Cycle News Staff | April 26, 2022
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser won both motos at the MXGP of Latvia, April 24, to extend his moto win-streak to five and increase his points gap at the top of the MXGP Championship to 66 points.
On what was a miserably wet day at the Kegums circuit, Gajser took control of both races in what were not very easy conditions. The rain had slowed the track down, providing more ruts and bumps to challenge the racers, but after winning the second moto in Portugal and both races in Trentino, Gajser showed he can handle any conditions.
He swept around the first turn well inside the top five in moto one (and two), and by the end of lap one, was in the top five. With every rider at their strongest, and the track at its flattest, the Slovenian rider took his time to figure out where to make his move, but when he did put the hammer down, he was into the lead after passes on two consecutive laps.
Race two went even better for the Honda rider, as he swept around the first turn in second place, once again, putting himself in position to make a move. With the track conditions getting harder, this came earlier in the race as others struggled to maintain their speed, and he moved into the lead on lap six. From there he controlled the race, taking the win, the overall and further extending his championship lead, to give himself more than a two-moto buffer to those behind.
“I am really happy with how this weekend went,” Gajser said. “It wasn’t easy today as the track was a lot sketchier due to the rain, but I stayed patient in both races and made the passes when I needed to. I was also able to get two good starts, which I knew would be important, so that was good and that allowed me to not have to fight through the field. Everything is going really well right now and I’d like to thank all of Team HRC and all the fans.”
Latvia’s own Pauls Jonass took second overall with a pair of second-place finishes, taking the checkered flag approximately four seconds behind Gajser in the first moto and five seconds in the second moto.
“This is almost like a dream come true,” the Husqvarna rider, Jonass, said. “I always dreamed about winning the home GP. Okay, I came close, but Tim was better this weekend, and he is riding really good this year. And I just tried to stay calm, because it was not easy with the fans and all the emotions. But I managed to keep the first position for a while which was pretty cool, and I got quite excited for that.”
Spain’s Ruben Fernandez (Honda) was third overall, going 3-4 on the day. It was a career-first podium for the Spaniard.
“Well, this is good to get it out of the way and to be honest, I’m super happy,” said Fernandez. “I always thought I could make it happen and I felt I had the speed for it, I just found it difficult to put it all together in one weekend. After many bad weekends in a row, I needed to know where I was going wrong and how to work on it and finally put it all together and stay calm and that’s what made it possible to be on the podium.”
MX2
In MX2, it was all Jago Geerts. The Yamaha rider from Belgium dominated both motos, going 1-1 on the day for the overall victory. The win bumped him up into a tie for the championship lead with KTM’s Tom Vialle, who labored a bit on the sandy Kegums soil.
“Today I took two good starts and felt good on the track all day and managed to stay out of trouble,” said Geerts, “so I’m really happy about my riding and my speed. It’s nice to have the red plate again, but we are tied on points, it doesn’t do much but it’s always nice.”
“[The race] was not an easy one for me,” said Vialle who was third overall with a 5-3. “I struggled a lot with the track to find good lines in the first race so I was fifth, which, of course, wasn’t good, but we made a few changes on the bike for race two which was actually better, and I could fight for third. The weekend wasn’t the best and we need to improve a lot, it’s still a new bike and we are learning things every weekend.”
Norway’s Kevin Hogmo (Kawasaki) was second overall with a 2-4.
Geerts and Vialle lead the way in the MX2 World Championship with 244 point each, followed by German Simon Langenfelder (GG) with 181 points. CN
MXGP
- Tim Gajser (Hon) 1-1
- Pauls Jonass (Hus) 2-2
- Ruben Fernandez (Hon) 3-4
- Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam) 5-3
- Maxzime Renaux (Yam) 6-5
MX2
- Jago Geerts (Yam) 1-1
- Kevin Horgmo (Kaw) 2-4
- Tom Vialle (KTM) 5-3
- Kay de Wolf (Hus) 12-2
- Thibault Benistant (Yam) 3-10
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