Cycle News Staff | May 28, 2019
For the second weekend in a row, Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) emerged victorious in the 2019 FIM Motocross World Championship. His latest victory came at the MXGP of France at Saint Jean D’Angely, May 26, 2019.
Gajser Wins MXGP Of France 2019
Tim Gajser celebrates the overall win at Saint Jean d’Angely. Photo: Honda Pro Racing
In the first MXGP moto, Gajser started off in third but quickly got around championship leader Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) and early leader Arnaud Tonus (Yamaha). From there, Gajser pulled away for the win, with Cairoli taking second and Tonus third.
Frenchman Romain Febvre (Yamaha) gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he bolted into the lead at the start of the second moto, but fifth-place starter Gajser would eventually catch and then pass Febvre for the lead and eventual win.
Febvre did hold on to second, with Tonus taking third.
It was a disastrous moto for Cairoli who jumped the starting gate and got a terrible start. While frantically working his way up through the pack, he dropped his bike while running just outside the top 10 and slipped back to 25th. He fought his way up to 17th when he stalled the engine and lost another position. The Italian would eventually finish the race in 17th place for seventh overall and see his points lead get slashed to just 10 points over Gajser, 311-301.
Gajser’s 1-1 gave him his first back-to-back GP wins since 2017, and Tonus’ 3-3 gave the Swiss rider the best MXGP finish of his career with a second.
Third overall went to Febvre with a 5-3. This was the first non-KTM podium since 2017.
“I’m really happy how both days went,” Gajser said. “I was having fun on the track, and even though it was rough and sketchy in some places, it was still enjoyable to race on. In the first race, I took a little time to pass the guys in front of me before getting the lead and making a gap to control the race. In the second moto, I clipped the gate and almost went over the handlebar off the start, but I recovered. I made some passes to get near the front and then settled for a couple of laps in third before making a strike to get out front.”
“It is not the best day,” Cairoli said. “It felt like the whole weekend was a struggle right from [a] crash on the first corners of the qualification heat and getting run over by some riders. My ankle is not perfect, it was pretty sore; this track is very slick, and it is easy to put your foot on the ground. I chose a good gate in the first moto but not in the second— some were dropping and some not. It seemed I had the last one of the 40 to drop! I tried to come back fast through the group, and it was going well actually, but I crashed again while 11th and got hit again. I restarted and tried to get as many points as I could.”
In MX2, KTM did get a victory thanks to Spain’s Jorge Prado, though he had a bit of a scare in the first moto.
The championship points leader, Prado, was leading the first moto when Belgian Jago Geerts (Yamaha) actually ran him down and passed him for the win.
Prado said, “I relaxed a bit in the last laps, but I felt everything was under control until I took the wrong rut after the finish-line jump in the first race. I charged hard to try and make a pass on the last lap, but I couldn’t make it happen.”
Prado, however, rebounded in moto two. The Spaniard shot out of the gate, nabbed the holeshot and never looked back to take the moto win and overall victory with a 2-1.
After starting off in fourth place, Geerts worked his way up to second for second overall on the day.
Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna) of Denmark, the nearest rider to Prado in the championship, struggled with bad starts and went 3-5 for third overall. He saw the points gap between him and Prado grow a bit to 14, 297-283. Geerts is third in the championship with 217 points.
MXGP Results
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:13.037; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:06.617; 3. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:10.299; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:28.701; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:31.735; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:35.329; 7. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Husqvarna), +0:35.836; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:48.968; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:58.570; 10. Tanel Leok (EST, Husqvarna), +0:59.429.
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:00.904; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:05.375; 3. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:07.314; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:19.675; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:21.553; 6. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:24.454; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:26.435; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:27.879; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Honda), +0:53.090; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.992.
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 50 points; 2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 38 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 33 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 31 p.; 6. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 27 p.; 7. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 24 p.; 9. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 24 p.; 10. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 21 p.
MXGP ChampionshipTop Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 311 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 301 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 218 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 208 p.; 5. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 190 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 184 p.; 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 162 p.; 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, HON), 156 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 144 p.; 10. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 141 p.
MX2 Results
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), 34:36.015; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +0:01.447; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:33.708; 4. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), +0:45.240; 5. Davy Pootjes (NED, Husqvarna), +0:56.679; 6. Adam Sterry (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:59.098; 7. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +1:00.865; 8. Henry Jacobi (GER, Kawasaki), +1:08.778; 9. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, Honda), +1:09.938; 10. Darian Sanayei (USA, Kawasaki), +1:17.543
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 34:50.867; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:02.577; 3. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:07.483; 4. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +0:18.663; 5. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:26.028; 6. Adam Sterry (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:31.109; 7. Bas Vaessen (NED, KTM), +0:35.035; 8. Davy Pootjes (NED, Husqvarna), +0:36.741; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:37.722; 10. Brian Strubhart Moreau (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:46.144
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 47 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 47 p.; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 32 p.; 5. Adam Sterry (GBR, KAW), 30 p.; 6. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 29 p.; 7. Davy Pootjes (NED, HUS), 29 p.; 8. Bas Vaessen (NED, KTM), 20 p.; 9. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 19 p.; 10. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 18 p.
MX2 ChampionshipTop Ten: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 297 points; 2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 283 p.; 3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 217 p.; 4. Henry Jacobi (GER, KAW), 210 p.; 5. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 187 p.; 6. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 184 p.; 7. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 182 p.; 8. Davy Pootjes (NED, HUS), 157 p.; 9. Adam Sterry (GBR, KAW), 157 p.; 10. Bas Vaessen (NED, KTM), 125 p.
