Jorde Prado's Turkish Delight - GASGAS ace takes top spot in MXGP of Turkiye
By Team TMX on 9th Sep 24
The hot sun continued to beat down on the Afyon Motor Sports Center as the MXGP of Türkiye hosted the crucial 18th round of the MXGP World Motocross Championships. The track crews worked feverishly to keep the track in the best possible condition, as a brisk wind conspired with the heat to dry the dirt and bake it hard.
The ongoing battle for the MXGP World Championship took another turn as Jorge Prado claimed the overall win, the 47th of his career, for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing, reducing the points lead of Team HRC’s Tim Gajser to just 14 points!
In the morning Warm-Up it was Prado who set the fastest time, with Andrea Bonacorsi a surprise second for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, ahead of Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing talisman Jeffrey Herlings.
The first race started explosively as Romain Febvre tangled with Herlings and Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez just out of the gate, tipping the Kawasaki Racing Team man upside-down just metres into the race! However, his teammate Jeremy Seewer rocketed across the Fox Holeshot line to claim his fifth award of the season, and a vital lead ahead of Gajser and Fernandez, as Maxime Renaux fought his way up to fourth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and Prado also had work to do!
Renaux moved forward impressively past Fernandez, then Gajser saved a big mistake in a banked corner which let the Frenchman past into second! Prado had moved up to fourth at this point and began pressing his Championship rival, but the third rider in the Championship suffered what could be a vital blow to his title hopes. That was Herlings, who had recovered to fifth after his tangle with Febvre but crashed all on his own at the end of the pit lane straight, being burnt by his own exhaust pipe in the process! The Dutchman looked to be in immediate pain and could only recover to 10th.
Seewer, sensing that none of the big three were close to attacking him, started to streak away at the front of the field, while Prado made a solid inside pass on Gajser to take third! He looked a dead cert to quickly blitz past Renaux, but the Yamaha man was having none of it! Gajser kept a watching brief in fourth as his teammate Fernandez was passed by Bonacorsi, putting in one of the best rides of his rookie season to finish fifth at the track where he clinched the EMX250 title last year!
Glenn Coldenhoff, riding in pain for Fantic Factory Racing after a big crash on Saturday, was riding well in seventh, keeping back the recovering Febvre, who passed Alberto Forato of the Standing Construct Honda team on lap nine. Fernandez frustratingly crashed at the start of the final lap, dropping from sixth to ninth, the last rider not to be caught by Herlings. His crash lifted Coldenhoff to a hard-earned sixth, Febvre seventh, and Forato eighth.
Try as he might, Prado could not get past Renaux, and even came under pressure from Gajser in the closing laps until the Slovenian stalled just before the two-lap board came out. The Spaniard finished third but was obviously not happy as he remonstrated to his pit crew after the chequered flag!
Renaux’s second place was his best since the second race at this track last year, but Seewer cruised to take his first race win for the Kawasaki Racing Team by over four seconds at the flag.
A frustrated Prado had suffered with goggle problems from being behind Renaux for so long in race one, so there was only one thing for it in race two – a trademark Jorge Prado Fox Holeshot! It was his 15th of the season, and he now cannot be caught for the overall trophy in that competition this year. However, Gajser, Febvre and Herlings were right on his tail, with The Bullet working quickly past the Frenchman to make his charge on the leading pair!
Race two was a classic case of four of the best riders in the world pushing to the absolute limit, the Acerbis Fastest Lap Award passing between them several times before Prado put in the best of all on lap 12. That was timed to counter an attack from Gajser, who in turn had just managed to shake off the attentions of Herlings. The Slovenian hit neutral in a corner just as he was on the back wheel of the defending World Champion, and that was enough to halt his charge forward.
Most of the passing was being done further behind them. Bonacorsi, looking to match his fifth from race one, started in that position but the chasing pack of Coldenhoff, Seewer, and Forato caught him towards the final third of the race. Coldenhoff was able to move up to fifth, holding off an attack from Seewer, who had charged from outside of the top ten on the opening lap to salvage an overall podium finish.
Forato managed to get around Bonacorsi in a close battle to be top Italian in the race, which the Honda man won to finish seventh. Behind them, Jan Pancar completed an excellent weekend for TEM JP253 KTM Racing in ninth, with Mattia Guadagnini taking tenth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.
Ultimately, no-one could catch Prado, who brought the GASGAS home for the second race win and the overall GP trophy. Gajser limited the damage by holding off Herlings for second, as the top three finished within four and a half seconds of each other, and Febvre stayed in a solid fourth, which was to be his position in the GP as well.
Renaux’s 11th from a terrible start was enough to salvage fifth overall ahead of Herlings, Coldenhoff, Bonacorsi, and Forato, while Fernandez just did enough for tenth overall.
Herlings now sits 53 points off the top, meaning that he really needs a lot of luck to fall his way to be Champion this year. The gap between red plate holder Gajser and Prado is now 14 points, meaning that if the Spaniard wins every race left in the final two rounds, then he will be Champion again no matter what. However, motocross is rarely so simple!
“It was a perfect second race, even though I made a little mistake, I could, let's say, regain the position and super happy,” said Prado afterwards. “We gained points and that's the goal right now. Onto the next, last two rounds of the season. Last push and we'll see how it ends. Thanks guys.”
Championship rival Tim Gajser was equally positive – “It was a solid day again. Finishing on the podium, that's our goal. Collecting good points for the championship. Definitely I felt that a bit better in that second race. First one, I was just struggling with the lines. My line choices were not correct and then yeah two riders passed me and it was not easy to pass. I was always there waiting for mistakes but Jorge was riding a perfect race. My speed was good so I have to be happy."
