In the relentless heat and humidity of the MXGP of West Nusa Tenggara, on the island of Lombok, the intensity never faded as the MXGP elite put on a spectacular display in the Indonesian sun.
The MXGP World Championship saw another change in momentum, as reigning Champion Jorge Prado took a superb Grand Prix win for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing, although mistakes for all three leading competitors were a feature of the racing as he took a chunk out of the points lead of Team HRC’s Tim Gajser.
In the MX2 class it was the points leader who took control again for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, as red plate holder Kay de Wolf won both races on the day for the first time this season to further extend his advantage at the top of the table.
Saturday had seen the qualifying race won by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings for the first time this year and he had even set the fastest time in the warm-up to make it a near-perfect start to the weekend.
It was Kawasaki Racing Team rider Jeremy Seewer who took his third holeshot of the year, but Herlings used his inside start gate to great effect and grabbed the lead into the second corner.
Gajser was in third initially, but Prado charged around the outside to get past the Slovenian.
Before the start of the first full lap, both Prado and Gajser had nudged past Seewer to give chase to Herlings out front.
Herlings put the hammer down with consecutive fastest laps in the first three full circulations, building a small gap from the start of the race over Prado.
Behind the leading three, Calvin Vlaanderen managed to jump alongside and past his Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team-mate Andrea Bonacorsi for fifth place, before closing in on Seewer, catching the Swiss rider at the end of lap 12.
He met with spirited resistance, but ultimately the South African-born Dutch star fought his way into fourth place, with Bonacorsi also passing the Kawasaki as the two-lap board came out. The Italian claimed fifth at the finish, the best result yet of his young MXGP career. Seewer had to settle for sixth.
Prado got as close as two seconds to the leader Herlings, while Gajser struggled with a tyre choice that he said later put him at a serious disadvantage and took the points for a solid third.
Herlings eventually was able to pull out a ten second gap at the chequered flag, his fourth race win of the year, ahead of Prado.
Race two’s first corner was a mightily close contest for the holeshot and Gajser took it by half a tyre thickness from Prado, but both were immediately passed by Herlings into the second corner.
At the top of the circuit, Prado was caught out by the track and jumped off the circuit, losing a second to Gajser, as a fast-starting Vlaanderen also looked menacing.
The Yamaha man, however, then had his own mistake as he dropped the bike in a right hander before the end of the first full lap. He picked it up in seventh, as Seewer, Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Mattia Guadagnini and Kevin Horgmo of the Ship To Cycle Honda Motoblouz SR team went past him while he was stationary.
On lap four, Herlings jumped into a patch of mud and went down, gifting the lead to Gajser as Prado started to catch them both.
As the top two in the series took the finish line jump together, the Spaniard held the inside line, but slowed as the Slovenian went for the cutback, mis-timed it and tripped over Prado’s rear wheel.
Gajser only just got back up ahead of Jeffrey, but seemed to be more affected by his crash than the Dutchman was, and Herlings found his way past on lap eight.
A further crash for Gajser on lap nine dropped him behind Seewer and a recovering Vlaanderen, and they finished from third to fifth in that order. Vlaanderen’s fourth position was enough to earn him his, and Yamaha’s, first MXGP podium result of the season.
Herlings had a 10-second gap to Prado when he got past Gajser and despite looking up for him at every opportunity, was unable to hack it down by much.
The Spaniard backed off on the final lap which cut the final margin of his victory to 5.4 seconds, but it meant that the GASGAS man claimed his 10th Grand Prix win for the brand, and 45th of his amazing career.
The results mean that from 34 points at the start of the weekend, Gajser’s series lead has been cut down to just 22. Herlings is also closer to the lead, now just 58 points behind the Slovenian. What a way to kick off the second half of the season.
Jorge Prado: “I’m so happy with the victory! I’ve been riding very good all season long. It’s a pity lost point along the way with some mistakes like in the last race in Maggiora and the DNF, so came back strong in Indonesia.
“The conditions were very tough, very very physical but super happy with my performance. Not the perfect starts that I’m used to but it was good enough to take the overall. I’m super happy. Now I’ll have a good week of training and rest and be ready for the next round (also in Indonesia).”
Jeffrey Herlings: “It was a shame; it should have been a 1-1-1 for me today but I made a mistake. I crashed by myself and hurt a little bit my knee, but we should be good for next week. In the end 1-1-2 over a weekend is pretty good too.”
Photo courtesy GASGAS
Find BikesportNZ.com on FACEBOOK here
RESULTS & STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 11:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:51.779; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:10.164; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:16.761; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:23.402; 5. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:26.398; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:29.577; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:34.304; 8. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:39.618; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:41.304; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:58.446.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:11.222; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:05.367; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:09.683; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:13.663; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:21.219; 6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:26.978; 7. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:40.570; 8. Cornelius Toendel (NOR, KTM), +0:54.924; 9. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:58.174; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +1:00.429.
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 47 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 36 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 36 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 35 p.; 6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 27 p.; 7. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 25 p.; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 24 p.; 10. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 21 p.
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 555 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 533 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 497 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 381 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 374 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 327 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 327 p.; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 274 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 238 p.; 10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 224 p.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 35:10.052; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:02.638; 3. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:11.678; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:19.781; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:23.319; 6. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:36.206; 7. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:39.953; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:56.497; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:26.088; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:29.423.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 35:20.858; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:00.745; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:21.415; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:25.768; 5. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:36.271; 6. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:38.050; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:41.968; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:09.094; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:16.687; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:20.622.
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 50 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 42 p.; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 36 p.; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 32 p.; 7. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 30 p.; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 25 p.; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 22 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 20 p.
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 532 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 467 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 463 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 432 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 417 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 355 p.; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 322 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 312 p.; 9. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 226 p.; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KAW), 217 p.