MXGP

After a collision with another rider caused a crash in Free Practice for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s red plate holder Jorge Prado, he came back to top the table in Time Practice to grab first gate pick for the RAM Qualifying Race, but only by seven hundredths of a second from Jeffrey Herlings, who was showing his pace for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in second.

For once, Prado was beaten to the first corner, this time by Kawasaki Racing Team pilot Jeremy Seewer, who bolted into the lead ahead of the reigning champ as Tim Gajser slotted his Team HRC Honda into third.  Seewer’s teammate Romain Febvre was less fortunate and crashed in turn one, then suffered a technical issue as he fought back, coming to a halt after eight minutes of the race.  He stays third in the Championship, but is now 32 points back from the lead.

Seewer made a small mistake halfway round the first lap, allowing Prado to pounce just as Gajser was starting to threaten him. Tim got past the Swiss rider on the following circulation and tried to prevent Prado from pulling away. Calvin Vlaanderen started to challenge Herlings for 4th but spun sideways by the Pit Lane , allowing the Standing Construct Honda of Pauls Jonass through into a 5th place which he kept to the flag. At half distance, Herlings got onto Seewer’s back wheel and the Kawasaki man jumped too far into a long-left hander, giving “The Bullet” his chance to move into third. 

Prado was able to stretch his lead to over 8 seconds from Gajser at one point, and despite a late tangle with a lapped rider he kept it all under control to win yet again on Saturday and stretch his lead over Gajser in the standings to 11 points. Herlings closes to just 7 behind Febvre in 4th.

Jorge Prado: “I got a good jump out of the gate even if Seewer was faster than me on this one. I could pass him real quick as he made a little mistake. I tried already in the third corner to attack but he defended well but then few corners later he made another mistake and I was right there to make the pass. I’m riding good laps, nothing crazy, I was trying to not lose too much energy for tomorrow. As I hurt my foot a bit but it got better along the way. Let’s have a rest now and hopefully another win tomorrow.”

MX2

The Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing teammates, Lucas Coenen and series leader Kay De Wolf, were over a second clear of everybody in both Practice sessions, with the Belgian holding the edge over the red plate holder. However, as his brother Sacha Coenen grabbed the holeshot for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Lucas hit the floor in turn one alongside reigning Champion and Sacha’s teammate Andrea Adamo.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 pairing of Rick Elzinga and Thibault Benistant pushed past Sacha in the second corner, with De Wolf following them through into 3rd.  Elzinga held off his more experienced teammate and was enjoying the sand, as was De Wolf who passed Benistant on his second attempt to run second at the end of the first full lap.

It took Kay just one more lap to dive inside the line of his countryman in a slick move, from which he instantly powered away from the opposition. Meanwhile, Camden McLellan had a great start for Monster Energy Triumph Racing and moved past Sacha Coenen into 4th at half-distance.  At one point the South African ran up the banking of the final corner in an attempt to pass Elzinga, who had just been overtaken by Benistant, but stayed in 4th to the finish for his best result of the year so far.

Benistant did all he could to keep De Wolf honest, and the gap was 3.3 seconds at the close. Elzinga also had his best finish yet in a great 3rd from McLellan and a charging Simon Laengenfelder, as the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing man took 5th place ahead of Liam Everts. This leaves the German still second in the points chase, now 15 points behind De Wolf. Lucas Coenen charged back to take 9th place and 2 points, but there was no such success for Adamo who could only get back to 12th.  Despite this, the Italian is still third in the standings but just a single point ahead of Benistant.

With temperatures not likely to drop in tomorrow’s races with the earlier start times, it will be a gruelling battle in both classes just to get to the finish, meaning that anything could happen in the full Grand Prix on Sunday!

Kay De Wolf: “The track is getting very tough but it’s shaping on nicely and I really enjoy it at the moment. I was struggling a little bit halfway in keeping my pace up and I tried to slow down a little bit but Thibault (Benistant) was still pushing me. It will be good tomorrow with an extra 10 minutes and another physical track hopefully!”