Jorge Prado takes home maximum points from MXGP of Germany
By Team TMX on 12th Jun 23
MXGP series leader Jorge Prado (Red Bull GASGAS) took home a maximum 60-point haul from the MXGP of Germany which was held at Teutschenthal at the weekend to extend his championship lead to a whopping 67 points after nine rounds. Prado’s return to form coincided with a bad weekend for his rivals with Romain Febvre (Kawasaki Racing Team) running 6-3 while a so-far undisclosed injury for Jeffrey Herlings following a crash in race one meant that the record-breaking Dutchman scored just eight points all weekend. As soon as we have confirmation about his injury status we’ll be sure to update you.
Jeremy Seewer (Monster Energy Yamaha) took the holeshot in race one ahead of Prado, Herlings, Ruben Fernandez (Team HRC Honda) and Febvre. The Frenchman was the first to falter though and tipped over in a rut dropping him into the clutches of the chasing pack.
Herlings meanwhile had figured things out and used the same line to pass Prado and then Seewer several laps later to move into the lead. Prado also passed Seewer several laps later as the race settled down.
With just a few laps to go – Herlings caught a rut – and cartwheeled into the face of a jump. While he was able to get up and ride around slowly to secure a single point for finishing in 20th spot albeit obviously in huge amounts of pain. He’d be a no-show for moto two.
Prado hung on to take the win with Seewer second and Fernandez third.
Of the four Brits, Ben Watson (MRT Beta), Adam Sterry (Sarholz KTM), Tom Grimshaw (Chambers GASGAS), Ashton Dickinson (TALK Templant KTM), only Watson put points on the board by finishing 14th, Dickinson ranked 24th while Sterry and Grimshaw both failed to finish.
Moto two started without Herlings but the Dutch fans were pleased to see Glenn Coldenhoff (Monster Energy Yamaha) take the holeshot ahead of Prado, Febvre and Fernandez as Seewer hit the deck in turn two. Watson was running sixth this time with Dickinson 14th and Sterry 17th.
A crash for Febvre allowed Fernandez by but by midrace he’d worked his way back into third as Coldenhoff continued to click off the laps at the front of the pack. But that all changed on lap 16 when Prado put him under enough pressure to force a mistake with the Spaniard diving inside the Dutchman before powering away to take his third win of the weekend (RAM Qualification race and both motos). The Hoff hung tough for second with Febvre third, Fernandez fourth and Seewer an excellent fifth after fighting through the pack.
Watson had a much better ride to finish eighth with Sterry 17th and Dickinson 20th for a world championship point. Grimshaw kept going in this one to end up 26th.
Overall, Prado was flanked on the podium by Coldenhoff and Fernandez.
In the championship chase the GASGAS rider now has 453 points with Herlings second on 386 and Febvre another 39 behind. It’s still very early days but Jorge looks in control of the championship as it nears the halfway point.
"It was a pretty good weekend,” said Prado. “Winning the qualification race and then both motos was just perfect. The bike was very good and so was my riding. I knew that I could do this more often, but it is just about putting everything together and building my confidence. I think today was a perfect example of what I can do. I feel very confident going to Indonesia. Everything is going very well and I need to keep going like this."
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