| August 1, 2016
Round 14 of the 2016 World MX Championship saw the riders hit the treacherous Lommel facility in Belgium, July 31, arguably the toughest track in the world. Hidden inside a Belgian industrial estate, it certainly isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing track, but in terms of sheer difficulty, there isn’t much that can match the whooped out sand monster that the circuit turns into throughout the day.
Max Anstie was the sand master in MX2 at Lommel. Photography by Husqvarna Images/J.P. Acevedo
MX2
Coming into the race, much of the talk revolved around Jeffrey Herlings and his collarbone injury that prevented him from lining up and showcasing his sand skills in MX2. In his wake it was Max Anstie who stepped up and proved that he is the next-best 250 sand rider with an impressive 1-1 performance, for his third win in a row at Lommel. It certainly wasn’t easy though as he overcame Dylan Ferrandis and Petar Petrov in race one, before hunting down eight riders in race two. Even with this result, he still sits in sixth place in the championship but with another sand race at Assen coming up, he has another opportunity to climb even higher, even if Herlings is expected to return and try to regain his title of sand king.
Behind Anstie, it was Jeremy Seewer who’s 4-2 moto scores meant that the gap at the top of the table is down to 87 points. With four rounds left and Herlings 50/50 on whether he’ll attend next weekend’s MXGP in Switzerland, the gap could get even closer which must be making the KTM camp a little nervous.
Rounding off the podium was Petar Petrov who finally put together two good scores for what was the Bulgarians’ first podium of the season.
Kevin Strijbos used 3-3 moto scores to take the overall victory in MX1. Photography courtesy Suzuki
MXGP
In the MXGP class, Tim Gajser was looking to maintain his championship lead on a surface that he hasn’t always excelled at. Coming into this round he was 109 points ahead, but with Antonio Cairoli riding one of his favorite tracks, there was always the chance he could lose his two-race buffer. As it was, despite a 15th-place finish in the first race, a second-moto win saw him only drop six points to the Italian and with just four rounds left, it is looking good for the Slovenian MX2 champ to win back to back titles.
All weekend there was a bit of a buzz around the Suzuki pits as they chose to ride in 1991 retro graphics and gear as a tribute to boss Stefan Everts, and this buzz must have inspired Kevin Strijbos to turn back the years and win his first overall GP victory since 2007. The Belgian rider “only” went 3-3 but those were good enough to secure a well-deserved win for a team that have had a tough time of things in 2016. He ended up winning by just one point from Max Nagl (1-7) who had the overall in the bag for most of the second race before a small mistake dropped him from fourth to seventh. On the third step of the podium was Cairoli but it could have been better for the Italian were it not for some arm-pump in the first race.
The series now heads to Switzerland for what is looking like a newly built hard-pack track in Frauenfeld. Thomas Covington (17-12 for 17th overall) commented that the diversity is what he enjoys most about the MXGPs, riding a hard slick track in the Czech Republic one week, to the deep sand of Belgium the next week and then back to hard pack in Switzerland the week after.
In the EMX250 class, Darian Sanayei all but secured second place in the championship with 3-4 moto scores. Thomas Kjer Olsen clinched the title with 2-2 results here but the young American should be proud of efforts in what is a tough championship.
Lommel MXGP
Lommel, Belgium
Results: July 31, 2016
MXGP
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), 34:19.494; 2. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:09.152; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:13.700; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:16.852; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:18.247; 6. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:18.848; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:38.021; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:40.038; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), +0:43.251; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:55.033.
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:41.636; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:13.289; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:36.471; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:40.503; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:47.864; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:53.330; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +1:00.924; 8. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Suzuki), +1:04.634; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:08.197; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +1:16.375.
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 40 points; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 39 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 32 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 31 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 31 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 29 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 26 p.; 10. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), 22 p.
MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 607 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 504 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 490 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 464 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 445 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 417 p.; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 292 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 277 p.; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 273 p.; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 264 p.
MXGP Manufacturers: 1. Honda, 620 points; 2. Yamaha, 556 p.; 3. KTM, 522 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 505 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 374 p.; 6. Suzuki, 302 p.
MX2
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), 36:12.881; 2. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +0:11.777; 3. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:15.189; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:20.081; 5. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:20.819; 6. Davy Pootjes (NED, KTM), +0:42.291; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), +0:46.331; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:52.785; 9. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:54.990; 10. Alvin Östlund (SWE, Yamaha), +1:04.456.
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), 35:16.537; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:09.198; 3. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.432; 4. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:17.172; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), +0:49.525; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +1:04.026; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +1:06.321; 8. Lars van Berkel (NED, Husqvarna), +1:33.680; 9. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, KTM), +1:36.713; 10. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +1:40.398.
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 50 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 40 p.; 3. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 37 p.; 4. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 34 p.; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 23 p.; 8. Lars van Berkel (NED, HUS), 21 p.; 9. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 20 p.; 10. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 19 p.
MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 597 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 510 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 403 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 393 p.; 5. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 378 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 366 p.; 7. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 320 p.; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 319 p.; 9. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 294 p.; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 280 p.
MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 660 points; 2. Kawasaki, 527 p.; 3. Suzuki, 510 p.; 4. Yamaha, 484 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 456 p.; 6. TM, 294 p.; 7. Honda, 264 p.
BY DAVID BULMER
