The 2022 World Motocross tilt is now just days away from beginning at Matterley Basin in England. MX2’s World Title is up for grabs this year with Maxime Renaux off to the MXGP class, leaving Tom Vialle, Jago Geerts, and others left to duke it out. Although those two riders are the favorites, there are some other interesting riders in the class. Such as Liam Everts, Thibault Benistant, Kay De Wolf, Roan Van De Moosdijk and Conrad Mewse.
Be sure to catch up on all of our Motocross coverage.
Energy (Drink) Crisis?
Some notable ‘GP-related news before we dive into the riders. This more so concerns the main MXGP class but has some MX2 implications. That being you’ll be seeing less Monster Energy and Rockstar Energy across the pond for the foreseeable future. Monster will no longer be sponsoring the Kawasaki KRT team, however, rider deals are unaffected, Rockstar meanwhile has seemingly pulled out of MXGP completely. The latter is more interesting given that Rockstar has re-upped with the American Husqvarna outfit rather recently. Say what you want about the energy drinks in the sport, but they pump in a ton of money. This is a notable loss.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team
No. 93 Jago Geerts
2021 Stats: 4 Grand Prix Wins, 5 Moto Wins, 8 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 5.1, 2nd in Points
Save for the few missed motos, Geerts had a good showing in 2021. Entering year five in the class, the Belgian is riding a three-year stretch of top three points finishes. Given his consistency and the power vacuum left in Renaux’s wake, that should stretch to four straight pending injury. Expect Geerts to be a threat at the sand tracks on the schedule, given that he is from Belgium.
No. 198 Thibault Benistant
2021 Stats: 0 Grand Prix Wins, 2 Moto Wins, 1 Grand Prix Podium, Average Grand Prix Finish of 8.1, 8th in Points
A handful of missed motos cost Benistant a top-five points finish last year. Outside of that, the 2020 EMX250 Champion performed well in his rookie MX2 campaign. He picked up his lone podium fairly early on Loket last year. Later on, however, Beninstant outright missed the final two rounds of the season in Italy, costing him a maximum of 100 points. How the Frenchman runs in year two will be interesting. He will certainly be competing with Vialle for a Team France Des Nations spot this year.
DIGA Procross KTM
No. 72 Liam Everts
Ran MXGP of Sardegna for his class debut in 2021, going 9-14 for 13th Overall
Although he ran one ‘GP a season ago, the son of the icon Stefan Everts is partaking in his first full MX2 season. Also last year, the young Belgian got a spot on the country’s Des Nations team and performed exceptionally well. Everts went a team-best 13-17. Making him the fourth-best MX2 rider in the event behind Isak Gifting, Mattia Guadagnini, and the late Rene Hofer. Running for one of the secondary KTM teams, Everts’ results will be worth monitoring. Would have to imagine he has a lot of expectations given who his father is.
Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing
No. 101 Mattia Guadagnini
2021 Stats: 2 Grand Prix Wins, 3 Moto Wins, 6 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 6.3, 4th in Points, 2021 Motocross Des Nations Champion
Guadagnini is now on his third KTM group bike in three years but is coming off a great year. The Italian picked up his first two MX2 ‘GP wins and was the key cog in Italy winning their first Motocross Des Nations in nearly two decades. However, several strings of poor results kept him from potentially winning the MX2 title. In just about a quarter of the motos ran, Guadagnini scored 10 or fewer points, which simply won’t get it done in any season. If Guadagnini can stay consistent, he will certainly be a contender this season.
No. 516 Simon Längenfelder
2021 Stats: 0 Grand Prix Wins, 0 Moto Wins, 0 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 11.2, 10th in Points
Längenfelder makes the jump from DIGA Procross to the De Carli outfit for 2022. The 2021 numbers don’t blow you away, but the German should be better in 2022. He was however good enough to secure an MX2 spot on Team Germany for Des Nations last year. Längenfelder went 16-24 in the event, which was a team-best in a subpar outing for the Germans. With a notable bump up in equipment and familiarity with the GasGas bike, Längenfelder should be in for a good year.
Hitachi KTM
No. 33 Kay Karssemakers
Making MX2 Debut
Karssemakers is a very interesting case. The Dutchman, who ran EMX125 last year, is bypassing EMX250 completely and jumping straight into MX2. More interesting is that he finished fourth in the Championship and had no Moto or Grand Prix wins. However, the team feels confident in the 17-year-old as he enters his first season in the World Championship. Let’s see if Karssemakers can reward the Hitachi team’s faith in him.
No. 517 Isak Gifting
2021 Stats: 0 Grand Prix Wins, 0 Moto Wins, 0 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 13.5, 13th in Points
Despite having a laundry list of bad results a year ago, Gifting managed to have a top 15 points finish. Safe to say that isn’t what he, nor Hitachi KTM would like to see in 2022. This isn’t a talent thing with Gifting either, he finished third in the MX2 class representing Sweden in Des Nations. As long as he can stay out of trouble, he should be just fine for this season.
Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing
No. 39 Roan Van De Moosdijk
2021 Stats: 0 Grand Prix Wins, 0 Moto Wins, 0 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 11.2, 17th in Points
Van De Moosdijk missed nine rounds a year ago but makes the jump from F&H Kawasaki to the new Factory Husqvarna outfit. A 30th in Spain brings his average finish down a bit, where he went 29-DNS, which was also his last outing of the year. Now on a factory squad, Van De Moosdijk is a major rebound candidate in 2022. Expect him to be a candidate for the Dutch Des Nations team as well.
No. 74 Kay De Wolf
2021 Stats: 0 Grand Prix Wins, 1 Moto Win, 4 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 7.8, 7th in Points
De Wolf sticks with Husqvarna after running with the then Rockstar (IceOne) team a year ago. He fell just short of picking up his first Grand Prix win at Lommel last year but was just beat out by Geerts. He did however pick up a Moto 2 win there, which is very impressive given that it’s Lommel. De Wolf should continue to progress in year two in the class.
426 Motorsports KTM
No. 426 Conrad Mewse
2021 Stats: 0 Grand Prix Wins, 0 Moto Wins, 0 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 14, 16th in Points
Mewse made a sudden exit from the Hitachi KTM squad last month, and will now run this year on his own program. That ended up starting last week at Hawkstone Park, where he won a tune-up event over several MX2 title contenders. His results were all over the place in 2021, but Mewse was a part of a third-place effort for the Brits at Des Nation. How well he will be able to do on his own this season will be worth monitoring.
Red Bull KTM
No. 28 Tom Vialle
2021 Stats: 6 Grand Prix Wins, 12 Moto Wins, 10 Grand Prix Podiums, Average Grand Prix Finish of 6.6, 3rd in Points
If not for an injury after going 1-1 in Russia, Vialle would have likely repeated as MX2 champion. He had more Grand Prix and Moto wins than Renaux had, in addition to having a three Grand Prix win streak in September. Vialle, however, was outrun in the back half of the season in the rounds he was at 100 percent. If everything goes according to plan, Vialle picks up his second MX2 Championship and rounds early at that.
Preseason MX2 Top 10 Power Rankings
10. Isak Gifting
9. Liam Everts
8. Conrad Mewse
7. Roan Van De Moosdijk
6. Simon Längenfelder
5. Thibault Benistant
4. Kay De Wolf
3. Mattia Guadagnini
2. Jago Geerts
1. Tom Vialle
2022 MX2 World Championship Pick: Tom Vialle
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Main Image via KTM
