2023 FIM MXGP of Turkey Round 17 Results

Cycle News Staff | September 5, 2023

The 17th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship headed to Turkey in what turned out to be a surprising day of racing. Tim Gajser and Liam Everts both scored their respective overall victories, while both points leaders struggled.

MXGP

Jorge Prado looked to continue his dominance as he led into turn one. But his plan derailed as he crashed and dropped to the back of the field, remounting in 18th. With Prado out of the way, Honda’s Tim Gajser found himself in the lead for the first time this season. He led through lap seven when Romain Febvre made his way past the former world champ. Febvre aimed to capitalize with his main rival, Prado, well behind him and the Kawasaki rider went on to take another race win.

Race two looked like a carbon copy of the first with Prado again taking the holeshot and again suffering bike issues and dropping to the back of the pack. Gajser put himself into the lead again in race two and despite a solo crash, still managed to take the victory. A win in race two gave him the overall victory, his first of the 2023 season. Febvre took third in race two but still earned second in the overall classification. Maxime Renaux ran a strong pace and followed Gajser in for second in race two. He took third overall. With two terrible motos, Prado went 13-9 for 10th overall. He still leads the points by 67 over Febvre.

2023-mxgp-turkey-gajser — **Gajser took the second race win and the overall, his first of the season.**

“It’s been such a long time since I stepped on top of the podium,” said Gajser. “All weekend I felt great on the track and the riding was smooth and good. I got a bit of arm pump in the first race as I was maybe not riding enough relaxed but anyway in the second race I got a great start and made a little gap. I also made a mistake of my own and Renaux caught me but I kept my focus and regrouped to keep the lead.”

2023-mxgp-turkey-prado2 — **Tough day for Prado who finished 10th overall.** Photo: GasGas

MX2

Simon Laengfelder continued his string of good starts with a holeshot in race one. His lead was short lived as another GasGas rider, Isak Gifting, moved to the top spot on lap one. Gifting held the lead for most of the race but was re-passed by Laengfelder on lap 10. It took Laengfelder some time to get back into the lead but once he did he held on for another race victory ahead of Geerts and Everts. Championship leader, Andrea Adamo struggled and finished 10th.

2023-mxgp-turkey-mx2-laengenfelder — **Laengenfelder battled back for a win in race one.** Photo: GasGas

The title heavyweights all suffered poor starts in race two, putting Roan Van De Moosdijk into the top spot early on. Everts eventually overtook the Husqvarna rider and looked to be running away with the win. He fell late on lap 12 which allowed Kevin Horgmo to pass for the lead.

2023-mxgp-turkey-mx2-horgmo — **Kevin Horgmo grabbed his first-ever race win.**

Horgmo held it for the final few laps to take his first-ever race win. Everts still finished second which earned him the overall victory over Horgmo and Geerts. Adamo still leads the points, 48 clear of Everts and 82 over Geerts.

2023-mxgp-turkey-mx2-everts — **Despite a fall in race two, Everts still took the overall.** Photo: KTM

“I made a little mistake in the second moto but otherwise I felt comfortable all weekend,” said Everts. “That’s not normal because these high-speed tracks are not my thing, but I was fast and in control. As I’ve said before, the championship was not really my goal coming into the season; just to get on the podium was good and then a GP win was unbelievable.”