MXGP lands in Leon
By Infront Moto Racing on 9th Sep 15
For the second year in succession the best riders in the world will race between the Mexican cacti at the circuit of Leon, a soil based track, which is hard to describe, as it is neither soft nor hard, the only feasible description, based on how it shaped up last year, is that it is slightly clumpy and gets relatively rutty in places.
As the penultimate round of the series the focus has shifted from the premier class, MXGP, which was wrapped up by Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube's fiery young rookie Romain Febvre, to the MX2 World Championship which is sure to go down to the wire with Honda Gariboldi's Tim Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Pauls Jonass both in reach of their first ever world championship title.
The premier class title sits warmly in the pocket of Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube's Romain Febvre who piled together a year of milestones to take the 2015 MXGP gold plate with four races to spare.
While Febvre has flown the flag high for not only Yamaha, but for France as the first Frenchman to be world champion in the premier class since Mickael Pichon in 2002, fellow Frenchman Gautier Paulin is solidifying their nations speed as he sits in second in the championship 37 points clear of his Team HRC teammate Evgeny Bobryshev.
Bobryshev just needs to keep turning solid laps and he should wrap up the season in third while fourth was taken over in Assen by the most recent MXGP round winner Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM's Shaun Simpson.
Simpson's mission will be to keep the ball rolling especially since last year's MXGP of Leon runner up, Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing's Max Nagl tails him by 37 in fifth, and judging by the speed Nagl rounded out last season with, he may be a hard beast for the Brit to tame.
Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe's Glenn Coldenhoff is another rookie to look out for as he starts to find his feet in the class.
MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 638 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 536 p.; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 499 p.; 4. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 437 p.; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 416 p.; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 414 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 394 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 361 p.; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 331 p.; 10. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 324 p
There is no clear picture in the battle of MX2 supremacy. Looking at the two riders in contention for the title, Honda Gariboldi's Tim Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Pauls Jonass, we are faced with two entirely different characters. Gajser is an all or nothing type of rider, when he goes out on the track he throws his heart on the table while Jonass, on the other hand, is super consistent, cool, calm and collected. Coming into this round, theMXGP of Leon, Gajser leads Jonass by 13 points.
And then there is Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki's Max Anstie. Anstie has proven that on his day he can wax anyone, it just comes down to whether the 99 will have all his ducks in line or not. While it also wouldn't be a complete surprise if Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube's Valentin Guillod rejoined the party and won a race, although it could be dependent on how his shoulder is healing up after his massive crash in Assen.
Meanwhile, we also should give credit to the dark horse Kemea Yamaha Yamalube's Brent Van Doninck who had his first taste of the box with his third place at the MXGP of The Netherlands and will be wanting to come back for more over the next couple of rounds.
MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 518 points; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 505 p.; 3. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 474 p.; 4. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 446 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 440 p.; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 423 p.; 7. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 393 p.; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 391 p.; 9. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 320 p.; 10. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 301 p.
