Cycle News Staff | April 17, 2024
Round four of the FIM Motocross World Championship took to the mountains of Arco, Italy, for the MXGP of Trentino, April 13-14. This iconic GP venue saw drama for the points leaders during Saturday’s qualifying races but both managed to bounce back with podium results on Sunday. At the checkers, Jorge Prado continued his win streak, while Liam Everts took his first victory of 2024.
MXGP
In Saturday’s qualifying, Prado’s seat came off his bike over the finish-line jump and again in the final lap, putting him at the back in 17th at the finish. Romain Febvre capitalized on Prado’s double seat mishap on Saturday and took the pole position going into Sunday’s moto one.
The Kawasaki rider, Febvre, stalked Prado in the early stages and jumped at a rare mistake from the points leader on lap seven. This put Febvre into the lead where he’d remain for the rest of the race.
Prado dropped another position when former champ Tim Gajser passed for second place. Gajser set after Febvre and pressured the Kawasaki rider at the finish.
Prado then rebounded with a holeshot in race two with Febvre again giving chase. The two remained close, going wheel to wheel until Febvre went down and dropped back to fifth. This made it easy work for Prado who proceeded to lead all 18 laps en route to the moto win and his fourth consecutive Grand Prix overall victory courtesy of 3-1 finishes.
Calvin Vlaanderen and Jeremy Seewer crossed the finish line 2-3 in moto. Febvre and Gajser still claimed spots on the box, going 1-5 and 2-4 for second and third overall, respectively.
“Starting from P17 in the first moto wasn’t easy, but I have been saying that I’m a good starter, and I think I proved that today,” Prado said. “In the first moto, I didn’t really have a good flow; I tried, but the conditions were sketchy, and I felt like the guys were riding a little bit better than I was.
“In the second moto, we made some very small bike adjustments,” Prado said. “I think we just touched the right clicks on the bike and made it work. We had a great start again, and I had a fun battle with Febvre in the first laps, but then he fell. Honestly, I’m just happy to come away with the win this weekend.”
MX2
Points leader Kay de Wolf kept his championship momentum rolling with a big win in race one of the MX2 division. He followed the early leader, Sacha Coenen, in the opening laps but made his move for the lead before running away with the opening-moto win, his ninth of the season.
Yamaha’s Thibault Benistant rode a smooth race for second despite trouble in the early stages of the race. He trailed de Wolf by only three seconds at the line.
Everts carried his pace from Saturday’s qualifying race to take third in race one.
Race two spelled trouble for de Wolf as he found himself on the ground in turn one. Simon Laengenfelder put his GasGas up front as he ran away with the early race lead. Laengenfelder held it down in P1 for the entirety of race two, claiming his second race win of the season and the 12th of his career.
Everts again started towards the front and moved into second on lap six. The pass proved significant as it gave him the edge in the overall rankings. Italy’s Andrea Bonacorsi crossed the line third in front of his home country. Race-one winner, de Wolf fell again during the race and finished eighth in the moto. 1-8 results dropped him off the podium to fourth.
Everts’ 3-2 earned him his first overall win of the year with Benistant taking second via 2-4 scores. Laengenfelder’s win in race two bumped him to third overall.
“It wasn’t a perfect weekend, but we got the job done,” said Everts. “It’s nice to be back on top, especially at this iconic venue. I had struggled in Sardinia, so I wanted to do better and get on the podium. I wanted to get that burden off my shoulders, and I hope now I have that sense of freedom to continue.”CN
Video | 2024 MXGP of Trentino Highlights
MXGP (Top 5)
- Jorge Prado (GG) 3-1
- Romain Febvre (Kaw) 1-5
- Tim Gajser (Hon) 2-4
- Calvin Vlaanderen (Yam) 6-2
- Jeremy Seewer (Kaw) 5-3
MX2 (Top 5)
- Liam Everts (KTM) 3-2
- Thibault Benistant (Yam) 2-4
- Simon Laengenfelder (GG) 8-1
- Kay De Wolf (Hus) 1-8
- Camden Mc Lellan (Tri) 5-7
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