2015 World MX2 review - The agony and the ecstacy
By Team TMX on 29th Dec 15
MX2 was a war of attrition in 2015 as one favourite after another bit the dirt in undignified, usually painful, fashion even two of the three eventual medallists missing GPs through injury. So staying power was the key as Slovenian teenager Tim Gajser, Hondas first world champion for 15 years and Britains Max Anstie each shrugged off early season pain to end the season at the top, even though neither had even been series top seven on Sunday evening at Matterley Basin at the end of May
The only question in most people's minds as the series kicked off in Qatar at the end of February was the fitness level of Jeffrey Herlings.
The KTM star went into the first GP cold, just two weeks back on a bike after the wise decision to remove the rod which had held his shattered thigh together for the vain attempt to salvage the 2014 title in Mexico five months previously.
Although still way off his game The Bullit – having learned to win with minimal effort – was still far too good for the rest to score a double win under the floodlights and many were ready to hand him the crown there and then.
Another double in the claustrophobic heat of Thailand – as Jeffrey controlled turn one, and only pushed enough to keep the chasers off his rear wheel – confirmed the despair in the rival teams.
But his points cushion was wiped out at round three in Argentina after a nasty collision with team-mate Pauls Jonass left him with five wins and a DNF from the overseas tour.
Jeffrey was clearly still the man but this was not the same rider who had scored 27 consecutive GP victories through 2013/14 and by the time the circus rolled into Europe the chasers were closing in.
Herlings won at least one moto in each of the seven GPs he started in Europe but only won two GPs overall, each with a maximum score – at Valkenswaard and Villars.
But injuries including a plated collarbone after Germany, a severed thumb after Sweden, and a demolished hip joint after Czecho compounded to end his season for good.
The boy has learned to use his head tactically but perhaps he also needs to slow down just a little.
His life is certainly hectic. In 2012 he came back from a traffic accident which put fellow passengers in intensive care. Then in 2013 he ended in hospital the next race after clinching title number two.
The next season he led by 145 points before wrecking himself while playing on an 85cc machine, and this summer he was 139 ahead halfway through the series when the agony began.
However, the challengers, such as they were against a half-fit Herlings, were also in the wars.
Max Anstie had toughed it out in Qatar after slitting open his foot on Valentin Guillod's footrest, but had to miss Thailand, and the sweltering heat of south-east Asia claimed three more top-ten runners as Gajser, Jeremy Seewer and Jordi Tixier each needed an intravenous drip after collapsing at the end of race one.
They each had to sit out race two, and Tixier also missed the trip to Argentina, his licence suspended after he thumped the Thai doctor.
Top chaser, not unexpectedly, was Dylan Ferrandis and the French youngster went to Arco as joint points leader.
But it was not the Kawasaki leader who put it across Herlings as the European GP season swung into gear.
Gajser grew up riding pebble-strewn hardpack and took full advantage of a poor start by Herlings to hold a decisive lead entering the final lap.
It was a gap which the Herlings of 2013 would have gobbled up and indeed he was on the Slovenian's rear wheel when he washed out this time.
But the cat's nine lives have long been used up and the two-times champ lost a GP straight up for the first time since 2012.
The inevitable Herlings 1-1 at Valkenswaard was followed by an all-the-way first moto win at Talavera, Anstie having settled into the rhythm which confirmed him as potentially the second fastest man in class to track his buddy to the chequered flag.
But Spain brought another straight-up GP defeat.
A rodeo performance early on in race two left Herlings way back in 19th and Tixier appeared to be on his way to the overall from 3-4 motos.
A last-lap pass on Sascha Tonkov edged Herlings ahead of the champion but it was not enough to seal the win as an inspired Guillod, way back in sixth in the opener, found a turbo boost to sprint past Ferrandis for the moto win and the overall.
Ferrandis was not making any friends with his tactics.
He had already been penalised for fending off Pauls Jonass with his boot at Valkenswaard and after a first moto DNF in Talavera, when he stubbed the ground and wrecked a knee, he was in brutal mood with Herlings straight out of the gate, before riding Seewer into the bank at the full bore first turn.
Having deleted his name off everyone's Christmas card list, Dylan went for surgery and was not seen again until the winter.
While Gajser's frontline games had been drowned next race at Valkenswaard when he and Ben Watson ended up in the pond on the outside of turn one after Ferrandis ran them wide, Guillod's confidence was sky high after Talavera and a fortnight later he beat Herlings.
The roll continued at Villars seven days later when the Swiss ace dominated qualification and only had to bow to Herlings in race one.
But defective brakes after a collision with Graulus when they each tried to avoid a Tixier-Tonkov collision kept him out of the top ten and Herlings was back on track.
Tonkov took full advantage of the holeshot plus a miserable start for Herlings, at a desperately muddy Maggiora to record his first moto win.
But a desperate move on Jonass in race two cost the Russian the victory and Gajser topped the box for the second time from a consistent 3-2 day.
Herlings was rarely top scorer through the first half of the European summer but the opposition was also inconsistent and he had actually increased his points lead each week, even in defeat, simply by out-scoring the chaser who had been second at the start of the day.
Having missed Matterley after knocking himself out in warm-up, Gajser was still only fifth in the points at this stage.
Anyone brave enough to chance a tenner at Ladbrookes would have got a very good price as the series hit halfway.
By the first week of July, though, matters looked very different.
The Herlings injury roll started on the first lap of qualification at Teutschenthal when a scrub went horribly wrong.
Tonkov wrecked his shoulder on race day when he crashed out of the lead,Jonass was simply struggling and by the end of the weekend at Uddevalla Gajser had racked up a hat-trick of GP wins and was second on points to Herlings – the latter almost certain to miss Latvia after nearly losing his thumb when he slithered to the ground exiting turn one in Sweden.
Anstie had taken his first GP moto win in Germany, but was a distant seventh in the points, 83 back on Gajser as the teams crossed the Baltic to Kegums.
But the Brit's star was about to shine.
In the next eight motos he only lost once and that defeat at Loket was self-inflicted as he crashed out of the lead.
Headed for Mantova mid-August, with Herlings gone for the year and just four to play, Anstie still languished seventh on points but the deficit to points leader Jonass – who was still without a win – was down to 46 and six riders had a shot at the title.
Tixier was the first to go, dislocating a wrist in timed training at Mantova and the Swiss duo of Guillod and Seewer did their chances no good with race-day crashes on Sunday.
Anstie was now up to third after another scintillating double win but, with the injury list growing, he was running desperately short of colleagues to put themselves between his rear wheel and points leaders Jonass and Gajser.
That was supposed to be Petar Petrov's job but the Bulgarian never repeated front line qualification shows when points were at stake.
Assen should have been another banker for Anstie but the trip to northern reaches of the Netherlands was Max's turn to cast his chances away.
Reeling in race leader Jonass at a rate of knots, Max looped out of the top ten and the championship chase.
KTM was again looking to their No.2 to maintain the unbeaten run of titles stretching back to 2008 – but Gajser had other ideas.
No sand expert, the Honda boy had chilled back home in Slovenia after Mantova but his last ten- minutes of race one at Assen was remarkable.
The soft sand was physically even more demanding than Lommel and as Jonass ran out of steam as usual, Gajser marched from seventh to first in a matter of minutes.
Holeshot
When Jonass crashed at turn one two-hours later Tim could let Anstie go and still ended the day 13 in front, as a brace of teenagers would decide the title between them.
Returning to Leon, where he had won the final moto of the year in 2014, Gajser was strangely off the pace and Jonass was the man, streaking to his career-first moto win to slash the points gap to four.
Another mighty holeshot in race two brightened eyes in the orange pits but their joy was soon dimmed as the Latvian was already slithering to the ground as he secured the holeshot award.
Another crash on lap two cost him a lap again as Wayne Banks and Dirk Gruebel did their best to straighten the damage and the difference was 18 points going into Glen Helen.
While the Troy Lee boys dominated the GP, the Europeans were exchanging blows for fourth.
Gajser held the upper hand initially and stayed cool – well, as cool as you can with the thermometer topping 100 degrees – and refused to panic when Jonass came storming past within a couple of laps.
Jonass inevitably slipped into reverse after a few laps to drop all the way back to tenth but the cool Gajser declined to risk all on that opening moto as Anstie and Guillod came charging through.
Fourth would have clinched the title at the interval, but the remaining mathematical option for Jonass was never real.
Nelson and McElrath would have had to stop to give him a shot at the moto win he now needed and Gajser tied it up with fourth to the Latvian's sixth.
Anstie's pass on Guillod on the line in race one had clinched bronze, and all that was left was for Honda to celebrate.
Britain's only other GP regular was Ben Watson but mid-pack starts meant mid-pack finishes.
An eighth in Latvia showed what was possible if Ben got away with the leaders but his only other top ten on the way to series 21st came in his final GP ride of the summer at Assen.
Hopefully the 2016 Husky will bring him better starts next term.
Mel Pocock had started the campaign in fine style with sixth overall in Thailand, but that horrible Maxxis hand injury kept him out of racing for the remainder of the year.
The only other Brit to figure was Adam Sterry, who took a handful of GP rides when his Euro commitments allowed.
A qualification holeshot in Argentina plus a couple of 11th places showed he will run the pace next year.
Tenth at Mantova confirmed this, as did his guest rides on a 350 in Mexico and Glen Helen.
But the men to watch next year will be a resurrected Herlings, Ferrandis in his last GP year before heading stateside and a third final-year star as Max Anstie goes full-factory for the first time with Rockstar Husky.
Should be good...
