The MXGP season resumed after a double-bye week at the Czech Republic’s Loket circuit. Here, the real push towards Championships and the Motocross Des Nations really begins, with seven GP’s plus a trip to RedBud in just under a dozen-week span. For MXGP Class points leader Tim Gajser, his title fight could be coming to an end very early. He has a real shot to wrap things up as realistically early as Finland in a few rounds should he continue to run well. The real Championship drama in 2022 resides in the MX2 class, with Tom Vialle and Jago Geerts playing hot potato with the red plate the last few rounds. Would that trend continue on Sunday?
Be sure to keep up with all of our Motocross coverage.
Team Switzerland MXdN Announcement
The first major team announcement for this year’s Motocross Des Nations dropped earlier this month with Team Switzerland. Leading the charge to no surprise is Jeremy Seewer as the official MX1 entry, who entered the weekend third in MXGP points. Last year, Seewer skipped out on the event, but finished third among MX1 riders in 2019, behind only Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings.
Joining Seewer as the MX2 entry will be Kevin Brumann. His season this year in the MX2 Class hasn’t been worthwhile, but he is a former Swiss National 85cc and 125cc Champion. Finally, the Open Class rider will be Valentin Guillod, who earlier this year went 10-10 for 12th overall at the MXGP of Spain. That was just his second GP of the year but was on the gate in Czechia this weekend. Guillod also outright finished in second place in the second of three races at Des Nations a year ago. Horrific mud or not, that is very impressive. This year, the team looks to improve on a run of eight a year ago.
MX2 Class Recap
Moto 1
Frenchman Thibault Beninstant took home the day’s opening holeshot over fellow countryman Tom Guyon. Geerts wasn’t that far behind the lead pack getting into third early, Vialle however was buried. By the time he completed lap one he was in eighth place, which wasn’t going to help his point efforts. That however wasn’t his only issue, as he dropped four spots from lap seven to lap nine. Potentially seemed like some sort of brake issue was the cause of the slide. Some good news however was that Geerts never made it higher than third. Beninstant went wire to wire for the Moto win, with Simon Laengenfelder occupying the second spot for the same duration.
Moto 2
Here we saw the two title combatants on center stage right away. Geerts picked up the holeshot but Vialle got by him right after the uphill section on the opening lap. The two quickly ran away from the field, with Laengenfelder, Beninstant, and Kevin Horgmo rounding out the top five. Vialle’s rough day continued in Moto 2, as an off-track excursion cost him the lead and race win all at once, as Geerts gets a race and Grand Prix win all at once. Now, Geerts and Vialle have swapped the points lead a mind-numbing eight consecutive rounds. Practically unheard-of stuff at this level.
MX2 Class Top 10 Results
1st No. 93 Jago Geerts 3-1
2nd No. 198 Thibault Benistant 1-4
3rd No. 516 Simon Laengenfelder 2-3
4th No. 24 Kevin Horgmo 4-5
5th No. 28 Tom Vialle 10-2
6th No. 74 Kay De Wolf 6-7
7th No. 11 Mikkel Haarup 8-8
8th No. 72 Liam Everts 7-9
9th No. 38 Stephen Rubini 5-12
10th No. 80 Andrea Adamo 9-10
MX2 Class Point Standings After Czechia
1st No. 93 Jago Geerts 543 Points (New Points Leader)
2nd No. 28 Tom Vialle 534 Points (-9)
3rd No. 516 Simon Laengenfelder 437 Points (-106)
4th No. 24 Kevin Horgmo 390 Points (-153)
5th No. 11 Mikkel Haarup 358 Points (-185)
MXGP Class Recap
Moto 1
Seewer pulled out the first 450 holeshot of the day before losing the lead into the second turn to Jorge Prado. Seewer then lost second to Gajser as well on the opening lap but charged from third to first in the span of three laps. After leading the opening six laps, Prado fell from first to fifth in the final 12 laps. This has been the story of his life ever since he jumped up from MX2 though. A nice story elsewhere was a returning Maxime Renaux running well and ending up finishing third in this Moto. He had been running as high as second in the points before he got hurt so nice to see him right on pace. Seewer held on for the win with a sea of Swiss flags coming to the finish line, Gajser second, and Renaux third.
Moto 2
Prado and Seewer swapped roles from the opening Moto. With the GasGas rider getting holeshot No. 13, and the Yamaha rider getting the early lead. Seewer however didn’t end up leading the opening lap, rather his teammate Renaux did. Seewer lost the rear end making the corner to the scrub hill and Renaux never looked back. In fact, the entire top five remained the exact same after lap one, save Prado taking fifth at the very end over Mitch Evans. For Renaux, a 3-1 wouldn’t get it done, as Seewer beat him with a 1-2 for his second GP win of the season. Not a bad day for Monster Yamaha, with four Moto wins with four different riders.
MXGP Class Top 10 Results
1st No. 91 Jeremy Seewer 1-2
2nd No. 959 Maxime Renaux 3-1
3rd No. 243 Tim Gajser 2-3
4th No. 259 Glenn Coldenhoff 4-4
5th No. 61 Jorge Prado 5-5
6th No. 10 Calvin Vlaanderen 7-6
7th No. 43 Mitch Evans 6-7
8th No. 189 Brian Bogers 10-8
9th No. 101 Mattia Guadagnini 8-11
10th No. 92 Valentin Guillod 13-9
MXGP Class Point Standings After Czechia
1st No. 243 Tim Gajser 577 Points
2nd No. 91 Jeremy Seewer 452 (-125)
3rd No. 61 Jago Geerts 442 Points (-135)
4th No. 959 Maxime Renaux 410 Points (-167)
5th No. 259 Jorge Prado 399 Points (-178)
Check us out on our socials:
Twitter: @PTSTNews and @TalkPrimeTime
Facebook Page: Prime Time Sports Talk
Join our Facebook Group: Prime Time Sports Talk
Instagram: @primetimesportstalk
Follow Jack Gaffney on Twitter @JackGaffneyPTST
Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
