MXGP Race Report From Valkenswaard

By Stephen St.Pierre

Photos by MXGP

Qualifying races for the third round of the MXGP and MX2 World Championships were held under sunny skies on Easter Sunday following early morning rains at the Euro Circuit Valkenswaard in the Netherlands. The country has a long history of hosting GPs with over twenty different circuits being used over the years. After bettering the field by 2 seconds in the MX2 morning timed practice session, Red Bull KTM’s local boy Jeffrey Herlings the “King of Sand” wasted little time grabbing the lead from Yamaha’s Aleksandr Tonkov who grabbed the holeshot like he did last year on the unique ‘S’ bend first turn. Herlings, who won his first GP here at the age of 15 and has won every MX2 GP moto held here since, made it look easy winning the qualifying race by 36 seconds ahead of Tonkov. Rounding out the top 5 were Red Bull KTM’s Paul Jonass, Dutch rider Calvin Vlaanderen, also aboard a KTM, and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Petar Petrov.

The MXGP ( MX1 as it used to be known) qualifying race holeshot went to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Max Nagl with Team Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos close behind. Strijbos, who was fastest in timed practice, was able to pass Nagl for the lead in the gnarly black sand on lap 2 as was the reigning MX2 World Champion, Honda’s Tim Gajser, who held the second position for 3 laps until a mistake gave the spot back to Nagl. KTM’s Shaun Simpson made his way into third. Strijbos looked very comfortable in the deep Dutch sand, which is very similar to conditions in his home country Belgium, until lap 9 when he hit a massive kicker on a downhill section of the track and crashed, remounting in sixth. That put Nagl back into the lead where he stayed, winning the 20 minute plus 2 lap qualifying race by 8 seconds over Simpson. Third place went to reigning World MXGP Champion, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Romain Febvre, whose late race charge allowed him on the tenth lap to pass Gajser who finished fourth. Finishing fifth was Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli, 13 seconds behind the winner, followed by his KTM teammate, Dutch rider Glenn Coldenhoff, then Strijbos who had led for 7 of the 12 laps.

The race track in Valkenswaard was modified since last year; although the basic layout has stayed the same, some of the more technical sections have been removed. The rollers and wall jump before the finish that claimed Tim Gajser and Antonio Cairoli last year is now just a simple step up that didn’t prove to be too tricky, and one of the longer straights over the back was also changed; it previously went double, double, but now goes double, single. The weather got pretty wild before the racing started on Monday. Although the start straight was covered with puddles, blue sky could be seen as the MX2 pilots went out on their sighting lap. Red Bull KTM’s Paul Jonass grabbed the MX2 Fox Head Europe holeshot in Moto 1 with his teammate and fan favourite Jeffrey Herlings right behind. As expected, Herlings vaulted into the lead on lap 2 and ran away from there. There was very little movement from then on as the top 5 settled into their positions and remained there for the entire moto. When the checkered flag came out Herlings held a 51 second advantage over second place and had lapped all the way to tenth position. His teammate ran the entire race in second, which is where he finished, followed by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Petar Petrov in third and Team Suzuki’s Jeremy Seewer in fourth. The only movement in the top 5 was Yamaha’s Brent Van Doninck who was tenth on the opening lap and finished in fifth.

The race track had dried out nicely by the time the MXGP class was on the starting gate and it was rookie sensation Team Honda’s Tim Gajser who grabbed the Fox Head Europe Holeshot in Moto 1 followed closely by pole sitter Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Max Nagl and reigning MXGP World Champion Monster Energy Yamaha’s Romain Febvre. Febvre stole second from Nagl on the first lap and the two were followed by Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev and Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli. Up front, Gajser and Febvre played a little cat and mouse with the rookie, opening up a little lead until the champ closed back in. Eventually, Gajser was able to pull away from Febvre, who was beginning to the feel pressure from Nagl, and on lap 8 Nagl made the pass and took over second. By lap 10 Gajser had a comfortable 8 second lead over Nagl, who was the fastest man on the track, and they were followed by Febvre, Bobryshev, and Monster Energy Yamaha’s Jeremy Van Horebeek, who had worked his way past Cairoli. As the 2 lap board came out the rain started back up. Race leader Tim Gasjer began to slow up allowing Max Nagl to close the gap, but he was unable to catch Gasjer who won the first moto by 5 seconds over Nagl. Febvre finished third, over 33 seconds behind the winner, followed by Bobryshev, who ran the entire moto in fourth, and Van Horebeek, who rounded out the top 5. Team Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos, who was sixteenth on the first lap, made two passes in the closing laps to grab the sixth spot ahead of Cairoli seventh and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle in eighth.

The MX2 Fox Head Europe Moto 2 Holeshot went to “The Bullet” Jeffrey Herlings, which was bad news for the rest of the field as the Dutch rider was looking to finish 1-1 and get into the history books with his 50th GP win in front of his home crowd. After lap 1, Herlings was already 8 seconds clear of the second place rider, Yamaha’s Aleksandr Tonkov, who was followed by the Yamaha of Benoit Paturel, Herlings’ KTM teammate Paul Jonass, and the Spanish rider, Honda’s Jorge Zaragoza. Jonass wasted no time getting past Paturel and Tonkov, the broke away from the pack and comfortably moved into second. Dutch rider Calvin Vlaanderen, aboard a KTM, moved quickly into the top 5 much to the delight of the home crowd, and on lap 7 took over third place. Behind him you could throw a blanket over Tonkov, Suzuki’s Jeremy Seewer, and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Petar Petrov. Petrov eventually went down on lap 8 and Vlaanderen made a mistake on the next lap and dropped back to sixth. Sewer was able to get by Tonkov and into third while Vlaanderen got back into the top 5 on the second to last lap. But the race belonged to Herlings, who, with 2 laps to go, had already lapped up to twelfth place. He went on to win his third MX2 GP this year by a 1 minute and 20 second margin. The win was also the 50th win in his GP career and he remains unbeaten on home soil, going back to his first GP victory here at 15 years of age. The Flying Dutchman went on to say, “To win 50 grand prix races is something special. It’s like your first then 10, then 50, then 100.” Herlings’ Red Bull KTM teammate, Paul Jonass, had to be happy with his 2-2 moto results and second overall, as well as Swiss rider Jeremy Sewer who had another good day going 4-3 for third.

Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli grabbed the Fox Head Europe MXGP Moto 2 holeshot on the tricky ‘S’ bending first turn in the last moto of the day at Valkenswaard. Behind Cairoli was Frenchman Romain Febvre followed by his Yamaha teammate, Belgian rider Van Horebeek, Cairoli’s teammate, Dutchman Glenn Coldenhoff, and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Clement Desalle, who is starting to ride better after racing the first two rounds with a broken arm. Febvre was looking good while catching the leader until a little spill dropped him back to third, which allowed his teammate Van Horebeek through. Desalle quickly fell off the pace, which allowed Honda’s Tim Gajser and Husqvarna’s Max Nagl to move up to fifth and sixth place respectively. The top three positions stayed the same until two laps from the end when we may have witnessed a changing of the guard in the premier class. Romain Febvre began a charge, which got him past Van Horebeek, and then he set his sights on the eight time World Champion Cairoli. The two went head to head in an epic battle on the last lap with Febvre coming out ahead getting the Moto 2 win and bumping Cairolli off the podium. Febvre’s 3-1 performance gave him the overall for the day. After the race he said, “I couldn’t find my rhythm in the first race. I crashed and I couldn’t find my lines. I was really disappointed and angry so before the second race I was hungry, I wanted to win.” Second overall went to Nagl who went 2-4 on the day. The German took his first Qualifying Race win of the season yesterday, which was a good sign he had turned his ship around here at the MXGP of Europe, and stood on the podium for the first time since May last year. Gajser had to settle for third after winning the first moto. He was in a position to take the overall for most of Moto 2 until a mechanical issue dropped him back. The rookie’s 1-8 performance was still impressive, considering his past struggles in the deep sand, and he earned the last spot on the podium. Cairoli’s second place finish in Moto 2 gave him fourth overall with 7-2 finishes on the day, and fifth overall went to Van Horebeek who had 5-3 finishes.

MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 150 points; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 112 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 112 p.; 4. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 91 p.; 5. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 78 p.; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 76 p.; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 75 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 60 p.; 9. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 60 p.; 10. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 59 p

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 137 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 124 p.; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 107 p.; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 104 p.; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 100 p.; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 84 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 80 p.; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 79 p.; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 63 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 55 p.

The Next round of the World Championships will be held in Patagonia, Argentina on April 10th, and can be watched live on MXGP-TV.com