Welcome to our new-brand GP Reel session coming to you from the hard pack of Teutschenthal, Germany, home of round nine of the MXGP World Championship. From warm-up session reports to the first and second motos reports of the day, you’ll find it all right here. Updates are posted in chronological order, so be sure to scroll down for the latest info. For more updates follow us on Twitter: @mx1onboard and for a quick-results-view you can also check the Results Sheet.
MORNING REPORT
No doubt the main topic from yesterday was the MX2 class. Roan Van de Moosdijk took his first win of the season on a Qualy Race, but the big storyline of the day was Jago Geerts and Kay de Wolf.
Geerts made an early -and unexpected- comeback just fifteen days after being under surgery to repair a broken wrist. He and his team decided to try to race in order to minimize the point’s damage as he currently sits 4th in the standings. The Belgian grabbed a decent 13th despite not scoring any points. But on the other hand, Championship leader Kay de Wolf went on a DNF after a small crash in the first stages of the race. He couldn´t throw his leg over the bike and restart the race due to an ankle injury sustained on Thursday.
With both riders banged up, things are tightening up for the Red Plate contention. Andrea Adamo and Thibault Benistant, who went third and fifth in the Qualifying Race, emerged as the new Red Plate favorites. So much intrigue and drama in Today`s racing. De Wolf’s situation is questionable heading to the first MX2 race. Will see if he can ride during the Warm-Up.
As for the MXGP class, Spaniard Jorge Prado regains valuable points with his sixth Qualy race win over Jeffrey Herlings, who came fourth behind Jeremy Seewer and Alberto Forato. Now the differences between them is 15 points.
WARM-UP:
All eyes were on Jago Geerts and Kay de Wolf during this session. Geerts rode calmly sitting in 13th. It seems he would earn good points at the end of the day if he remains calm and smart. On the other side, Kay de Wolf rode six laps ending in 26th…There is so much intrigue around him and his team before the first MX2 Race 1. The fastest lap in this session for the MX2 class was set by Lucas Coenen (1:56.079), more than half of a second faster than his personal best lap at the Qualifying Race. Behind him came Haarup +507 and Haarup +786. Adamo and Stauffer rounded the top 5.
Meanwhile, in the MXGP class, Febvre came on top with a 1:52.909 beating Forato by just 0.051! Seewer, Coldenhoff, Vlaanderen, and even Herlings were a couple of seconds slower without taking many risks as usual. Same for Spaniard duo Fernandez and Prado on P7 and P15.
We have to wait until the first races of the day to see what could happen at the end of the day!
MX2 – RACE 1:
Liam Everts took his first FOX Holeshot of the season over Husqvarna duo Roan Van de Moosdijk and Lucas Coenen. Meanwhile, Thibault Benistant and Jago Geerts were fifth and sixth. Buried back behind in the 21st was Kay de Wolf.
Just before lap 1 ended, Coenen sliced into first place to run away from the rest. A couple of laps later, Everts made a mistake that allow Van de Moosdijk put into second place as Andrea Adamo close off them from fifth place. The KTM duo fought back and forth against Roan Van de Moosdijk for almost the entire race. Everts was able to catch the Husqvarna rider on lap 11, while Adamo had a small crash but didn´t lose any positions.
De Wolf start to gain confidence lap by lap as he climbed to 11th place. On the other hand, Jago Geerts crashed out of sixth place in order to finish 13th. Losing a bunch of points in the process as well.
In the final stages, Lucas Coenen opened a huge gap to take the race under control. Liam Everts secured the second place as Van de Moosdijk crashed just in the final laps, dropping to fifth while Andrea Adamo and Thibault Benistant gained the third and fourth spots. Jan Pancar passed Spaniard Oriol Oliver to sixth. Mikkel Haarup made a good comeback from an early crash to eight, while the top 10 was rounded by Marcel Stauffer and Sacha Coenen.
A quick math put Adamo at the top of the board as the new championship leader (again) with 6 points over Kay de Wolf with one race to go.
MXGP – RACE 1:
Seewer and Prado crossed the holeshot line side by side with the Swiss grabbing the holeshot for the seventh time this year. Seewer rode in first place for a good portion of the race before being passed by Herlings and then by Prado.
The trio was in hot pursuit with Herlings at the front. However, the drama struck the field in the final stages as Herlings went over the bars due to a cross rut. He pick-up in 8th and then started to drop positions quickly as he was rolling every jump until finished 20th. At first sight, it seems like a broken collarbone.
On the hand, Prado took the win over Seewer. Behind, Ruben Fernandez came in third place with Alberto Forato rounding the top 5.
MX2 – RACE 2:
It was a similar story at the beginning of Race 2. Liam Everts came with the holeshot over Lucas Coenen. But like in Race 1, Coenen wasted no time on took the lead in order to run away from the KTM rider.
Lucas seems to have it all under control. However a heartbreaking mechanical issue put him out of the race. Instead, Everts retook the lead in order to win his second race of the season and his first-overall GP. Behind young Belgium, Andrea Adamo and Thibault Benistant finished second and third, same results for the overall day.
Mikkel Haarup prevails over Roan Van de Moosdijk in the fight for fourth place as Jan Pancar came in sixth. Jago Geerts efforts were well-rewarded with a seventh place over Isak Gifting and Stauffer. Same to Kay de Wolf who rounded the top 10.
MXGP – RACE 2:
Herlings was out for this one. On the other hand, Prado came with a huge win after catching Glenn Coldenhoff who led the first stages. Romain Febvre starts from the middle of the pack and climbs to third, however, the final podium spot went to Fernandez. Seewer made all his way to sixth after an early crash.
