Teutschenthal torment
By TMX Archives on 24th Jun 15
Max Anstie swept to an overwhelming gate-to-flag victory in the second MX2 moto at a treacherous Teutschenthal to finish runner-up on the day while Steven Clarke topped the EMX250 to forget his early season woes.
But the news of weekend winners was overshadowed by injuries to world leaders Max Nagl and Jeffrey Herlings.
French Yamaha rookie Romain Febvre sensationally snatched the MXGP red plate as he swept to his third consecutive GP win while Tim Gajser recorded back-to-back wins in MX2 in the week he finished school.
However, the cool Febvre was the first to warn against over-confidence. "It's been another wonderful weekend but I'm not going to let the red plate go to my head – there's another 400 points up for grabs and a long way to go!”
Shaun Simpson retained his seventh ranking in MXGP with the same result in the GP while Ben Watson ground out two more scores and Adam Sterry dismissed his wrist injury to remain just nine points off the pace in EMX2.
Anstie was on the pace all weekend but appalling starts proved costly in both qualification and race one as he had to come back more than 10 places each time for sixth and eighth.
With the holeshot award tucked into his vest the mighty Max devastated the opposition in MX2 race two. "It's amazing the difference a start can make. Everyone in MX2 is so fast and it makes life difficult if you get a bad start like I did in race one. Race two was just so nice with a clear track all the way. Tim stayed close but I was determined not to lose this one in the last two laps like I did at Matterley.”
Conditions had been treacherously slippery for the MX2 opener and Herlings didn't even make turn two before his weekend racing ended with a broken collarbone but up front Aleksandr Tonkov and Gajser were trading blows until the Russian crashed off track with a dislocated shoulder on lap four.
Gajser was able to control the chasing Jordi Tixier with ease and the champion eventually fell victim to a hard-charging Valentin Guillod three from the end. "I was struggling in the first few laps on the slippery surface but I got it together in the end,” grinned Guillod as he crossed the line just two seconds down on Gajser.
Indeed, Guillod had even lost a place early on to compatriot Jeremy Seewer but the Suzuki ended up in the haybales after demolishing a trackside banner to lose nearly a lap before charging back to 12th.
The second moto started sensationally with Guillod, Tixier and Petar Petrov stuck in the gate – but there was no restart. "I think I'm going to have to forget the rolling starts,” admitted Guillod sheepishly post-race. What he didn't know is that the FIM had purposely held the gate two seconds longer to teach the rollers a lesson!
With Anstie out front all moto, Gajser needed four laps to depose Julien Lieber from second. He kept Anstie honest for many laps but eventually came home 10 seconds down. "Max and I had the same pace so I settled for second and the GP win in the end. But this week has been so much fun. Two GP wins, I passed my driving test, and I finished school on Thursday.”
Ben Watson had a long hard ride from dead last to 19th after landing in the fence on the opening lap of racing and followed it up with a race two 15th after a race-long battle with Brent Van Doninck.
FOR FUL REPORT & PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, JUNE 25, (ISSUE 1977)
