MXGP: Gajser Takes Race Two Win, Cairoli Secures Overall

Round eight of the 2020 MXGP World Championship, the MXGP of Emilia Romagna, took place in Faenza, the third and final round at the Monte Coralli circuit. After the first moto, Jorge Prado was favourite to take the overall win, having taken his maiden moto win earlier in the day.

And it was Prado who took the holeshot, his seventh of the season, and ran away with the early lead. Tim Gajser was close in tow, and Antonio Cairoli was looking purposeful in third. 

Gajser is never one to wait. The #243 is what you might call an ‘all or nothing’ rider, so it was not a surprise to see him pressure Prado and make the move at the earliest opportunity. The Slovenian took the lead with 18 minutes to go, leaving Prado to battle with his Red Bull KTM teammate, Cairoli. 

The #222 made his move on Prado one lap after Gajser, but needed to hunt down Gajser or hope for Prado to fall further back in order to secure the overall. Both were possible with 15 minutes left, as Cairoli had the time to potentially catch Gajser and Prado was under pressure from Febvre, Seewer and Coldenhoff. 

Indeed, Prado slipped back behind Febvre as they approached the final 10 minutes, the Kawasaki rider making his move in the first of the 180-degree corners after the step-down. Soon after, Seewer was past. Prado was tiring. 

Out front, Gajser was keeping Cairoli at bay, but with Prado falling back any spot in the top three would have been enough for the #222 to win the overall. 

In the final 10 minutes, things started closing up at the front. Febvre was catching Cairoli, which was pushing the Italian on to catch Gajser. The only thing against the #3 Kawasaki rider was time, and when he realised he didn’t have enough, he backed it down, as did Cairoli. In turn, Gajser showed that he had the speed to respond if necessary, dissuading his rivals further, and the Slovenian took his second moto win in the last three races. That was enough to give the reigning World Champion second overall and to cut the gap to the championship lead to seven points. 

That championship lead now belongs to Cairoli, who took the overall and the red plate in the MXGP of Emilia Romagna with a 3-2 scorecard, delivered in a controlled style typical of the nine-times champion. 

Despite falling to sixth in the second moto, Jorge Prado was able to hang on to the podium, taking third place overall thanks to that win in the first race. The Spaniard will be thankful of having two weeks to rest before Mantova, as these three GPs in Faenza clearly took it out of him. 

Romain Febvre’s third place in the second race could have been a win if he started a bit better. What is for sure is that the change of number and machinery for this season have been positive for the Frenchman, who could be in the championship hunt were it not for his early season injury woes. His 10-3 results sheet gave him fifth overall. 

Jeremy Seewer was not able to fight for the top three in the second moto, instead finishing fourth, which was enough for fourth overall for the #91 who finished ahead of Glenn Coldenhoff – fifth being the #259’s best moto finish in Faenza over the past seven days and that was enough for seventh overall. 

Behind the aforementioned Jorge Prado in the second race was Clement Desalle in seventh, which gave him eighth overall. The Belgian beat Mitch Evans by half a second at the finish, the #43 taking eighth place which was enough for sixth overall. 

Gautier Paulin and Alessandro Lupino completed the top 10 in the second race, 10th place being enough for Lupino to take ninth in the overall, whilst Paulin was 11th overall. 

Jeremy van Horebeek was 11th, ahead of Calvin Vlaanderen and Arminas Jasikonis who started poorly and crashed later on. That resulted in 13th for the Lithuanian, although that was still enough for him to round out the top 10 in the overall.

Behind Jasikonis was Jordi Tixier, the Spaniard finishing ahead of Evgeny Bobryshev who completed the top 15. Thomas Covington was 16th, his best race finish of the season, and ahead of Henri Jacobi, Pascal Rauchenecker, Zachary Pichon and Jose Butron who completed the top 20.