Tim Gasjer nets his first back-to-back MXGP overall wins while Jeffrey Herlings steamrolls MX2 for the fifth consecutive round.
Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings came away from the World GP circuit’s second stop in the Americas with overall wins at their respective classes in the MXGP of Leon in Leon, Mexico, Sunday.
Gasjer, the 19-year-old rookie, once again showed that he has the mettle to contend for the premier title in the FIM Motocross World Championship when he fought back against reigning MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre to score his third career overall win via 2-1 moto scores while Herlings once again ran roughshod over his MX2 competition to collect GP moto wins number 101 and 102 for his 52nd career overall win. Gasjer enjoyed his first back-to-back MXGP victories, and Herlings has yet to be defeated through the first five rounds of the World series.
Nagl barely captured the Fox Holeshot Award to start the second moto, but Gasjer was already to the inside of Nagl in the first corner, and the Slovenian rider passed the German by the exit of the turn to take the lead. Febvre was also quickly by Nagl, setting up the same top-three running order as the first moto while Team HRC’s Evegeny Bobryshev of Russia battled with Glenn Coldenhoff briefly before taking over the fourth spot.
Febvre tried to maintain pace with the flying Gasjer throughout the moto, but Gasjer was riding flawlessly on the hard-packed, rutted Mexican circuit while Febvre clearly struggled. What was a 2.7-second gap early in the moto would swell to over 16 seconds at the finish as Gasjer collected his fifth MXGP moto win of the year. Although Febvre finished second and tied Gasjer on 47 points. Gasjer’s second moto win was the tiebreaker. Nagl finished third overall via his pair of third-place finishes to collect his third overall podium of the year, but the German will clearly need to find more speed if he hopes to contend with Gasjer and Febvre in the series points race. Bobrysehv was also consistent, carding a pair of fourth-place finishes for fourth overall. Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Clement Desalle, who is still overcoming the effects of a broken arm for which he had surgery just prior to the season opener in Qatar, put together 5-5 performances for fifth overall.
With the win, Gasjer moved back to within three points of Febvre in the MXGP World Championship points standings. Febvre holds down the lead with 219 points, but Gasjer is right there with 216. Multi-time World Champion Antonio Cairoli continued to struggle at Leon, finishing sixth overall, and is now third in the points, with 171.
Herlings is perhaps the only rider who could conceivably challenge the top contenders for the MXGP title, but that will have to wait for at least one more year as the Dutchman is currently destroying MX2 just as he did when he won his back-to-back MX2 World Championships in 2012 and 2013—no one in the 250cc class is even getting close. The evidence came as Herlings bolted out of the gate and scored two more moto wins to easily bag the MXGP of Leon, winning the first moto by nearly 34 seconds and the second moto by over 35 seconds. That is dominance no matter how you slice it.
If something out of character should happen to Herlings, Team Suzuki World MX2’s Jeremy Seewer of Switzerland may be the man to pick up the pieces, as he has been showing a good deal of consistency through the first five rounds, and he claimed second overall in Mexico via 3-3 moto finishes. Seewer looked comfortable on the Leon track, and he intends to keep up the fight for points, as he further distanced himself from Herling’s Red Bull KTM teammate, Pauls Jonass, who moved into third in the series this weekend after carding a fourth overall finish.
But perhaps the happiest rider in Mexico besides Herling was Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Vsevelod Brylyakov, who had a career weekend after posting 2-6 finishes to collect third overall. The young Russian suffered a spectacular crash on the second lap of moto two, but he managed to keep charging to land sixth place and land on the podium for the first time.
Jonass also overcame crashes, one in each moto. The first came when he lost the front end in the first moto, but the second was the result of a tangle with TM Racing Factory’s Samuele Bernardini of Italy. Even so, Jonass soldiered on to claim two fourths and advance in the points to third. He now trails his perfect teammate by 84 points and Seewer by 22 points.
The 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship now takes the rest of the month of April off before returning to action May 1 at the MXGP of Latvia, in Kegums, Latvia.
2016 FIM Motocross World Championship
MXGP of Leon
Leon, Mexico
Results: April 17 (Round 5 of 18)
MXGP Overall
MXGP Overall
1. Tim Gajser-(SLO)-Hon/2-1
2. Romain Febvre (FRA)-Yam/1-2
3. Max Nagl (GER)-Hus/3-3
4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS)-Hon/4-4;
5. Clement Desalle (BEL)-Kaw/5-5
6. Antonio Cairoli (ITA)-KTM/6-9
7. Valentin Guillod (SUI)-Yam/9-8
8. Tommy Searle (GBR)-Kaw/12-6;
9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL)-Yam/11-7
10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL)-Suz/7-11
FIM MXGP World Championship Series Points Standings (after 5 of 18 rounds)
1. Romain Febvre-219/2 wins
2. Tim Gasjer-216/3 wins
3. Antonio Cairoli-171
4. Evgeny Bobryshev-170
5. Max Nagl-165
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek-162
7. Kevin Strijbos-127
8. Shaun Simpson-122
9. Glenn Coldenhoff-104
MX2 Overall
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED)-KTM-1-1
2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI)-Suz/3-3
3. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS)-Kaw/2-6
4. Pauls Jonass (LAT)-KTM/4-4
5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS)-Yam/5-5
6. Petar Petrov (BUL)-Kaw/6-8
7. Benoit Paturel (FRA)-Yam/8-7
8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA)-TM/7-9
9. Max Anstie (GBR)-Hus/18 (DNF)-2
10. Jorge Zaragoza (ESP)-Hon/10-10
2016 FIM MX2 World Championship Series Points Standings (After 5 of 18 rounds)
1. Jeffrey Herlings-250/4 wins
2. Jeremy Seewer-192
3. Pauls Jonass-166
4. Aleksandr Tonkov-163
5. Petar Petrov-132
6. Benoit Paturel-126
7. Vsevolod Brylyakov-121
8. Samuele Bernardini-117
9. Alvin Östlund-89
10. Max Anstie-82
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