It was the season’s first taste of sandy terrain at round three of the motocross world championships in Sardinia, Italy, at the weekend.
As well as a tough, ever-shifting surface that carved up throughout the weekend, the physical challenge was amplified by temperatures close to 30 degrees Celsius, testing even the most highly-trained athletes to the maximum.
As in 2023, reigning MXGP World Champion Jorge Prado had taken a dominant win for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing in Saturday’s qualifying race, as did his fellow red plate holder Kay de Wolf in the MX2 class for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.
Both of these two championship leaders continued their perfect winning records with their third overall victory in a row, although some classic challengers were on hand to give notice that they are ready to catch them if they slip up.
The crowd were treated to a stunning morning of racing in both the WMX Women’s World Motocross Championships, won by Lotte van Drunen of the De Baets Yamaha MX-Team, and the EMX125 European Championships Presented by FMF, won by Hungarian Noel Zanocz for Fantic Factory Racing EMX125.
Then the main course of MX2 and MXGP was served, piping hot, in a gruelling test of both man and machine.
As in Saturday’s qualifying race, Prado was beaten to the holeshot of race one by Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jeremy Seewer, but a quick inside move into the second corner saw the reigning world champion back in his usual leading position.
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser (pictured here) made a quick move past the Swiss rider in turn four and Pauls Jonass took his Standing Construct Honda through into third at the same time.
The two Honda men set after chasing the holder of the series leader’s red number plate, while last year’s winner, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings, had started outside the top five and had to haul his way through the pack.
This he did to great effect, reaching third place by lap six, but at that point the leading pair were far off into the distance.
Seewer fell dramatically after five minutes, but would recover to finish 11th, while his team-mate Romain Febvre, consigned to the far outside of the start gate after being unable to finish Saturday’s race, worked his way up to 6th place with a series of passes.
Jonass slipped to 5th behind the Fantic Factory Racing pilot Glenn Coldenhoff in the closing laps.
At this time it looked like Gajser was closing in on Prado, getting to within two seconds of the Spaniard, but was never allowed to get closer as the champ took yet another race win.
Race two again saw Seewer fast out of the gate, but Prado was right there immediately to just edge ahead over the holeshot line.
Herlings railed around the Kawasaki man in turn two and now it was the man they call “The Bullet” who had the task of challenging Prado.
Behind him, JM Racing Honda stand-in Tim Edberg was briefly up into 4th, before Jonass and Gajser pushed past early on. Febvre had to charge once more, nearly crashing in a dramatic moment where he nearly collided with JK Racing Yamaha’s Isak Gifting on the take-off of one of the biggest jumps on the track.
After 16 minutes, Herlings had got to within striking distance of Prado and was hoping to uncork some of his old magic, but the Dutchman just pushed the front end too hard into a left-hand corner and was suddenly on the ground.
Gajser accepted the gift of 2nd place, which kept the championship damage to a minimum, but the leader was off the hook and cruised to his fourth straight GP race win.
The Slovenian fell on the final lap, but he had enough time to pick himself up and still claim 2nd ahead of Herlings, Jonass, Febvre, and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Calvin Vlaanderen.
Vlaanderen’s guest team-mate for the weekend, FIM World Sand Races Champion Todd Kellett, ran as high as 13th before a small crash put him back to 16th at the flag for his first Grand Prix points since 2021.
Prado’s 41st career Grand Prix win now puts him 17 points clear of Gajser, and Herlings’ first podium of the season has moved him up to third in the standings.
Will the strong fan support that Gajser always gets at the MXGP of Trentino spur him on to challenge the champion this coming weekend?
He certainly needs to start clawing the points back, as does anyone else with eyes on his title!
“I’m in a good moment right now, I’m feeling very good on the bike and we do a great work with the team,” said Prado afterwards.
“I’m so happy to be winning here in the sand again as it’s been a long time since I got an overall in the sand. I was very close last year few times, but I guess now you can call me the ‘Sand Man’ again!”
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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RESULTS & STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3:
MXGP – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:36.104; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:05.279; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:39.521; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:53.793; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:57.563; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:08.202; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +1:14.107; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, Fantic), +1:17.947; 9. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +1:29.308; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:40.733
MXGP – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:44.443; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:16.624; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:27.553; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:49.572; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:00.952; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +1:02.493; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +1:07.901; 8. Isak Gifting (SWE, Yamaha), +1:15.011; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +1:17.421; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:18.785
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 50 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 44 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 34 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 31 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 30 p.; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 29 p.; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 24 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 23 p.; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 22 p
MXGP World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 174 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 157 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 125 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 123 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 113 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 99 p.; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 90 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 83 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 64 p.; 10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 63 p
MX2 – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 35:19.551; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:29.973; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:44.818; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:57.193; 5. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +1:02.153; 6. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:30.780; 7. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +1:44.715; 8. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +2:08.283; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +2:43.473; 10. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), -1 lap(s)
MX2 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 35:29.714; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:11.684; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:34.815; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:35.604; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:46.165; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:51.182; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:56.417; 8. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:08.803; 9. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +1:15.472; 10. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GASGAS), +1:26.480
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 47 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 47 p.; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 36 p.; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 34 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 28 p.; 7. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 28 p.; 8. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 23 p.; 10. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GAS), 21 p.; 11. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 20 p.; 12. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 18 p.; 13. Kay Karssemakers (NED, FAN), 13 p.; 14. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM)
MX2 World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 170 points; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 141 p.; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 124 p.; 4. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 106 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 100 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 96 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 95 p.; 8. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GAS), 80 p.; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 78 p.; 10. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 77 p.