Gajser looking to challenge for the win in Spain

The Intu Xanadu track in Arroyomolinos, near Madrid Spain is hosting the 13^thround of what is one of the most highly contested MXGP championships in recent years. Three riders are separated by just 10 points, with Team HRC’s Tim Gajser determined to come out on top in what should be an intense battle during these final six rounds.

The MXGP series visited the track at Arroyomolinos for the first time in 2020 with Gajser’s three-two results helping him open up a gap at the top of the championship standings from which he never looked back, eventually taking his third MXGP crown by over 100 points. On that day, solid starts were a key component to his success and he’ll be looking to get out of the gate well in these two motos after some disappointing races in France last week.

Still, with the points battle so close, the Honda CRF450RW rider knows that a replica of the German round just two weekends ago, where he took the overall with a three-one performance will see him regain the momentum and head into the Trentino triple-header – a track he really favours – with renewed belief that he can win his fifth world title in just seven years.

As always, this year, the MXGP class will take place purely on Sunday 17^thOctober, with a joined free and timed practice to determine gate pick, followed by the two motos in the afternoon.

Tim Gajser: I’m definitely looking to put last weekend behind me and I head to Spain in a positive frame of mind. That is the good thing about all these races in a short space of time, there is no time to dwell on the results, you just have to keep working, training hard and move onto the next round.
Last year was the first time we went there and I thought it was a decent venue for a race. I hope they learnt from that event and tweak a few things but overall, it is a good place and hopefully I can perform well and get back to challenging for the win.

Marcus Freitas: Last weekend was tough but I’m confident that Tim can bounce back and regain the red-plate. Obviously, we rode here last year so we have a bit of a base to go off, which is already an improvement over the French track, but Tim knows that he needs to get out of the gate well in order to fight for the win and that’ll be the focus for this race. We don’t really need to add any pressure to him, because he knows what he needs to do, our job is just to support him and give him the best possible platform to go out there and get the victory.

Are Euros Better?

What does Jett think?

There is no doubt in my mind that Jett Lawrence has the potential to be the biggest star in our sport, even bigger than Jeffrey Herlings, who seems to be the most polarized rider in the World and for good reason.

While Herlings is for me, the best motocross rider I have ever seen, including Stefan Everts, Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart or Antonio Cairoli, his career has been littered by injury and even in 2021 he has dodged a bullet a handful of times (often not his own error).

But less about the Dutchman and more about Lawrence, who just oozes confidence and has a character that is very likeable. Already an AMA 250 Motocross champion it is easy to see this teenager score a handful of AMA championships and I wouldn’t even be surprised if he one day returned to Europe to try and catch himself a World title.

Just like watching Herlings, watching Lawrence is a lot of fun, because you are never sure what type of line he might take or what he might do to surprise us.

Now we hear all the time (from American media) how supercross is the reason that the GP riders are better than the AMA guys at the moment, and I always found that to be disrespectful to the GP riders and organizers, because in my opinion and that of many others, MXGP rules because of the gnarly circuits, the diversity of the circuits and the ridiculous competition between a handful of legends in the class, plus an age rule that pushes the best MX2 riders into MXGP. Not to mention a much higher quality of young riders coming through the EMX championships. Nothing to do with supercross, and just a fact the whole structure of MXGP is so damn good at the moment.

Cooksey and The Coach 38 a very good podcast show on YouTube caught up with the Aussie and asked him some pretty cool questions about the difference between USA and Europe when it comes to tracks.

Below are some comments from Lawrence from the Cooksey and Coach show and once again, Lawrence sets the record straight as to why GP riders rule the World now.

Jett Lawrence: There are some amazing tracks in Europe. You have so many tracks in France and Belgium, you have several tracks within 30 minutes of each other and to me they smoke the American tracks. In America everything is prepped nice, they are all man made and big jumps and in Europe, they are more natural track. I find it is better for learning and learning a flow. A lot of tracks I rode on a 85. I really liked Lommel. There are a lot of sucky days in the winter, but also some fun days.

100% the tracks in Europe make you a better rider. I don’t want to diss the American amateurs and I am sure there are some great riders, but I am sure most of the European amateurs would beat the American amateurs. They are riding rougher and gnarlier tracks and training 20-minute motos and the American amateurs are riding four lap sprints to try and qualifier for Loretta Lynn’s. It isn’t their fault, that is just the program. I don’t think it is a good program and I am glad I only had to do one amateur year in America, because if I had to do more I would have flown back to Europe. I even think a local bandit who rides Lommel has a higher skill than the American or Australian amateur riders. They are riding tougher tracks and they learn fast.

The lines in Europe are way better formed than at the AMA Pro races. At the GPs they open their lines, like car racing lines and at the Nationals they suck, because they go from one turn, and they put it on a string and go straight to the next turn. Also, the motocross tracks are like a supercross track, that has crossed over to Outdoors.

Weymouth Beach Motocross...Wild and Crazy

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Eli Chasing More Titles

Eli Tomac takes first Yamaha ride; eyes more Supercross and Motocross titles

By Dan Beaver

 

MonsterEnergy.com

Eli Tomac climbed onto his new Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha this week and took his first ride as he sets his sight on the 2022 Supercross and Motocross seasons The Supercross seasons kicks off Saturday in just three months, January 8 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.

After finishing third or better in points in both Supercross and Motocross every year since 2017 on a Kawasaki, the change could not have been easy to make, especially since he was still winning championships. His last SX title came in 2020. One year earlier, he was victorious in MX.

But then he saw what Dylan Ferrandis accomplished in the 2021 and the decision to join him as a teammate was not so hard.

“The new change definitely makes it easier to get up in the morning and to get to work,” Tomac said at MonsterEnergy.com. “It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to. I think they can give me, as a racer, a really competitive package in both supercross and motocross. Dylan Ferrandis had really good success in motocross this year, so I look at that and it gives me confidence for what we have coming in the future.”

Motocross and supercross are both grueling disciplines. It is not a matter of if a rider is going to land hard and break some bones, but rather when and how often. It’s that adrenaline that gets them back on the seat after crashing.

But after seven seasons, the perspective changes slightly.

“You get older and you kind of process things differently,” Tomac said. “When I am on the starting line it’s kind of more of a calm feeling now. You’re ready to go and you’re chasing the checkered flag, but it’s a different calm and I just think that’s age.

“As the years go by, you kind of figure out what works for you and what doesn’t work for you, so I think that is part of the calming too. I don’t know if there is a direct line that you can refer to in our sport, but yeah, I’m getting a little bit older and I feel like I can totally be competitive until I’m 30 in this sport. I turn 28 in November.”

Are there more Supercross and Motocross championships on a Yamaha in his future? Tomac certainly believes there is.

“(Winning the championship) is absolutely doable,” Tomac said. “I wouldn’t have signed a new contract if I didn’t think I could do it and we can do it as a team. That’s the only thing we’re shooting for and that’s winning.

Hart Wins Reno Endurocross

Trystan Hart has taken his first and KTM’s win of 2021 AMA EnduroCross series on a gnarly track in Reno with a perfect 1-1-1 scorecard ahead of championship leader Colton Haaker.

Another exciting night of EnduroCross racing began with the top 14 pro riders running hot-laps to open the evening programme and earn their gate picks for race one.

Points leader and reigning champion Haaker set the fastest time of 56.129 ahead of Cooper Abbott second with a 57.789 lap. Will Riordan rounded out the top three narrowly behind on his RPM KTM with a 58.101 lap time.

Max Gerston was fourth ahead of Tim Apolle with Hart back in seventh after dropping his bike, it just enough to get onto the front row of eight riders.

Three motos, one winner

Haaker, Hart and Gerston blasted to the front to start the first moto and Abbott had to fight his way up to fourth after a mediocre start. Haaker ended up going down and that allowed Hart to pass him and then Haaker had a second fall that allowed Hart to open a safe gap.

Haaker held onto second place in the moto while Abbott made a late-race pass on Gerston for third. Gerston finished fourth and Cory Graffunder was fifth.

Second moto gate picks are reverse order and Utah’s Nick Thompson took advantage to lead the first lap with Spencer Wilton and Ty Cullins chasing. Hart was the first of the top riders to work through the pack and was up to third by the end of the first lap.

Hart took the lead on the second lap though while Haaker took another lap to work his way into second.

By that time Hart held a safe gap and went on to take his second moto win of the night. Abbott, who crashed on the first lap worked his way through the field to take another third place. Gerston finished fourth again and Cullins finished a strong fifth.

Show-stopper third moto

The third and final moto proved to be a real show-stopper with the fastest three riders battling for the win and fast pace all race.

Hart, Haaker and Will Riordan exited the first turn in the top three. Abbott was fourth and quickly around Riordan to join the battle for the moto win. Those top three riders were close for several laps before Abbott made a move past Haaker for second and applied heavy pressure on Hart for P1.

Haaker closed back in but got stuck at the bottom of the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC rock garden and lost touch with the top two. Abbott was the fastest rider on the track and pressured Hart for a few laps before a mistake in the firewood pit allowed Hart to get away for this third moto win of the night. Riordan finished fourth in the moto and Gerston rounded out the top five.

 

Hart’s perfect night, the first of his career, delivered a timely overall for himself and the KTM team who must be missing the EX race wins since Cody Webb departed. Haaker’s 2-2-3 was good enough for second and Abbott’s 3-3-2 rounded out the overall podium. Gerston’s 4-4-5 earned the GasGas rider fourth overall. Graffunder had a quiet night for fifth overall on his SRT Yamaha with 5-6-6 finishes.

Riordan was sixth overall with 8-8-4 moto finishes on his KTM and for the third race in a row was the top finishing rider in the under-21, Junior standings.

Cullins finished seventh overall on his TM with 10-5-7 scores. Ryder LeBlond was eighth overall on his Husqvarna with 14-7-9 finishes. Ninth overall went to Thompson with 11-10-10 finishes on a KTM and Anthony Johnson rounded out the top ten on a Sherco with 7-13-11 results.

2021 Reno AMA EnduroCross Rnd 3 results:

1. Trystan Hart, 1-1-1, KTM
2. Colton Haaker, 2-2-3, Husqvarna
3. Cooper Abbott, 3-3-2, KTM
4. Max Gerston, 4-4-5, GasGas
5. Cory Graffunder, 5-6-6, Yamaha
6. Will Riordan, 8-8-4, KTM
7. Ty Cullins, 10-5-7, TM
8. Ryder LeBlond, 14-7-9, Husqvarna
9. Nick Thompson, 11-10-10, KTM
10. Anthony Johnson, 7-13-11, Sherco
11. Noah Kepple, 9-9-14, Husqvarna
12. Spenser Wilton, 14-12-8, GasGas
13. Brandon Petrie, 12-11-13, KTM
14. Cody Miller, 13-14-12, KTM

Say what? Top 3 riders explain their nights…

Trystan Hart was happy to get his first win of the season. “I don’t take losing very well and my team manager was putting some pressure on me to get it done. This track was technical and suited my style and I just rode really good. I had a lot of pressure on me from Colton and Cooper in that last moto but I was steady and it feels so good to win all three motos.”

Colton Haaker said it just didn’t go his way in Reno. “I just had a few too many mistakes tonight. That’s just EnduroCross because I had the speed but sometimes the track bites you. It is hard to be one hundred percent perfect at EnduroCross and I tried my best. I am happy with that and I will be back for the next one.”

Cooper Abbott had another strong night for third overall. “The first two motos were pretty tough and I had to work hard to get up to third in both of those. In the final moto I got up to Colton and Trystan and we were pushing the pace. That was the first time I have ever passed Colton straight up so that felt great and I am happy with third but want more.”

Craig Thompson took his second win in a row in the Vet 35+ class, dominating a large field on his Husqvarna ahead of Michael Taylor and Dan Hayakawa in third.

Riley Bender won the Junior Trials class – limited to riders that are 12 to 17-years old – riding an Electric Motion bike. Dylan Lozano finished second and Ruffin Dodson was third.

The 2021 GEICO AMA EnduroCross series move onto Prescott Valley, Arizona for round four on Saturday, October 23.

Written by Jon Pearson
jon.pearson@enduro21.com

Herlings Wins French GP

Herlings and Vialle on their French GP wins plus Cairoli and Prado

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The Grand Prix of France and round twelve of eighteen in the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship saw Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle own the MXGP and MX2 classes together for the fourth time this season.

– Herlings regains red plate with 95th career win, fifth of 2021 and tenth podium finish

– Vialle sends home crowd into rapture with fifth MX2 success and fourth from the last five GPs

– 2nd place for Mattia Guadagnini as the Italian rookie returns to the MX2 podium

– 5th overall for Tony Cairoli and 14th for Jorge Prado as Hofer classifies 6th in MX2

 

LaCapelle-Marival, scene of the popular and traditional pre-season International race, welcomed Grand Prix action for the first time this century. The MXGP and the MX2 classes had to acclimatize to a narrow, twist and bumpy hard-packed course that placed extra emphasis on race starts for podium contention. A vibrant atmosphere was created by a 25,000 crowd (weekend figure), most of whom could get near the action and the close trackside fences.

 

MXGP

 

Jeffrey Herlings’ eighth Pole Position of the season was also his fourth in a row and after clocking the fastest time in Turkey, Sardinia and Germany previously. The Dutchman roared clear to lead seven laps of 19 in the first moto before Romain Febvre’s superior pace dropped him to 2nd. By the end of the race Herlings was on the charge again and reduced a seven second deficit to just seven tenths of a second by the finish line. Tony Cairoli, amazingly competing at LaCapelle for the first time in his 18-year career, rode to 5th place ahead of Tim Gajser. Jorge Prado, racing one-week after surgery to fix a cut on his upper arm, managed to collect 5 points for 16th.

 

Cairoli blazed to the holeshot in the second moto but the Sicilian is still struggling with his left rib injury and had no answer to the speed of Herlings, Febvre and Gajser. 4th by the flag meant 5th overall. Herlings led, diced with Febvre and then produced a tense but thrilling move with only minutes remaining to claim the win both on the track and with the overall points for the day. Prado was able to improve his pace to finish 12th for 14th in the final ranking.

 

The 2021 MXGP title dispute is still tremendously close. Herlings has the red plate for the second time but by only 6 points over Febvre, with Gajser 10 away in 3rd. Prado is 4th and 62 adrift while Cairoli is still in the game in 5th and 73 from the top.

 

Jeffrey Herlings:“A pretty good day. I already knew this morning that Romain would be good here and I had to step-up my game. The set-up I had for the first moto was pretty hard and there were a lot of off-cambers I was struggling with some arm-pump. Romain made a pass and I had to let him go. At the end of the moto I tried to close him back but I was just a bit too late. He won fair-and-square. I had another good start in the second moto and tried to pull away but it was tough. I entered a turn too hard and just washed out a front wheel; luckily I didn’t lose too much time and again managed to close it back down to Romain. We had a bit of bar-banging with the pass but I knew on this track you had to make a statement. I won the moto and the overall and now I’m looking forward to next weekend.”

 

Tony Cairoli: “It seemed better today compared to last week in Germany but I’m still struggling a lot. It’s four weeks now since I’ve been able to ride during the week. I didn’t do much before Sardinia because I knew it would be a heavy GP but then I crashed and haven’t trained since. I cannot do much cardio either because the ribs hurt. It’s hard to keep my condition like it was before. Today I was 5th in the first moto and could push until the end but in the second I started to suffer. It was good to get the holeshot in the second and be 3rd. I was riding a bit conservative but Gajser was chasing me a lot and I started to get cramps in my side and back. I was hard to hang-on anymore. It was a shame to be 4th because another few laps would have given me the podium. I have to accept that things are not easy for me at the moment in this condition and with the training. I can only hope that this week I can do a bit more than I could recently and regain some more speed with the bike.”

 

Jorge Prado: “Coming here this weekend I didn’t know if I could even ride the bike but I had the mentality to try. I’m in the fight for the championship and to get some points is something. After these two motos the cut looks OK and it’s not worse. It was a rough day because I didn’t feel there was much strength in the arm. I didn’t get a good lap in Timed Practice, so I didn’t get a good gate and then actually touched the gate for both starts with my front wheel! I did what I could, and I began to feel better in the second moto. We got some valuable points and now we’ll get ready for the home GP because I want to bounce back as soon as possible.”

 

French MXGP

Prado Undergoes Knife

Prado surgery successful after Herlings MXGP clash

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  Post: Troy Guenther

Extend of injury unknown as date of MXGP return not determined.

Image: Supplied.

MXGP contender Jorge Prado has undergone successful surgery following his clash with teammate Jeffrey Herlings in Germany, uncertain when he will be fit to return.

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo engaged in a race-long battle during moto one at Teutschenthal, Prado ultimately taking victory before the incident occurred over the finish.

Prado copped a handlebar deep into his arm-pit in the impact and, while an operation was completed Sunday night, he has stated that the extent of his injury is still somewhat unknown.

“As you know, after winning the first moto at the [German] GP, Jeffrey and I collided after the finish line, digging the handlebars deep into my arm-pit and having to undergo surgery that same night,” Prado posted on social media. “Fortunately everything went well, but I don’t know the real extent of the injury.”

Prior to missing the second moto at the MXGP of Germany, Prado was in contention to challenge for a maiden MXGP World Championship, sitting just 12 points adrift of the red plate entering round 11.

The former MX2 world champion is now 31 points adrift of points leader Tim Gajser (Team HRC Honda), meaning if he were to miss another race it would effectively rule him out of title contention.

The next round of the MXGP World Championship is set to take place this Sunday, 10 October, at Lacapelle Marival, France, which marks round 12 of the series.

Monaco Next

MXGP Carries Momentum into 12th Round of the Series in Lacapelle Marival

 

MONACO (Principality of Monaco) 6 October 2021 – The FIM Motocross World Championship carries momentum into round 12 of the series in Lacapelle Marival for the MXGP of France, following an explosive German Grand Prix which saw Team HRC’s Tim Gajser take back the red plate in MXGP, while in MX2 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Maxime Renaux edged out even further in his maiden title chase.

This season, the MXGP of France is the second of eight back-to-back races and will head to a new venue, with Lacapelle Marival having the honour of hosting a Grand Prix race for the very first time.

Yet Lacapelle Marival is not completely unfamiliar to the paddock, as the majority of the riders have all had a chance to line-up at the French circuit for the well-known pre-season international ‘The Masters of Motocross’. But while this will be the first time that an official MXGP and MX2 World Championship race will take place there, it has previously hosted the MX3 and Women’s Motocross World Championship rounds back in 2009 and 2011.

Now ten years later, Lacapelle will make its debut in what promises to be another exciting Grand Prix as the MXGP and MX2 championships remain tight knit. What’s more the action will also include rounds of the EMX250 and EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing, with Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Nicholas Lapucci looking to extend his championship lead in EMX250, while MRT Racing Team KTM’s Valerio Lata will look to keep control of the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing series after taking the lead at the last round in Germany.

In MXGP, things could not get any closer as Team HRC’s Tim Gajser leads the series once again, but by the slightest margin of just two points. The Slovenian took back the red plate from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings, as he made a stellar return to the top step of the podium after injury.

The next races will be vital for all of the championship contenders, especially Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre who will line-up on home soil for the first time since 2019. For Febvre the home Grand Prix will be important as he will look to repeat his success of the German Grand Prix and get on the podium once again, as well as whittle down the eight-point gap he has to Gajser.

Of course, Jeffrey Herlings will not make this easy as he will look to fight back after an intense weekend in Germany that saw him battle with his teammate Jorge Prado of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, with the pair colliding at the end of the race which put Prado out of race two. The extent of the Spaniard's injuries is unclear, but hopefully we see him line up for the races and continue his fight for race wins.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli will also look to make up for lost ground after a 5-10 result in Germany. Cairoli is still struggling as a result of his crash in Riola Sardo a couple of weeks ago, but with time we should see the 9-time world champion fighting at the sharp end once again. 

Meanwhile, Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass continues his positive run this season as he edges closer to another podium finish. Last weekend saw the Latvian battle well inside the top five as he finished fourth overall, just seven points shy of the podium. Jonass has proven that he is strong in hardpack and with the upcoming races all taking place on tracks with harder surfaces, it will be interesting to see what results he can deliver and whether a second podium this season is something he can achieve in this incredibly competitive class.

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Seewer and Glenn Coldenhoff had a much more positive weekend in Germany, with the duo finishing fifth and sixth overall. The races saw both riders battle at the sharp end of the field, which is a step in the right direction, as the pair have struggled at times this season.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Thomas Kjer Olsen and Arminas Jasikonis will look to improve upon their results in Teutschenthal, after Olsen finished 12^th overall and Jasikonis failed to score points in race one and only managed three points in race two.

Some big news coming from the paddock in the previous GP was the announcement that Mathys Boisrame will replace the injured Ivo Monticelli and Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team for the remainder of the season, which will see the MX2 rider move up to the premier class. The details of when Boisrame will line-up for the team are not clear but hopefully we see him at his home Grand Prix or not long after.

Beta SDM Corse MX Team’s Jimmy Clochet, Jordi Tixier of JT911 KTM Racing Team and Benoit Paturel of Honda SR Motoblouz will also look to impress in front of their home fans, as will wildcard riders Maxime Desprey, David Herbreteau and Brice Maylin who will make an appearance for the French Grand Prix. 

What's CR22 Up To?

THE REEDS GET READY FOR THE VURB CLASSIC!