Gajser extends championship lead to 73-points after MXGP of France

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser increased his lead in the 2022 MXGP championship by seven-points after a strong, charging performance at the Ernee circuit in northwest France. The weather on Sunday was much better than Saturday and that allowed the Honda CRF450R to sweep through the field and match the points-tally of the third-placed rider.

After Saturday’s qualification, Gajser was given 22^nd gate-pick and although the Ernee start is a bit more wide-open than other tracks, he still wasn’t able to overcome that disadvantage and get through the first corner cleanly. Instead, he had to remount in 16^th place after being collected up in a multi-rider pile-up. Putting his head down, he was soon inside the top 10 and moving forward almost every lap. With a quarter of the race left, he was closing in on the top three and given the speed he was carrying, he would have made those passes. Unfortunately, a small tip-over cost him valuable time and he instead had to settle for fifth.

Race two was a little better as he stayed upright but he was still in around 15^th place as they rounded the first corner. However, on lap one, he was able to make a lot of passes and crossed the line in eighth place. Once again, he moved his way through the field, posting the fastest laptime of the race in the process and was soon challenging again for the podium spots, only to make a similar tip-over which cost him time and the chance of a race and overall podium spot. Instead, he finished with 34-points, joint-third but losing out on the second moto tie-breaker. However, it was still seven more than his nearest championship rival so his lead has gone back up to 73.

In what is becoming a frustrating pattern, Mitch Evan’s results aren’t matching the speed and effort that he is putting into the races. Like Gajser, he was starting from way outside and was involved in the same pile-up, but unfortunately with more severe consequences. The Australian almost crashed through the fence around the edge of the first bend, taking him some time to even get back to his bike and remount. This left him in last place and little chance to make any impact in the race, however he was able to salvage some pride, by sticking with the leaders after they came through to lap him. For the last quarter of the race, he stayed right behind positions one and two, matching laptimes and showing the huge French crowd his speed was as good as anyone’s.

The second moto started off a lot better, but then he was involved in a crash at the end of lap two, dropping him down to 16^th. He fought back to 10^th place but it still isn’t a fair reflection of just what the #43 is capable of onboard his Honda CRF450R.

Next week on May 11-12 is the familiar track of Teutschenthal, Germany in what is the third race in three weeks before the trip to Indonesia. Gajser won the overall there last year, so he is excited to get back to winning ways once again in 2022 and keep extending his MXGP championship lead.