MXGP of Great Britain - report and results

By Team TMX on 25th Sep 23

News Motocross MXGP

Matterley Basin near Winchester was in prime condition for the final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship – the MXGP of Great Britain. The smaller than-anticipated crowd who turned out were treated to some excellent race action as the world's fastest motocross racers battled it out as individuals for the final time in 2023 ahead of the Motocross of Nations which is being held at Ernee in France on October 7/8.

The MX2 class kicked things off with Simon Laengenfelder (Red Bull GASGAS) topping the RAM Qualifying Race ahead of recently crowned world champion Andrea Adamo (Red Bull KTM), Jago Geerts (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Roan van de Moosdijk (Husqvarna Factory Racing). A still sore Liam Everts (Red Bull KTM) raced through the pack to ninth but he’d already lost ground in the points chase for second place in the championship – just four points separating Geerts, Laengenfelder and Everts at the start of the weekend.

The German GASGAS rider then dominated Sunday’s opening moto from the off as Monster Energy Yamaha’s Thibault Benistant – who’d returned to the series in Maggiora – slotted into second ahead of teammate Geerts. Adamo was fourth after an opening lap off-track excursion, Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna Factory Racing) fifth and Everts sixth after shuffling F&H Kawasaki’s Kevin Horgmo out of the way. And that’s the way it stayed with Benistant beating off Geerts who threw everything at him on the final lap in an attempt to get past.

Taylor Hammal (SS24 Gabriel KTM) was the best of the Brits in 18th after losing out to Sacha Coenen (Red Bull KTM) and Jack Chambers (MTX Big Van World Kawasaki) in the last couple of laps. T’other Brit, Calum Mitchell (Lexa MX Husqvarna) just missed out on scoring points in 22nd spot but only six seconds behind 20th after more than 38 minutes of racing! 

Laengenfelder entered the final moto three points ahead of Geerts in their battle for second. After looking set to claim the runner-up spot in the series, Everts found himself demoted to fourth and was looking unlikely to turn things around.

But when the gate dropped for race two, it was Everts who grabbed the holeshot ahead of Sacha Coenen and Adamo making it a Red Bull KTM 1-2-3 at the head of the field. Maybe Liam could turn it around after all.

However, from a seventh place start, De Wolf fought through the pack to take over the lead at the start of lap two as Everts struggled to maintain the pace and would eventually drop back to fifth. Adamo moved up into second with Geerts grabbing third after making an aggressive pass on Laengenfelder but the Belgian Yamaha rider was done with the passes yet.

In the same corner he’d passed Laengenfelder in earlier in the race, Geerts grabbed second spot from Adamo and then a few laps later went by De Wolf on the off-cambered long-right-hander known to British fans as Everts’ corner.

And that’s how it finished with Geerts ending his MX2 career with a bang – final moto and overall winner of the British Grand Prix and second in the series which after missing 10 point-scoring opportunities due to wrist and shoulder injuries ain’t too shabby. Laengenfelder finished a distant fourth ahead of Everts and Benistant.

A bit further back in the pack, Hammal put another three points on the board with Mitchell fighting his way to 20th in his first-ever MX2 GP.

In MXGP, freshly crowned world champ Jorge Prado (Red Bull GASGAS) carried on doing what he’d done all year by dominating the RAM Qualifying Race. Leading from the off, he held the lead position throughout to hold off Romain Febvre (Kawasaki Racing Team), Tim Gajser (HRC Honda), Ruben Fernandez (HRC Honda) and a very aggressive Valentin Guillod (Ship to Cycle Honda) who’d ridden right through Maxime Renaux (Monster Energy Yamaha) on the opening lap of what would prove to be a fairly processional race.

Ben Watson (MRT Beta) was top Brit in 14th, with adopted ASA United GASGAS runner Ivo Monticelli 19th, Adam Sterry (Sarholz KTM) 20th, Harri Kullas (CAB Screens Crescent Yamaha) 21st and wildcarding Brits Tom Grimshaw (Chambers Racing GASGAS) 23rd, Stuart Edmonds (Honda) 25th, Jason Meara (MotoCycle GASGAS) 28th, Martin Barr (Apico Husqvarna) 29th and Glenn McCormick 31st. Tristan Purdon (SS24 Gabriel KTM) went out early with a shoulder injury and Jamie Carpenter (CAB Screens Crescent Yamaha) would be a non-starter after crashing heavily in Time Practice.

Glenn Coldenhoff (Monster Energy Yamaha) took the holeshot in Sunday’s opening MXGP race with Prado second ahead of the two HRC teammates – Gajser and Fernandez, who was quickly passed by Seewer. And that’s how the running order stayed until lap five when Fernandez crashed allowing Febvre and Pauls Jonass (Standing Construct Honda) past.

A couple of laps later and Prado dropped it too allowing Gajser and Seewer to move up the running order and let Febvre close in which set up a very close closing half to race one. With Seewer pressuring Gajser, the Honda rider upped the pace and started looking for a way past Coldenhoff.

On lap 12 he found it to take over the lead with just a few minutes left on the clock. Seewer immediately attacked his teammate too and made an aggressive pass but Coldenhoff fought back to regain second place. With just a few seconds separating the top five with two laps to go, the crowd were anticipating an exciting finish.

Seewer executed the same move on Coldenhoff that Gajser had used to take over the lead while Prado and Febvre pushed hard to get onto his back wheel, eating copious amounts of Matterley roost as they tried to find a way by.

But time wasn’t on their side and after 35 minutes of top-class action, Gajser secured victory ahead of Seewer, Coldenhoff, Prado and Febvre who all crossed the line within five seconds of each other. Fernandez was sixth even after crashing twice while Calvin Vlaanderen (Gebben van Venrooy Yamaha) recovered from a tip-over of his owner to cross the line in seventh with Tom Koch (Kosak KTM) a fantastic eighth.

A well-supported Kullas was the first local in 12th, with Watson 13th, Monticelli 17th and Sterry 19th. Grimshaw, Edmonds and Meara stayed on the lead lap but there’d be no points as they finished 22nd through 24th. McCormick was the last finisher – ranked 27th – as Barr retired early on after a crash that left him peakless.

Moto two wouldn’t be much kinder to the Brits. Edmonds was an early retiree this time as Meara, Grimshaw and Barr filled an eerily familiar 22nd to 24th after battling hard for the duration. Watson would secure 11th this time which would see him move by MIA Mattia Guadagnini (Red Bull GASGAS) in the series standings with the Beta ace leaping from 15th at the start of the day to a lucky for him 13th.

Speaking of 13th, that’s where Kullas ended up second time out ahead of fellow ‘Brit’ Monticelli while Sterry improved to 15th.

At the head of the field, Coldenhoff had holeshot once more with Prado in his wheel-tracks. The Spaniard dropped it in turn three though and would make it as far as 18th before settling there and riding out the last moto of the year sandwiched between Scandinavians Cornelius Toendel (JWR Honda) and his teammate Alvin Ostlund.

Coldenhoff would hold the lead for two laps this time before yielding to Gajser with Seewer, Febvre, Fernandez and Seewer also finding a way past before the end of the moto. Seewer had held second for several laps before Febvre found a way past with Fernandez also finding a way around the Swiss star before the chequered flag was unfurled.

Behind Gajser, Febvre, Fernandez, Seewer and Coldenhoff came Vlaanderen, Jonass, Guillod and Koch with Brian Bogers (Standing Construct Honda) rounding out the top 10.

Supporting the world championship classes at Matterley Basin were the EMX125 and EMX250 divisions. Andrea Bonacorsi had already wrapped up the EMX250 title and had made a move to MX2 to test the waters. In his absence, Frenchman Marc Antoine-Rossi stepped up to top the podium with a 1-2 scorecard. He was joined on the podium by race two winner Ferrucio Zanchi and the very popular Latvian Karlis Alberts Reisulis.

GRT Impact KTM’s Joe Brookes had an amazing weekend to claim 10th overall as the leading Brit in the class with 12-11 finishes. Billy Askew (GTCI Revo Kawasaki) made his international debut and finished 13th in moto two after slipping outside the points in race one. Ben Mustoe (ASA United GASGAS) looked solid all weekend and after finishing 22nd in race one improved to 14th second time out. Fellow Brits Mckenzie Marshall (DK Offroad KTM) and Kelton Gwyther (Motor 2000 KTM) also put in a pair of solid motos but unfortunately finished outside the points.

Latvia’s Janis Martins Reisulis clinched the EMX125 title by winning race one and then he repeated the feat second time out to just remind everyone that he’s the top dog. Simone Mancini made it a Yamaha 1-2 by taking second overall with a 5-3 scorecard. Germany’s Max Werner bagged third on his Fantic – his 3-6 proving enough to put him on the podium.

Cole McCullough was the leading local on his KTM in 15th overall with 14-17 finishes – he was tied on points with Swedish ex-pat Freddie Bartlett who had a 13th and an 18th to take 16th overall. BW85 supremo Josh Vail stepped up at Matterley Basin to put EMX125 points on the board with his SJP Moto KTM. Josh finished 17th in race one but slipped back to 21st in moto two. Ollie Colmer recovered from a DNF in race one to grab a couple of points for finishing 19th second time out. Max Gardiner (MGMX KTM) and Max Harris (Motor 2000 KTM) both made the cut in qualifying and while it was a character-building experience unfortunately didn’t pay out any points.

FIM Motocross World Championship

Round 19 – Matterley Basin, Great Britian

MXGP

Final Series Standings

1 Prado 921, 2 Febvre 854, 3 Seewer 759, 4 Coldenhoff 695, 5 Fernandez 654, 6 Vlaanderen 599, 7 Alberto Forato 490, 8 Jeffrey Herlings 456, 9 Guillod 363, 10 Maxime Renaux 314… 13 Watson 252… 28 Kullas 37… 29 Monticelli 30, 34 Sterry 21… 44 Ashton Dickinson 9… 47 Purdon 7… 55 Conrad Mewse 4

MX2

Final Series Standings

1 Adamo 826, 2 Geerts 759, 3 Laengenfelder 755, 4 Everts 734, 5 Lucas Coenen 577, 6 De Wolf 573, 7 Horgmo 565, 8 Van de Moosdijk 560, 9 Benistant 533, 10 Rick Elzinga 394… 34 Joel Rizzi 27… 37 Bobby Bruce 23… 42 Hammal 18… 74 Mitchell 1

EMX250

Final Series Standings

1 Bonacorsi 393, 2 Kay Karssemakers 362, 3 Cas Valk 339, 4 Zanchi 312, 5 Lata 277… 31 Brookes 19… 39 Gwyther 10… 41 Askew 8… 43 Cole McCullough 8… 44 Mustoe 7… 51 Alfie Jones 5…

EMX125

Final Series Standings

1 Reisulis 413, 2 Mathis Valin 353, 3 Werner 286, 4 Vitezslav Marek 254, 5 Elias Escandell 244… 19 McCullough 52, 38 Colmer 11… 53 Vail 4…

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