Last week, Tim Gajser wrapped up his fourth MXGP World Championship in Finland over Jeremy Seewer. Although that is all settled, the MX2 Championship, unequivocally the better of the two this year, is still very much alive. Granted it is down to just two riders, but Jago Geerts and Tom Vialle are as good as they come in 250 Motocross anywhere in the world. The Belgian Yamaha rider had his lead cut by about a third last weekend in Finland, but still maintained a 15-point gap to the French KTM rider. Vialle also had the proverbial home-field advantage, as St. Jean D’Angely played host to the year’s penultimate round. With just Turkey to go, what does Vialle have left for his final two races before departing to the AMA scene?
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Click here for Tim Gajser’s fourth MXGP World Championship victory.
Low Attendance
Despite this weekend’s racing taking place in France, there was an alarming lack of MX2 riders on the gate. Just 18 riders participated in the Saturday qualifying race, then 19 took part in both Motos on Sunday. Not a flyaway round to Asia, not a flyaway round to the Western Hemisphere, France. That becomes especially alarming considering there were well over 30 riders racing this weekend in the EMX250 series, the feeder to MX2. MXGP/InFront/FIM reportedly have some plans in place to help boost MX2 attendance moving forward. According to Lewis Phillips of MXVice, an age limit of 21 may be implemented in EMX250. While additionally, EMXOpen may be scrapped entirely to help out on the MXGP class side of things.
Returning to the Scene of the Crime
If you recall, France won the Motocross Des Nations the last time the event was held in RedBud. Seeing as the event is now just over a month out, the nation that dominated the 2010s announced their three rider unit earlier in the week. No surprises, but their two 450 riders are Maxime Renaux and outgoing AMA National Motocross Champion Dylan Ferrandis. What was surprising was learning about their MX2 selection, Marvin Musquin. You are reading that correct, the MX2 World Champion all the way back in 2009 will be dropping down to run the 250 despite not running an AMA National as of a year ago yesterday.
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If you are wondering about Vialle, he of course is getting ready to make a move to America himself. That is going to require some time to get himself familiarized with Supercross going into next January. Better that keep him out than say for, I don’t know, the size of a Red Bull logo on a team France hat (that legitimately happened, I’m 100 percent serious). Musquin is by no means a bad option, in fact, he was a part of the French’s 2015 winning team on home soil at Ernee. With that said, you gotta feel for Thibault Benistant, who is in line for a potential top five points finish this year.
MXGP Class
Moto 1
Switching things up here as we start with the 450 boys. Seewer started out his quest for silver with a holeshot over teammate Renaux. Romain Febvre was also closely behind at the start, as were Gajser and Jorge Prado. The first major moment of this Moto came around lap seven, where Jeremy Van Horebeek had a brutal crash on the start straight. Unfortunately, this resulted in the Belgian, in his second to last MXGP round ever, on a stretcher and off to the hospital. According to the SDM Corse Beta team, he is “under control” at a hospital as of this morning (United States EST). Here’s hoping for the best, this would be an awful way for Van Horebeek to end his career, and right at the end at that.
The battle for the win came down to Seewer and Gajser in this one, a good sign that Gajser is still going for wins after winning the Championship. Coming down to the final corners of the Moto, GT243 erased a multi-second gap to just a matter of bike lengths. However, he came up short by just that much, as Seewer picked up another dominating win, and wire-to-wire at that. Additionally. Seewer was the main rider here TRIPLING into the uphill roller section on the day. An absolutely insane visual and give him credit for being willing to go for it.
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Moto 2
Not one to go 0-for on holeshots, Prado racked up his 16th of the year to end his day. Much to the credit of Prado, he hung in the lead for far more than usual. A great sign considering he came down with COVID earlier in the year. Also for the fact that Des Nations is right around the corner as well. Renaux was also in the hunt here, but he began to fade around the one-third mark of the Moto. That set up a battle between Prado, Gajser, and Seewer that went up until the final lap. Gajser saved his best for the very end, getting by both Seewer and Prado in a matter of a few corners. That also won him the Grand Prix with a 2-1. Not a bad way to get GP win No. 9 on the year. Give credit to Prado as well, who didn’t give up on second place and looked physically gassed after crossing the line.
Tim Gajser is the MXGP overall winner at the MXGP of Charente Maritimeš
Hereās what the winner had to say about his weekend! šŗ#MXGPCharenteMaritime #MXGP #Motocross pic.twitter.com/OedpNGQNzV
— MXGP (@mxgp) August 21, 2022
MXGP Class Top 10 Results
1st No. 243 Tim Gajser 2-1
2nd No. 91 Jeremy Seewer 1-3
3rd No. 61 Jorge Prado 4-2
4th No. 3 Romain Febvre 3-5
5th No. 959 Maxime Renaux 5-4
6th No. 259 Glenn Coldenhoff 6-8
7th No. 10 Calvin Vlaanderen 8-7
8th No. 41 Pauls Jonass 11-6
9th No. 43 Mitch Evans 7-11
10 No. 303 Alberto Forato 9-10
MXGP Class Point Standings After France (St. Jean)
1st No. 243 Tim Gajser 721 Points (Clinched Championship)
2nd No. 91 Jeremy Seewer 615 Points (-106)
3rd No. 61 Jorge Prado 557 Points (-164)
4th No. 259 Glenn Coldenhoff 553 Points (-168)
5th No. 959 Maxime Renaux 540 Points (-181)
MX2 Class
Moto 1
Going into turn one, Kevin Horgmo had less than a fun time as he got punted into wooden fencing on the outside corner. Luckily he was all good and he was able to rebound up to 10th. Andrea Adamo meanwhile was able to snag the opening holeshot over Benistant, who ripped a solid wheelie halfway down the start straight. Another rider who didn’t have a fun time was Kay De Wolf, who went down twice, while also having his bike dragged for some distance by Horgmo.
The battle between Jago Geerts and Tom Vialle is going on in the first Race of the MX2 class! pic.twitter.com/NVONJqgivN
— MXGP (@mxgp) August 21, 2022
Save for Mikkel Haarup getting by Roan Van De Moosdijk on lap two, the top five remained the same for the distance. Benistant started a big day for the French contingent with a wire-to-wire win. As for the two title combatants, Vialle ended up right behind Benistant, with Geerts just behind Vialle. Not a huge cause for concern as of that moment, but Geerts’ points lead went from 15 to 13.
Moto 2
Moto 2 started out with a surprise holeshot from Frenchman Tom Guyon, the first of his career, on home soil no less. Granted, both Vialle and Benistant got by in turn two, but this was a superb run for the No. 27 KTM. Guyon, on what was his best day in the MX2 class by a wide margin, was able to finish on the podium in this Moto, and nearly for the Grand Prix as well. Would have to imagine an all-French podium would have gone over well had Guyon done just a tad better in Moto 1.
The real story of this Moto wasn’t any of the secondary French riders, or even Vialle, who ended up with the win, but rather Geerts for not the reasons he would want. After rallying from fifth to third in the early goings, the points leader went down on the uphill section, falling back to seventh. He would fall again shortly after, and while he lost no additional spots, he was stuck in seventh for the rest of the Moto. With this disastrous result, Geerts’ points lead is just down to two.
This was the MOMENT š± in MX2 Race 2 here in Saint Jean d'Angely!#MXGPCharenteMaritime #MXGP #MX2 #Motocross pic.twitter.com/Ju4a10WxIz
— MXGP (@mxgp) August 21, 2022
With just two Moto’s to go, here is how things break down. If Vialle or Geerts score a 1-1 day, they win the Championship by default. Geerts can also clinch by default with a 1-2/2-1 day as well, whereas Vialle can not. Now for the scenario where the two tie, which is a possibility. Assuming it is either Grand Prix wins or Moto wins, Vialle already has both of those locked up. He has Geerts beat in Moto wins 15-to-12, and GP wins with a 9-to-6 margin.
MX2 Class Top 10 Results
1st No. 28 Tom Vialle 2-1
2nd No. 198 Thibault Benistant 1-2
3rd No. 93 Jago Geerts 3-7
4th No. 27 Tom Guyon 9-3
5th No. 72 Liam Everts 7-6
6th No. 516 Simon Laengenfelder 4-10
7th No. 24 Kevin Horgmo 10-5
8th No. 80 Andrea Adamo 6-9
9th No. 39 Roan Van De Moosdijk 13-4
10th No. 11 Mikkel Haarup 5-12
MX2 Class Point Standings After France (St. Jean)
1st No. 93 Jago Geerts 710 Points
2nd No. 28 Tom Vialle 708 Points (-2)
3rd No. 516 Simon Laengenfelder 564 Points (-146)
4th No. 24 Kevin Horgmo 503 Points
5th No. 198 Thibault Benistant 481 Points
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