Qualifying Highlights | MXGP of Portugal 2024

Gajser Wins MXGP Qualifier

Five time World motocross champion Tim Gajser has taken victory in the Saturday MXGP qualification race with a brilliant pass on early leaders Jorge Prado and Jeffrey Herlings. The HRC factory rider looked brilliant in the very tough and muddy conditions. The points gap between Prado and Gajser in the MXGP championship points are now just seven points.

Tim Gajser: I had a good start, but I ran wide and Jorge Pass me and Jeffrey was very aggressive and I knew I had to pass straight away. I surprised them and took the lead, but when I got to the lappers, it was just one line and not easy to pass. It was important to do the sighting lap, because the track is sketchy and I found it really important.

World MXGP championship points are now 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 223 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 216 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 182 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 173 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 148 p.;

Prado led from Gajser and Herlings, both really pushing to stay with Prado. Gajser into first and Herlings second as they both made really nice passes on the leader. Prado third, then came Jonass, Febvre, Prado now in fifth, then Bogers, Vlaanderen, Coldenhoff, Bonacorsi, and Toendel in 10^th. Prado all over the place and nearly off the track.

Gajser and Herlings pushing hard for first and second and Prado now back in sixth place as Bogers passed him. Prado looking to pit for goggles as he struggles big time with his goggles. On lap one the lead by Gajser was nearly five seconds over Herlings, then Febvre, Jonass, Bogers, Prado, Coldenhoff, Bonacorsi, Vlaanderen and Toendel.

Jonass dropped down and Coldenhoff moved past Prado. Riders all over the place in these tough conditions. On lap three it was Gajser with a 6.5 second lead over Herlings, then Febvre 10 seconds off the leader, followed by Bogers, Coldenhoff (The Dutch loving the mud), Prado, Vlaanderen, Jonass, Ostlund, and Guadagnini in 10^th.

Lap four and the lead by Gajser was 5.4 seconds, with Herlings three seconds ahead of Febvre and Bogers 25 seconds off the leader. Then came Coldenhoff, Vlaanderen, Prado in seventh, Jonass, Ostlund and Guadagnini.

Prado nearly a minute off Gajsers pace in seventh with Jonass looking for a way past the Spaniard. Jonass all over Prado as the red plate man really having a hard time in these conditions and possibly with goggles issues. Jonass into seventh and Prado drops to eight. Gajser getting closer and closer to the red plate. The points difference between Prado and Gajser would be just a few points now.

Prado back into seventh as Coldenhoff slipped over and dropped to eight place. The lead by Gajser over Herlings was nearly eight seconds on lap six and Febvre getting closer to Herlings for second place. Prado more than a minute off the lead by the HRC man. Prado up to sixth place as he continued to gain positions and points.

Herlings catching Gajser with the lead just 4.7 seconds with three laps remaining. The Bullet making a late race charge it seems. The lead was suddenly just 2.8 seconds and Herlings looking for another moto win.

Herlings all over Gajser now as he puts the heat on in the wet conditions. Seewer in 17^th place being lapped by Gajser and Herlings. Gajser putting in some good final lap times and the lead was four seconds with two laps remaining.

Coldenhoff passed Prado to drop the red plate man into seventh position and the points gap between Prado and Gajser closed right down today. Herlings again all over Gajser with the final lap remaining. Lappers making life difficult for Gajser, but he holds off to win from Herlings and Febvre. 

Tomac In For Nationals!

HE’S IN! Yamaha is excited to announce Eli Tomac will return for the full upcoming Pro Motocross series as part of the SMX World Championship. Welcome back champ, let’s go get this!⁠

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing is pleased to announce that Eli Tomac will line up for the upcoming Pro Motocross season and race the entire 2024 SuperMotocross World Series. The two-time Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX and four-time Pro Motocross 450MX Champion is excited to build off of a strong supercross season to make a run at his fifth premier class title outdoors. 

This year marks Tomac’s third year with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, where he has been enjoying a successful tenure. In addition to securing the 2022 450SX and 450MX Championships, he was Captain of the victorious Team USA at the Motocross of Nations that year. Although he was sidelined last year for the Pro Motocross Championship with an Achilles injury sustained at the penultimate round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, he has amassed an impressive tally of wins in both series with the team – 15 in supercross and 14 in motocross. The victories have not only bolstered his position as the winningest rider currently racing, but also his legacy in the sport. Tomac holds the runner-up spot on the all-time premier-class win list in supercross with 52 wins, as well as the title of winningest rider at Daytona Supercross with seven victories at the iconic venue.\

Tomac has enjoyed his return to racing in 2024. He currently sits third in the 450SX point standings with a win and five runner-up finishes thus far with two rounds remaining in Monster Energy AMA Supercross. The Colorado rider will then switch gears to Pro Motocross, where he will launch his 450MX title campaign at the season opener at Fox Raceway in Pala, California, on May 25, also Round 18 of the SuperMotocross World Series.

Jim Roach – Yamaha Racing Department Manager for YMUS
“We’re happy to have Eli race the entire SMX World Championship and make another title run in Pro Motocross. It’s not only great for Yamaha and the team to see Eli continue racing, but also for the sport. The racing has been better than ever in Supercross, and we look forward to the upcoming outdoor season and SMX series.”

Jeremy Coker – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 Team Manager
“We’re excited to have Eli on board for the whole SMX season. It’s been a great year so far with his return to racing after last year’s injury, and we’re looking to build on our momentum going into the outdoor season. We’re looking to bring the #1 plate back.”

Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #3
“We can officially announce that we are in for the full SMX season. It really came down to wanting to continue what we have going on. I’ve been feeling great on the motorcycle. We’re getting into our groove, and I feel like we’re going to be really strong in Pro Motocross and for the SMX series. I’m excited to keep racing!”

Sierra Vet National MX 2024

Prairie City OHV Sierra National MX

GYPSY Tales...Haiden Deegan

The 2 Things that Hinders Haiden Deegan's run at a Supercross Championship.

Clinton Fowler goes through Haiden Deegan's 2024 Supercross stats so far and where they stack up to other superstars of the sport. My guest today is Clinton Fowler, the man behind the fantastic statistics that you hear each and every weekend on the Supercross broadcast as well as the fantastic online resource wewentfast.com and his own instagram @fowlerfacts. Clinton gave up his high-paying job at Microsoft developing the XBox to work in the action sports world with Red Bull and wound up developing the sports first detailed database almost on accident. I am a big storylines guy in the sport and no matter what story you throw Clintons way, he has a stat to either back it up or shoot you down. This was a highly enjoyable episode of the podcast with an extremely interesting and knowledgeable guy!

Supercross Questions?

Q&A: How Supercross is unfolding

Motoonline.com  Regulars Post: Kellen Brauer

Digging through storylines from the 2024 season after 15 rounds of the championship.

As the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship heads into its final two rounds, we’re seeing the conclusion to several season-long storylines. We break down the unfolding trends in this edition of Q&A.

Q: Who is going to take this 450SX title?

A: While mathematically, four riders are still eligible to win it, it really is down to Jett Lawrence and Cooper Webb. And more specifically, it’s down to whether Jett Lawrence doesn’t throw it away. He’s established himself a 12-point lead in the championship which isn’t the comfiest lead, but it does afford him the opportunity to control his own destiny by clinching the title with two podiums – something Jett has accomplished nine times across 15 races this season. For Webb to win this title still, he essentially had to win out at two races that will be harder packed and thus feature surfaces Webb has not been particularly strong on of late. It’s not impossible for Webb to pull the magic rabbit out of his hat still and get it done, but it’s looking like this is Jett Lawrence’s title to lose with two races to go.

Q: Will the 250SX points leaders remain out front?

A: RJ Hampshire is two points up on Levi Kitchen in 250SX West while Tom Vialle is 15 points up on Haiden Deegan in 250SX East. One of those championships looks more open than the other, but the question marks surrounding Levi Kitchen’s health still remains. Last we saw of Kitchen was him crashing in Nashville, finishing P14, and then posting from the hospital bed that he’s okay but thought he had broken ribs. Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki say he’s fine and Kitchen has been on the bike since, but he may not be at 100%. This weekend’s Denver Supercross will be a huge tale in where this 250SX West title fight goes as it’s essentially a dead heat in points and this weekend could either open it up for Hampshire or flip it back in the favor of Kitchen. Either way, we’re probably going into the 250SX East/West Showdown at Salt Lake City with the closest title fight being 250SX West as Tom Vialle just needs P11 or better no matter what at the final round to be 250SX East champion.

Q: What have been the standout performances?

A: The standout performance nearly across the board has to go to Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger. His season unfortunately ended a few weeks back in Foxborough with a fractured elbow, but Plessinger was outstanding in the early part of the 450SX championship. He won the third round at San Diego for his first career victory and held the championship lead for a few weeks as the musical chairs behind him continued to shuffle. Everyone knew Plessinger had the speed to win on his night, but not many expected him to be a legitimate championship contender for as long as he was. With a free agency looming for Plessinger, Red Bull KTM saw plenty out of the Ohio-native before his injury to extend his contract into the 2025 season and keep the SuperMotocross cowboy in orange.

Q: Biggest surprise or disappointment this season?

A: While Aaron Plessinger was an eyebrow raiser in 450SX, Coty Schock had some eyes wide open in 250SX. After being dropped late by Phoenix Racing Honda in the offseason, the Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha team gave Schock and chance and fielded a fifth 250SX bike for him. Schock has been rock solid the whole season even through a broken collarbone that required surgery after the fourth round in Birmingham, and now he’s tied for third in 250SX East points with one round to go. No question he’s been the surprise of the year. As for disappointments, you’d likely have to pin it on Justin Barcia or Malcolm Stewart. These are two riders who have been battling well inside the top five in championships before and they sit P9 and P11 in 450SX standings, respectively, with two rounds to go. They both have been getting a bit better late in the year but being over 60 points behind P5 in the championship is certainly not where either rider envisioned themselves.

Q: What does this 2024 Supercross season tell us about the future of 450SX?

A: Well if Jett Lawrence claims this 450SX title as a rookie against this depth of field, look out. We are a few years away from names like Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, Justin Barcia, Malcolm Stewart, and maybe even Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen, all retiring. Lawrence is still just 20 years old and is in a position to really take over this sport in a big way. This was the year where the veterans needed to show Lawrence that this 450 class is not going to be as easy as the 250 class. But after Lawrence had a perfect season on a 450 in AMA Pro Motocross and won the SuperMotocross World Championship after that, all he’s done indoors is win nearly double the races anyone else has and seemed primed to become just the third ever 450SX champion. Time will tell if this form continues year after year, but right now it’s all pointing towards #18 being #1 for a while.

Q: Is the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki curse real?

A: This was a question we answered at this exact same point in time last year and the answer then was “not likely”, but it somehow seems like this is turning into a “yes”. The team was three races away from maybe winning both 250SX titles and there’s a real chance they don’t win either of them. Cameron McAdoo had a freak crash at Nashville in qualifying that damaged his shoulder. He still made the main event that night but then collided with his 250SX West championship leading teammate Levi Kitchen early in the race and they both went down. McAdoo’s season was over four laps later when he pulled off the track while Kitchen watched his 15-point championship lead disappear to a two-point deficit behind RJ Hampshire. They have not won a 250SX championship since Justin Hill in 2017 and have seen nearly sure titles with Austin Forkner, Martin Davalos, Adam Cianciarulo, and more just disappear in the strangest ways. Curses may not be real, but Pro Circuit Kawasaki is on the oddest streak of bad luck this sport has maybe ever seen.

MXGP Portugal

The 2024 MXGP World Championship begins the first of it’s triple-headers this weekend as the series heads to Agueda, Portugal for the fifth round in this exciting battle. The following weekend the series heads north to Lugo in Spain for the inaugural race at that circuit before the third race in a row at the beautiful St Jean D’Angely track in France.

Tim Gajser will be the sole representative for Team HRC in Agueda, as Ruben Fernandez (MXGP) and Ferruccio Zanchi (MX2) recover from their injuries that have seen them miss the past few rounds. Fernandez’ injury is a bit more longer-term, but his initial recovery from the surgery has been good and he’s been diligently doing all his physio to try and get back on his Honda CRF450R as quickly as possible. For Zanchi, it was decided that another weekend on the sidelines was the best course of action, just to give his shoulder the best possible chance of being 100% as we start to approach the busy part of the calendar.

As for Gajser, the Slovenian closed up the gap in the championship to just 13 points after the last round in Trentino and while he is still looking for his first GP overall, he knows that he is riding extremely well and it is surely just a matter of time before he steps onto the top step of the podium. Agueda is a track he has done well at before, having won the GP back in 2019 and scored highly at in other years, and he’ll be hoping that he can make it another victory come Sunday evening after the completion of the two GP-scoring motos.

Tim Gajser 243
“It’s been good to have a couple of weekends off, just to recharge the batteries a bit before this stretch of races where we have six rounds in seven weekends. I like going to Portugal as the track is a good one, and the fans are always very supportive and it is just a nice weekend overall. Obviously, I want to get a win, as I try to every weekend, but it is still early-on in the championship and right now I’m riding well and staying consistent and that is very important.”

Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP

"We’ve had a couple of productive weeks away from the races, just having a chance to work on somethings with a bit more time. Tim is still in a good frame of mind and we can trust his programme to be on track at all times and I’m sure he’s excited for that gate-drop again. Unfortunately Ferro wasn’t quite ready for this race and we didn’t want to push him because it is better that he gets completely healed up for this hectic part of the year, than rush back and do even more damage. Of course, Ruben is also disappointed to be missing, but we’ve been getting encouraging reports that things are going well and hope that continues."

Lars Lindstrom – The Lawrence Brothers

Lars Lindstrom has a long history with American Honda’s motocross racing project, and an even longer involvement with the sport. His father is Swedish-born American motocross/off-road pioneer and AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Gunnar Lindstrom, who actually managed Honda’s motocross-racing program for the 1979 and 1980 seasons.

A talented racer himself, Lars joined Honda as a shop assistant in 2000 and worked his way up, serving in just about every capacity, including mechanic, parts room, engine tech, suspension tech, special projects and, most recently, 450 crew chief. 

Over the years, he has worked with a long list of legendary riders, including Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Chad Reed, Ken Roczen, Kevin Windham and of course the current lineup of the two Lawrence brothers, Jett and Hunter.

Lindstrom has had great times in recent weeks and also some tough times. Jett Lawrence has won, been bashed by Justin Barcia and had to fight through bad starts, but in the end, the Aussie is now 12 points ahead of second placed man Cooper Webb and for that, Lindstrom is happy.

Last weekend Lindstrom got what he expected, a victory for Jett and a good result for Hunter. 

“What a great weekend, all around. Hunter’s qualifying was so cool to see; the progress has been awesome, and he’s doing exactly what I hoped and thought he would do, which is build consistently through the season. All I can say about Jett is that he is a legend. That main-event performance just drove another nail into the fact that he is the best rider in world, which I feel confident in saying—especially when someone like Jeffrey Herlings admits it! For these next two races, it’s business as usual, and we all know it’s not over until it’s over.”

A week earlier in Nashville it was celebrations after a very tough couple of rounds.

“Nashville seems to really shake things up, and the racing tonight was pretty wild. We were lucky to come out unscathed, while having some great results. Hunter is really starting to hit his stride, winning his heat and then setting himself up to have a podium opportunity in the main until he was taken down by ‘the Picasso of racing incidents.’ What can you say about Jett that hasn’t already been said? From qualifying, to the heat, to dominating the main, it’s just awesome to see a special rider do special things.”

Foxborough wasn’t as much fun as Cooper Webb started making life difficult for his number one rider, Jett Lawrence.

“It was definitely an up-and-down night for us as a team. Hunter is gaining experience and momentum every weekend, and I’m really looking forward to the summer, because I think he’ll be really good. Jett was great in his heat race, and I’m super confident that he can get the job done through these next four races.”

St Louis was T-bone night for the HRC team as Justin Barcia tried to clean Jett Lawrences clock.

“When we were coming to St. Louis, I was expecting to have some famous St. Louis ribs; I wasn’t aware that there are incredible T-bones also! I wasn’t a big fan of them though—I could’ve done without. It was a crazy night, but all in all, coming away without serious injuries and a career-first podium for Hunter was something to be happy about. We’ll take this next weekend off to recover and come back ready to finish the season off even stronger.”

Seattle was a comeback race for Jett Lawrence, while brother Hunter won a heat race and continued his improvement.

“We’ve had a lot of bittersweet races this year, but tonight I’m not sure I can say that. Jett rode incredible and watching him catch the leaders so quickly was awesome—his speed was unreal! It was so cool to see Hunter win his first heat race, and he was really fast at the end of the main, passing great riders to get into seventh on the last lap. 

KTM Zimmerman Out!

Sexton On Zimmerman – “The Decision Was Made By The Team”

At the 15th round of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross in Philadelphia, rumors circulated that Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton might have a different mechanic for his Factory 450 SX-F. Confirming these rumors, Kyle Defoe was seen working on the #1 machine this weekend, while Sexton’s usual mechanic, Brandon Zimmerman, was absent. Sexton posted on his social media to clear the air regarding the situation.

Chase Sexton posted- I have nothing but love for @zimm763 and he will always be a super important person to me. I want to thank him for everything, I had the best time working with him. I wanted to come out and clear the air that us not working together had nothing to do with the throttle in Nashville, that was a freak incident and no one’s fault. This was a decision made independently by the team and Brandon. Zimm is an awesome mechanic. I wish him the best on his next endeavors, and I hope to see him at the gate soon

WSX's Latest News

Monster Energy Supercross and FIM Motocross World Championship news in one place! This is your one stop show for motocross news from around because, remember, interesting stuff happens everywhere. This week's episode features a gaggle of updates, with a significant focus on the FIM World Supercross Championship. Adam Bailey, the former CEO, has left WSX, so questions have been raised about the likeliness of the series continuing. Lewis Phillips lays out all of the information that exists at the time of recording. This is a developing news story that will develop in weeks to come. Jump across the Atlantic Ocean for news from the 2024 FIM Motocross World Championship. Jeffrey Herlings has announced that the ribs that he bruised at round three of MXGP, the Grand Prix of Sardinia, are actually broken. Yes, he has raced the last four weekends with four broken ribs and was lucky to not puncture a lung. MXGP returns in Agueda, Portugal, this weekend. Remember that interesting stuff does indeed happen everywhere! If there is news that you would like to see in this video, reach out in the comment section below. Thank you for watching and your continued support of this new feature.