Round nine of the FIM Motocross World Championship has concluded with the MX2 and MXGP action for the MXGP of Lombardia. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Seewer reached an incredible career milestone as he claimed his first MXGP overall victory as he stood on the top step of the MXGP podium, while in MX2, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Thomas Kjer Olsen made an epic return to the podium with his first overall victory of the season.
The day started off with the Free and Time Practice sessions, with Maxime Renaux of Yamaha SM Action M.C. Migliori J1 Racing who topped the session with a 1:54.223 lap time. Meanwhile in MXGP it was the defending world champion, Tim Gajser from Team HRC who was fastest with a 1:51.139 lap time. The riders then geared up for their first races of the day from the second Italian triple-header here in Mantova.
In the opening MXGP race it was Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Seewer with the first FOX Holeshot of the day, as he led Prado and Brian Bogers from Marchetti Racing Team KTM.
Meanwhile Gautier Paulin of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing and Mitch Evans from Team HRC went down in the first corner, with Paulin riding into the pits. Though the Frenchman quickly re-joined the race but was quite far down the field with a lot of work to do in order to get back into the points.
Seewer then continued to lead the way, with Prado second and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli finding a way through into third ahead of Bogers, with Glenn Coldenhoff of Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team doing the same to steal fourth on the opening lap.
Prado then set the fastest lap of the race, going 1.6 seconds faster than Seewer who continued to lead the way by just 1.2 seconds. While his teammate, Paulin, was moving fast, as he caught on to the back of the field to begin his fight through the pack.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing pilot Arminas Jasikonis got out of the gate around in the top 10 and was making his way through as he caught on to the back of the PAR Homes RFX Husqvarna of Evgeny Bobryshev as the two began to battle. The tall Lithuanian was eventually able to make the pass and then set his sights on Bogers, who had dropped to 6th.
As Gajser struggled to find a way to pass Alessandro Lupino of Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing for 12th, the battle at the front was close as just 4 seconds separated Seewer, Prado and Cairoli, with 16 minutes plus 2 laps on the clock.
Making a good recovery, Paulin moved into the top 20 on lap 6 to get himself back into point scoring positions, as his teammate, Seewer, set the fastest lap of the race – a 1:54.504 and continued to lead the way.
Seewer had clearly found a good rhythm in the race as he followed with another fastest lap and that time extending the gap to Prado, as 2.7 seconds separated the two.
On lap 10 of the race the top 10 was led by Seewer, as Prado, Cairoli, Coldenhoff, Calvin Vlaanderen of Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing, Jasikonis, Desalle, Bogers, Van Horebeek and Gajser followed behind.
Gajser then put on a late charge, as he passed Febvre for 10th, then stole 9th from Bogers and went after Van Horebeek. With just 3 laps to go, the Slovenian moved himself in 8th where he eventually finished the race.
Things at the front of the field didn’t change in terms of positions, as Jeremy Seewer went on to win the first race of the day, with Prado second and Cairoli third.
In race two, it was Prado who claimed his 8thFOX Holeshot of the season, as he led Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre, Gajser, Paulin and Seewer.
Meanwhile Cairoli had a bad start to the race and was showing down in 19th position.
The race began with drama, as Seewer crashed out of 5th while trying to pass Paulin and eventually re-joined in around the top 10. Though at the front of the field, Febvre was starting to push for a pass on Prado as he set the fastest lap of the race and the two then pushed each other for the next few laps.
Coldenhoff then showed his intentions for the race as he clocked the fastest lap of the race on lap 3, while behind were Paulin, Gajser and Febvre.
Further down the field and the race 1 winner, Seewer, found a way to get around the number #25 of Clement Desalle from Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team for 19th with 17 minutes plus 2 laps to go of the race.
Febvre then pushed for the lead, though he got caught out by Gajser who swiftly moved into second before going after Prado for the lead. Seewer was also moving up the field as he passed Lupino for 8th.
Jasikonis then went down and out of 6th place, with the Husqvarna rider being taken away by the medics to the nearby hospital for further checks.
Gajser then pulled away from the group as he extended the lead to 5.8 seconds, with Prado second and Febvre still third. Paulin were also there with Coldenhoff and Seewer.
Cairoli’s bad luck continued as he was forced to come into the goggle lane while in 12th, losing 2 positions in the process, which was not the race he had hoped for.
Eventually Gajser crossed the line to take the win in the 2nd MXGP race, with Coldenhoff and Seewer inheriting 2nd and 3rd, with Prado, Paulin and Febvre receiving a penalty for not respecting a waved yellow flag which saw them drop some positions changing the final podium standings.
In terms of the overall, Jeremy Seewer took an incredible career first MXGP overall victory, with Glenn Coldenhoff taking second overall and Jorge Prado on the third step of the podium. Jeremy Seewer’s last GP win is back in 2017 when he stood at the top step on the podium at the MXGP of Sweden, Uddevalla in MX2 class. With an 8th and a race win, Gajser now leads the MXGP Championship by 5 points over Antonio Cairoli and Jeremy Seewer just a further 11 points behind.
Jeremy Seewer: “I just won my first MXGP. Amazing. It’s in the books and it’s a big milestone in my career. Everybody dreams of winning an MXGP round, especially at the level we are racing right now, so it’s amazing. Especially the first race, I won the start then led every lap to the finish. The second race it didn’t go as planned but still I was lucky today, I was at the right place at the right time and now celebrating an overall”.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), 34:47.314; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +0:08.181; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:09.474; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GASGAS), +0:27.128; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:38.568; 6. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Husqvarna), +0:42.921; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:59.329; 8. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +1:02.369; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Honda), +1:04.623; 10. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:05.449.
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:56.930; 2. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GASGAS), +0:14.380; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:37.000; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +0:05.102; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:09.027; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:11.713; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:42.966; 8. Henry Jacobi (GER, Yamaha), +0:44.918; 9. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +0:45.982; 10. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Honda), +0:50.083.
MXGP – GP Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 45 points; 2. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GAS), 40 p.; 3. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 38 p.; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 28 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 27 p.; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 26 p.; 8. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 26 p.; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 23 p.; 10. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, HON), 23 p.
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 316 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 311 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 300 p.; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 277 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, GAS), 273 p.; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 263 p.; 7. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 248 p.; 8. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 230 p.; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 224 p.; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 222 p.
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 401 points; 2. Honda, 353 p.; 3. Yamaha, 339 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 299 p.; 5. GASGAS, 287 p.; 6. Husqvarna, 254 p.;
