MXGP: Gajser takes Flanders overall win and doubles points lead

The 11th round of the 2020 MXGP World Championship took place in Lommel for the MXGP of Flanders. Tim Gajser held the red plate coming into this round, the first at one of the most notoriously challenging tracks in the world. 

Dylan Walsh took his second holeshot of the season on the JM Honda Racing CRF450R, and he led the way early on from the factory Honda of Tim Gajser. The lead didn’t last long for Walsh, unlike in Mantova, and before the end of the first lap the New Zealander was back to fifth, with Gajser now out front to Jorge Prado and Gautier Paulin.

Paulin was able to find his way past Prado after five minutes and the Frenchman was looking strong as he turned his attention to Gajser out front.

Paulin applied the pressure for the next 20 minutes as the two pulled away from Prado, but it was not until they entered the final five minutes that Gajser relented, the #243 crashing right in front of the #21 and handing the Frenchman a lead he did not relinquish for the rest of the race.

Paulin won in the end by eight seconds from Gajser for his first moto win in over three years when he won in the Dutch sand of Valkenswaard. 

Despite throwing away the win, it was an important moto for Gajser as he beat all of his championship rivals, thus extending further the championship lead that stood at 24 points coming into this weekend. Gajser’s closest rival in the first moto in Lommel was Jorge Prado who finished third, but the Spaniard was already 52 points adrift before the beginning of today’s action. 

Prado’s third place was not achieved without a fight. While most of the moto was spent alone for the Spaniard, the final minutes were spent fending off Brian Bogers who was pressuring the #61 at the end. Ultimately, Prado was able to hang on but this was by far the best ride Bogers has enjoyed this season, taking fourth place in the end. 

Behind the #189 was the #89 of Jeremy van Horebeek, who completed the top five in the first of three home GPs for the Belgian as he held off Romain Febvre, the Frenchman crossing the finish in sixth. 

Arnaud Tonus finally managed a somewhat consistent moto, the #4 taking seventh place ahead of Jeremy Seewer whose holeshot device jammed on in the final minutes making the end of the race a case of survival for the Swiss who took eighth place. Further back was Jordi Tixier in ninth, ahead of Brent van Donninck in 10th, the Belgian making his first appearance since March and taking his first top 10 of the season.

Clement Desalle will be ending his professional motocross career in three weeks at the end of this 2020 MXGP season, and so next weekend will be racing his final home Grand Prix. He started this Lommel triple header with an 11th place in the first moto of the MXGP of Flanders, something he will no doubt hope to improve on over the coming days. Behind the #25 was Petar Petrov in 12th, and then Antonio Cairoli in 13th. 

The Italian got squeezed out in the first turn and from there struggled to recover, coming back to 13th fairly early on in the race although it proved a place from which he could not progress. With Gajser in second place, this was a potentially disastrous moto for the title hopes of the #222. 

Behind Cairoli was Evgeny Bobryshev, ahead of Valentin Guillod who completed the top 15; while Tanel Leok was 16th ahead of Michele Cervellin, Tom Koch, Dylan Walsh – who dropped to 19th, crashing shortly after his time at the front ended – and Rene Rannikko who completed the top 20.

The second moto started with a more familiar sight than that of race one, as Jorge Prado took the 14th holeshot of his rookie MXGP campaign and the #61 led early on from Tim Gajser and Jeremy Seewer.

Prado led for five minutes before Gajser made his move after a mistake for the Spaniard. From there, the red plate holder did not look back, taking a dominant win by 12.666 seconds, although hopefully that will not prove to be too much of an omen for the #243. 

A crash for Prado whilst he was battling with Jeremy Seewer later in the moto dropped him to fourth behind Romain Febvre, who was then promoted to second place when Seewer ran off track late on. Seewer held on at the end for third place ahead of Prado and Gautier Paulin who completed the top five. Antonio Cairoli was back in the top six after a slightly better start than in race one, although the Italian was never able to find a way through on Paulin whose jersey will populate his dreams until Wednesday at least. 

Brian Bogers was running once again inside the top six before a crash towards the end of the lap in the middle of the race. The Belgian ended up seventh, ahead of Brent van Doninck, Calvin Vlaanderen and Jeremy van Horebeek who completed the top 10. 

11th over the finish was Ivo Monticelli whose second moto was dramatically smoother than his first which involved three crashes. The Italian finished ahead of Evgeny Bobryshev, Clement Desalle, Jordi Tixier and Arnaud Tonus who rounded out the top 15. Tanel Leok was 16th, ahead of Michele Cervellin, Valentin Guillod, Adam Sterry and Tom Koch. 

Winning the second moto was enough to give Gajser his second overall win of the season. It was also a big points day for the reigning World Champion as he doubled his lead over Antonio Cairoli in the championship to 48 points. 

Perhaps after the demise of Jeffrey Herlings from the 2020 season, it was expected that Cairoli’s consistency would play off against the speed of the likes of Gajser, Prado and Seewer. However, Cairoli’s form has suffered since the series left Mantova – or arguably even Faenza – and his starts are suffering. 

This season Cairoli has not been especially fast in qualifying. Since the return from the lockdown break, his best gate pick has been sixth in the MXGP of Citta di Mantova, and more commonly he has qualified outside of the top 10. This is understandable, since Cairoli’s knee issues this season perhaps make the Italian more cautious when he is getting to know the track. 

Before qualifying this year, there is only one free practice session, and all the track action happens over one day. There are no qualifying motos and nor is there any time to waste in getting acquainted with the track – almost as soon as the riders hit the track they are fighting to get the best time possible for the gate pick. If, indeed, Cairoli is suffering for confidence in the early stages of the race day in time practice – as it would seem since his qualifying position this season has never really been representative of his speed in the race – it is costing the #222 the chance to fight for race wins and overalls. With so many strong riders on the gate it is difficult to start from outside the top 10 and fight for the top three, and when the gate pick is compromised the risk of a bad start is higher. What makes the situation worse for Cairoli is that it is hard to see how he can rectify this before the end of the season.

13-6 was enough for ninth overall for Cairoli. He lost 24 more points to Gajser who won the Grand Prix and it is hard to see a way back for the #222 from 48 points down with five rounds to go – two in Lommel and two in Pietramurata.

Joining Gajser on the overall podium were Paulin and Prado, that being the #21’s first podium of the season. Romain Febvre was fourth overall, ahead of Jeremy Seewer, Brian Bogers, Jeremy van Horebeek, the returning Brent van Doninck, the aforementioned Cairoli and Arnaud Tonus who completed the top 10 overall.