Steve Cox | April 23, 2017
2017 MX GP of Europe Results: As the teams and racers gathered for round six of the 2017 FIM World Motocross Championship, set to take place in the sand of Valkenswaard, Netherlands, fans and pundits alike knew there could be a slightly different group of racers up near the front of the pack in both classes. Sand specialists are a real thing, and the favorites in each class had to be Red Bull KTM’s 16-year-old Jorge Prado Garcia (MX2) and his teammate Jeffrey Herlings (MXGP).
Herlings is Dutch, and Garcia Spanish, but both know their way around the sand. Add to that the fact that Garcia just won his first-ever MX2 GP a week earlier in Italy, and you have some idea of why he was expected to put a whooping on the field. As for Herlings, he’s had a dismal opening few rounds in his MXGP career so far, and with Valkenswaard being his home GP, it was easy to believe he would be tough to beat.
But it wasn’t to be for either of them.
2017 MX GP of Europe Results
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Gautier Paulin took the win in the sand. It was his first victory for Husqvarna and Husqvarna’s first victory at Valkenswaard. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF YOUTHSTREAM
In the MXGP class, Herlings was up front or near the front in every timed session, but his starts in every racing session left much to be desired. He came from the tail end of the top 10 to fourth in the qualifying race on Saturday, won by teammate Antonio Cairoli in front of Monster Energy Yamaha’s Jeremy van Horebeek and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Gautier Paulin.
In the opening MXGP moto, Paulin got the start and led every lap to take the moto win in front of Van Horebeek and Herlings, who again came from behind for third. Cairoli had to come from even farther back than Herlings and ended up losing his goggles, putting sand in his eyes. He struggled to ninth place in the moto, then had to have his eyes rinsed out before moto two.
In the second moto, Cairoli got the holeshot and took off, leading every lap in front of Paulin in second, who barely held off Herlings for the spot at the finish. Behind Herlings came championship leader Tim Gajser and Van Horebeek.
The 1-2 score was good enough for Paulin to score the overall win over Herlings 3-3 and Van Horebeek’s 2-5. It was the first-ever win for Husqvarna at Valkenswaard. Cairoli was fourth overall with a 9-1 score and Gajser ended up fifth overall with a 6-4 score, which means Cairoli cut four points out of Gajser’s championship lead as the series heads to Latvia, with Cairoli only 14 points behind the leader.
In the MX2 event, Prado Garcia was fastest in timed qualifying, as predicted, but every time the gate dropped, it wasn’t long before Garcia ended up on the ground. In moto one, Garcia hit the deck on lap two while battling near the front and was down for about a minute. He ended up 17th in the moto. In moto two, Garcia got the holeshot, then cross-rutted on the track’s first jump and flew off the track into the crowd. You can watch video of the crash on Prado Garcia’s Twitter page here. He was uninjured, but ended up 23rd in the moto and 23rd overall.
2017 MX GP of Europe Results
Red Bull KTM’s Pauls Jonass had a dominant day in the sand and is quickly establishing himself as the man to beat for the 2017 MX2 championship. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF YOUTHSTREAM
However, his teammate Pauls Jonass continued his winning ways, dominating both motos in the sand, taking a 1-1 overall win over Suzuki’s Jeremy Seewer (4-2) and Belgian Yamaha racer Brent Van Doninck (5-3). The perfect day for Jonass increased his points lead over Seewer to 19 points as the series heads to Latvia for round seven in two weeks’ time.
2017 MX GP of Europe Results
2017 MX GP of Europe Results
2017 MX GP of Europe Results
2017 MX GP of Europe Results
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