The Monster Energy MXGP of Italy has concluded in Maggiora with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing victorious in MXGP and MX2, as Jeffrey Herlings and Mattia Guadagnini secured overall victories in their respective categories. The day was full of excitement, as we started things off with a special parade lap which featured former FIM Motocross World Championship riders Gautier Paulin, Joel Smets and Alex Puzar, followed up by four interesting races that kept the crowd of spectators on their toes.
In MXGP, the podium was close as the top three riders were all tied on 40 points. But it was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings who put in a stellar effort to get himself onto the top step of the podium, while Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Glenn Coldenhoff made his podium debut with factory Yamaha to finish second overall, as Antonio Cairoli of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing added another top three finish to his 10th title chase.
In race one, it was Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team rider Romain Febvre who grabbed the Fox Holeshot and was followed by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado and Cairoli. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Glenn Coldenhoff and Ben Watson got off to a good start and were sitting fourth and fifth, with their teammate Jeremy Seewer inside the top 10 too. Herlings started the race down in 6th and was pushing through the field until a jammed rock in his back break made things difficult, for which he had to pull over to fix and as a result lost valuable positions and time.
Seewer then went after Watson, for 7th place and a couple of laps later so did Herlings, pushing the Brit down to 9th where he eventually finished the race – this was his best result of the season so far. Herlings continued his charge as he went after Seewer and then four laps later managed to get Jonass as well, to finish the race 6th, all while Febvre comfortably led the entire race with Prado, Cairoli and Coldenhoff behind him. At one stage it did look like Gajser would make a move on Coldenhoff, though the Slovenian was unable to do so and the Dutchman could not edge close enough to get Cairoli and Prado either. Febvre took the race win with Prado second and Cairoli third.
In race two, things were very different thanks to the heavy rain that started to fall just before the gate dropped. As the race got going, it was Coldenhoff who grabbed the second Fox Holeshot of the day. He then led Herlings, Henry Jacobi of JM Honda Racing, Prado, Seewer and Cairoli on the opening lap, as Gajser started down in 11th. Race 1 winner, Febvre started the race in 7th before making several mistakes and eventually finishing the race in 12th position.
Coldenhoff maintained a healthy 3-4 second gap to Herlings, as Jacobi was doing a great job keeping up with the Dutchman, as Cairoli and Prado were both looking to get around the German themselves, but were not able to do so. By lap 12, Herlings was the new race leader and not long after Cairoli was finally able to get around Jacobi to move up into P3. Jacobi then dropped another position, as Jonass passed him too, with Gajser managing to get back to 6th after a tough race. Herlings was the race winner, with Coldenhoff second and Cairoli third. The race top 3 was exactly how they went up to the podium with all three riders tied on points. Though it was Herlings with the Grand Prix victory.
Despite missing the podium, Tim Gajser continues to lead the MXGP championship and sits just 6 points ahead of Jeffrey Herlings, with Romain Febvre a further 11 points back.
