After a week’s delay due to some heavy wind damage, MXGP made its season debut in southeast England on Sunday. No Jeffrey Herlings, no Romain Febvre, but there was still plenty of other notable storylines heading into, and leaving Sunday. First off, Simon Laengenfelder of Red Bull GasGas picked up the MX2 qualifying race victory on Saturday. While on the MXGP class side of things, rookie Maxime Renaux of Monster Energy Yamaha did the same. Could the pair of standouts carry that momentum into Sunday? Let’s find out?
Be sure to catch up on all of our Motocross coverage.
MX2 Class Recap
Moto 1
Laengenfelder picked up right where he left off on Saturday, picking up the first holeshot of the year over Tom Vialle. The GasGas rider ran off into the night, with Vialle, and F&H Kawasaki’s Kevin Horgmo in third. Horgmo sadly had a stalling issue early on which shuffled him back to ninth by the end of the Moto. While this was a good Moto for Laengenfelder, the same cant be said for his teammate Mattia Guadagnini, who started in 11th and finished 13th. As for the former, Laengenfelder cruised to a four-second win over Vialle.
Moto 2
Laengenfelder once again picked up the holeshot in Moto 2, but Vialle ended up getting by in the mini rhythm section to lead the opening three laps. Why it wasn’t more than that, was because the Frenchman looped out of a corner late in that fourth lap, which more or less gave Laegenfelder the 1-1. Even on the final lap, Vialle got back to him and fell again. All around, the result for Laengenfelder is a pleasant surprise, the GasGas team must be very pleased.
MX2 Class Top 10 Results
1st No. 516 Simon Laengenfelder 1-1
2nd No. 28 Tom Vialle 2-3
3rd No. 93 Jago Geerts 4-2
4th No. 74 Kay De Wolf 3-5
5th No. 39 Roan Van De Moosdijk 6-4
6th No. 11 Mikkel Haarup 8-7
7th No. 38 Stephen Rubini 5-10
8th No. 24 Kevin Horgmo 7-9
9th No. 517 Isak Gifting 14-6
10th No. 80 Andrea Adamo 9-11
MXGP Class Recap
Moto 1
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Jorge Prado ended up picking up the opening MXGP class holeshot of the year. However, his lead would be short-lived, as Jeremy Seewer got by the Spaniard and proceeded to lead the large bulk of this Moto. In tow were Seewer’s teammate Glenn Coldenhoff and Tim Gajser, with the latter making his way to the front after a sixth-place start. Coldenhoff ended up slipping from as high as third, all the way back to ninth in this one. Gajser meanwhile, made it to Seewer with two to go and got by after the Swiss Yamaha rider tipped over in a corner, handing the 243 the win. Renaux in his first-ever MXGP Moto meanwhile, wound up in fourth place.
Moto 2
Prado, just like Laegenfelder, pulled off a 2-for-2 holeshot day, and once again the Monster Yamaha duo of Seewer and Coldenhoff were right behind. Gajser again weaved by the Yamaha riders, before passing Prado with two laps to go on the sharp downhill corner after the finish. Gajser would end up wrecking in that exact same spot all of one lap later, giving the lead right back to Prado. Despite Prado barely holding on to the Moto win even after the fall, a 1-2 day was good enough for Gajser to win the opening Grand Prix of the year, and his 29th career 450 Grand Prix win. That currently is good for sixth-most all-time.
MXGP Class Top 10 Results
1st No. 243 Tim Gajser 1-2
2nd No. 61 Jorge Prado 4-1
3rd No. 91 Jeremy Seewer 2-4
4th No. 959 Maxime Renaux 3-6
5th No. 259 Glenn Coldenhoff 9-3
6th No. 14 Jed Beaton 5-7
7th No. 303 Alberto Forato 6-8
8th No. 19 Thomas Kjer Olsen 8-10
9th No. 89 Jeremy Van Horebeek 10-9
10th No. 189 Brian Bogers 7-12
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