Report: World Motocross Championships - Rd 4, Argentina
By Alex Hodgkinson on 13th Apr 16
It was a battle-weary quartet of Brits who headed for the plane out of Argentina on Monday - and world MXGP leader Romain Febvre also had plenty to think about as Tim Gajser closed to within three points after his second overseas win of the year.Jeffrey Herlings - naturally - keeps on winning in MX2.
Max Anstie's first-moto second place in MX2 was the one bright moment for the Brits as Ben Watson's weekend ended during warm-up with three broken bones in his left instep, Tommy Searle's GP ended with blood streaming down his front and Shaun Simpson lost top-six late on when he flew over the bars.
Anstie shot out of the gate in the MX2 opener to lead Herlings for a lap-and-a-half.
He said: "My Nations injury meant I couldn't test much during the winter and I used Thomas Covington's settings at the first few GPs.
"We're making progress now and those first few laps were fun.”
Once in front Herlings cleared off to win by 35 seconds as Anstie settled for a safe second, admitting afterwards that he is still getting used to the bike.
The action was hectic in his wake.
Jeremy Seewer went into turn one last and Benoit Paturel was left picking up his bike halfway down the straight, after Samuele Bernardini cut across his neighbour out of the gate and started a domino effect.
But Seewer's series ranking was soon improved dramatically as points rival Pauls Jonass had a big crash. The Latvian had already slit open his chin on Saturday and the latest crash left him badly shaken as the neckbrace reopened the wound.
Seewer eventually made it up to fourth while Covington, who held the place for half the race, slipped back to 10th.
Herlings quickly disposed of Tonkov in race two to clear off and immediately headed for the airport after the podium.
"I've got a flight tonight,” he said.
"It's a long way but I get three nights in my own bed and can train.”
Anstie was on a mission again as he battled with Tonkov and Jonass for second but no sooner had the Brit made the position safe he was out of the race.
"I'd just gone over the big double and it cut out,” he said. "That's a shame – I felt ready to chase after Jeffrey until then.”
A dizzy Jonass slackened his pace soon after but Tonkov's second was still not safe, as Seewer pushed up the leaderboard from a much better start to snatch his third podium in a row and a clear 21-point lead in the battle for series silver.
But the unbeaten Herlings is already 48 clear.
Max Nagl's starts have been pretty sketchy of late but he nailed the holeshot in the opener, even if Tony Cairoli had a better exit to turn one to move briefly in front.
"I'm gradually getting over my injuries,” explained the Italian.
"But I am still struggling for race pace, particularly in the early laps.”
Nagl was in a determined mood though.
"I knew I had to get Tony quickly and shake him off, then I could ride my own lines. But I could never relax because Tony, Tim and Bobby were pushing right to the end.”
Bobryshev also moved past Cairoli early on but the Russian was down to fourth at the finish as Gajser, recovering from a mid-pack start, nailed third five laps from the end.
Febvre was even further back after the front wheel came up at the gate and the champion was only sixth at the finish.
Shaun Simpson finished eighth, a position he held almost the entire race.
"It's not really my sort of track,” explained the Scot. "But I got stronger every session as the track got rougher.”
Two places further back was a frustrated Tommy Searle.
"I can run the same lap times as the leaders in traffic but that's no good if I can't get a start,” he said.
"I've already used so much energy just to catch up to the top 10.”
It was again Nagl in front down the start straight in race two but the German threw away the holeshot award this time after leaving his braking too late and letting half-a-dozen riders slip inside.
Gajser was one and, after briefly losing a place to Cairoli, he was soon in command. Febvre was able to get back to third after a first lap slip but the gap at the head of the table is now a mere three points Gajser is oozing confidence. "Now we go to Mexico – I won my first GP there two years ago!”
After getting back to third by lap seven, Nagl was content to let the Yamahas go as they encountered lappers.
"The track was getting pretty sketchy by the end of the day and I wanted to go home in one piece,” he said.
Both Brits fell victim. Searle was the first to go with his race shirt soaked in blood.
"My mistake,” he said, "I landed full force on my face – I thought my nose was broken at first and I was too dizzy to carry on.”
Simpson was headed for top six in moto and overall as his weekend continued to progress but he ended up going over the bars and off the track after clicking neutral.
Next stop Mexico!
WORLD MX2 CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Neuquen, Patagonia, ARGENTINA
1 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - Red Bull Factory KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Jeremy Seewer (CH - Suzuki World MX2) 18 + 22 = 40
3 Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS - Wilvo Standing Yam) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Samuele Bernardini (I - Factory TM) 16 + 15 = 31
5 Petar Petrov (BUL - Monster Kawasaki) 15 + 13 = 28
6 Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS - Monster DRT Kaw) 13 + 12 = 25
7 Benoit Paturel (F - Kemea Yamalube Yamaha) 8 + 16 = 24
8 Thomas Covington (US - Rockstar Factory Husky) 11 + 11 = 22
9 Calvin Vlaanderen (NL - HSF Logistics KTM) 14 + 8 = 22
10 Max ANSTIE (GB - Rockstar Factory Husky) 22 + 0 = 22
11 Roberts Justs (LAT - HSF Logistics KTM) 7+14=21, 12 Jorge Zaragoza (E - Gariboldi Honda) 12+9=21, 13 Pauls Jonass (LAT - Red Bull Factory KTM) 0+18=18, 14 Davy Pootjes (NL - Red Bull Factory KTM) 5+10=15, 15 Henry Jacobi (D - JTech Honda) 6+7=13, 16 Damon Graulus (B - JTech Honda) 9+3=12, 17 Christopher Valente (CH - Marchetti KTM) 4+6=10, 18 Alvin Ostlund (S - Wilvo Standing Yamaha) 10+0=10, 19 Victor Garrido (ARG - Yamaha) 3+5=8, 20 Javier Vasquez (CHL - Honda) 1+4=5, 21 Igniacio Toya (ARG - Honda) 0+2=2, 22 Nahuel Kriger (ARG - Suzuki) 2+0=2, 23 Felipe Danke (CHL - Kawasaki) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Herlings, 2 ANSTIE, 3 Tonkov, 4 Seewer, 5 Bernardini, 6 Petrov, 7 Vlaanderen, 8 Brylyakov, 9 Zaragoza, 10 Covington, 11 Ostlund, 12 Graulus, 13 Paturel, 14 Justs, 15 Jacobi, 16 Pootjes, 17 Valente, 18 Garrido, 19 Kriger, 20 Vasquez.
RACE TWO: 1 Herlings, 2 Seewer, 3 Tonkov, 4 Jonass, 5 Paturel, 6 Bernardini, 7 Justs, 8 Petrov, 9 Brylyakov, 10 Covington, 11 Pootjes, 12 Zaragoza, 13 Vlaanderen, 14 Jacobi, 15 Valente, 16 Garrido, 17 Vasquez, 18 Graulus, 19 Toya, 20 Danke.
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 18) rounds: 1 Herlings 200 points, 2 Seewer 152, 3 Tonkov 131, 4 Jonass 130, 5 Petrov 104, 6 Paturel 99, 7 Bernardini 91, 8 Brylyakov 84, 9 Van Doninck 78, 10 Ostlund 70, 11 ANSTIE 57, 12 Zaragoza 56, 13 Justs 55, 14 Covington 54, 15 Ferrandis 44, 16 WATSON 39, 17 Vlaanderen 38, 18 Pootjes 36, 19 Graulus 36, 20 Getteman 32,...
WORLD MXGP MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Neuquen, Patagonia, ARGENTINA
1 Tim Gajser (SLO - Gariboldi Honda) 20 + 25 = 45
2 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull Factory KTM) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Maximilian Nagl (S - Rockstar Factory Husky) 25 + 16 = 41
4 Romain Febvre (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 15 + 20 = 35
5 Jeremy V Horebeek (B - Monster Factory Yam) 16 + 18 = 34
6 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Red Bull Factory KTM) 12 + 15 = 27
7 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - HRC Honda) 18 + 9 = 27
8 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Wilvo Virus KTM) 13 + 12 = 25
9 Kevin Strijbos (B - Team Suzuki World) 10 + 14 = 24
10 Clement Desalle (B - Monster Energy Kaw) 14 + 10 = 24
11 Valentin Guillod (CH - Kemea Yamalube Yamaha) 8+13=21, 12 Christophe Charlier (F - Rockstar Factory Husqvarna) 9+11=20, 13 Milko Potisek (F - Tip Top MP32 Yamaha) 7+8=15, 14 Steven Lenoir (F - 24MX Lucas Honda) 6+7=13, 15 Tommy SEARLE (GB - Monster DRT Kawasaki) 11+0=11, 16 Jose Butron (E - Marchetti KTM) 5+5=10, 17 Alessandro Lupino (I - Red Moto Honda) 3+6=9, 18 Kei Yamamoto (J - Red Assomotor Honda) 4+4=8, 19 Ezequiel Fanello (ARG - Yamaha) 2+2=4, 20 Marcos Trossero (ARG - Yamaha) 0+3=3, 21 Nicolas Carranza (ARG - Honda) 0+1=1, 22 Marco Schmit (ARG - Yamaha) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Nagl, 2 Cairoli, 3 Gajser, 4 Bobryshev, 5 Van Horebeek, 6 Febvre, 7 Desalle, 8 SIMPSON, 9 Coldenhoff, 10 SEARLE, 11 Strijbos, 12 Charlier, 13 Guillod, 14 Potisek, 15 Lenoir, 16 Butron, 17 Yamamoto, 18 Lupino, 19 Fanello, 20 Schmit.
RACE TWO: 1 Gajser, 2 Cairoli, 3 Febvre, 4 Van Horebeek, 5 Nagl, 6 Coldenhoff, 7 Strijbos, 8 Guillod, 9 SIMPSON, 10 Charlier, 11 Desalle, 12 Bobryshev, 13 Potisek, 14 Lenoir, 15 Lupino, 16 Butron, 17 Yamamoto, 18 Trossero, 19 Fanello, 20 Carranza.
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 18) rounds: 1 Febvre 172 points, 2 Gajser 169, 3 Cairoli 144, 4 Van Horebeek 138, 5 Bobryshev 134, 6 Nagl 125, 7 SIMPSON 105, 8 Strijbos 103, 9 Coldenhoff 82, 10 SEARLE 74, 11 Guillod 72, 12 Charlier 55, 13 Townley 49, 14 Butron 49, 15 Desalle 47, 16 Potisek 44, 17 Leok 40, 18 Paulin 37, 19 Lupino 37, 20 Lenoir 19, 21 Yamamoto 19, 22 Kullas 14, 23 Krestinov 8, 24 Philippaerts 7, 25 Dewulf 6,... 27 NICHOLLS 3,... 29 SNOW 3,...
n NEXT ROUND: April 17 – Leon, MEXICO
