernández on lap 15.
Coldenhoff finished in an excellent fifth place given the conditions. Fernandez solidly finished sixth in the end losing only one position while Gajser ended in tenth place. Renaux had to settle for 13th after another mistake as he tried to push for a move on Jere Haavisto on lap eleven.
The other impressive performer in race one was Alberto Forato who relentlessly pushed forward after starting twelfth on lap one. The Italian managed to maintain control of his bike throughout the race and climbed up to eighth by lap six.
It took him until the last couple of laps to make a successful move on Evans on lap fifteen to finish seventh. Evans settled for ninth in the end after getting picked off by Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings on the very last lap.
Herlings showed that he never settles and managed to gain five positions to finish eighth.
As the rain fell on Uddevalla in between the two races, the start of the second race became vital and it was Seewer who clinched his eleventh Holeshot of the season taking the lead in that competition.
Seewer found himself in front of Febvre from the beginning and managed to stay in the lead.
The Swiss rider made a slight mistake mid-race but managed to stay on the bike and in the lead. From then on Seewer kept a three seconds gap between him and Febvre and won the race to go 3-1 and win his second Grand Prix of the season.
Febvre could not manage to get close enough to pass and settled for second to go second overall and halting his incredible winning streak.
Renaux made a great start in the second race to go third and kept his rank although he got some heat towards the end of the race from Herlings who was fourth from the start.
Renaux managed to keep his nerve and finished third. Renaux went sixth overall while Herlings finished fourth and get fourth place overall.
It was the same story for Gajser, Prado, Forato and Fernandez who all kept their rank from start to finish although they were following each other closely. Gajser finished fifth to go tenth overall while Prado went 1-6 to get on the second step of the podium. Prado keeps the red plate and moves closer to the 2023 MXGP title with a 98-points advantage over second-ranked Febvre.
Following the same kind of race Forato and Fernandez finished where they started in seventh and eighth place which was the same position they finished overall.
Behind them, Coldenhoff was one of the few who gain position as he made a great move to squeeze past Jonass on lap nine to finish ninth for ninth place overall. Jonass finished tenth to go 4-10 and fifth overall. Jonass showed all his talent again to get into the top five on his return to racing.
“I feel so good,” a delighted Seewer said of his win. “I mean winning always feels great and especially today, it was super tricky with the weather, the rain, the track. Usually, our sport is very difficult and it’s also about the last ten minutes and how big are you? But today was just about mental strength.
“I thought I could do that many more races before today because I had the speed and everything but sometimes you need patience and it finally paid off. It shows that I have it all and it gives an extra boost of confidence and motivation. I’m super happy and thanks to the team so let’s keep it going.”
Riders now head for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands, which will take place at Arnhem next weekend.
Photo courtesy GasGas
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RESULTS AND STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 15 OF 19:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:38.717
2 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:11.326
3 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:19.740
4 Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:25.198
5 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:25.499
6 Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:28.600
7 Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:29.976
8 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:45.542
9 Mitchell Evans (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:49.029
10 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:59.124
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), 34:47.487
2 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:07.210
3 Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:26.440
4 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:27.537
5 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:28.745
6 Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:29.189
7 Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:31.435
8 Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +1:08.120
9 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +1:16.455
10 Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +1:18.245
MXGP – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification:
1 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 45 Points
2 Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 44 Points
3 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 40 Points
4 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 31 Points
5 Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 29 Points
6 Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 28 Points
7 Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 28 Points
8 Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 28 Points
9 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 28 Points
10 Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 27 Points
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
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 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), 34:19.765
2 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:05.936
3 Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:37.665
4 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:43.985
5 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:05.004
6 Emil Weckman (FIN, Honda), +1:06.989
7 Isak Gifting (SWE, GASGAS), +1:09.115
8 David Braceras (ESP, Kawasaki), +1:20.182
9 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Honda), +1:24.259
10 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:37.489
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 34:57.730
2 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:00.928
3 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:16.509
4 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Honda), +1:02.032
5 Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:04.004
6 David Braceras (ESP, Kawasaki), +1:04.472
7 Isak Gifting (SWE, GASGAS), +1:18.979
8 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:24.233
9 Emil Weckman (FIN, Honda), +1:35.745
10 Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:41.194
MX2 – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification:
1 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 47 Points
2 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 42 Points
3 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 36 Points
4 Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 36 Points
5 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, HON), 30 Points
6 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 29 Points
7 David Braceras (ESP, KAW), 28 Points
8 Isak Gifting (SWE, GAS), 28 Points
9 Emil Weckman (FIN, HON), 27 Points
10 Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 20 Points
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification:
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