Gajser battles hard to keep himself in the MXGP championship fight

In difficult conditions at the MXGP of Sardegna, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser fought for every single position in his two motos, eventually scoring 15 valuable points as he now sits just one behind the championship leader with eight rounds still to ride.

Coming into this weekend, a crash whilst practicing last week meant he was arriving in Sardinia nursing an injury, which would temper any expectations for what turned out to be the toughest test on this year’s calendar. The hot weather combined with the rough, deep sand of Riola Sardo were not the conditions the reigning MXGP champion was hoping for, but he was determined to do his best and not give up his red plate without a fight.

After a disjointed practice session, Gajser would only have 18^th gate pick, which meant that he’d be starting from the outside on this updated Riola start-straight. This proved to be his downfall in the opening race as another rider crashed around the first bend and the Slovenian had nowhere to go, tipping over in the melee. As he got back on his bike, the rest of the field had all but disappeared and a difficult job became a lot harder. Like always though, he kept pushing throughout the entire race, always gaining on the 20^th placed rider where he would begin scoring points. As the laps ticked down, he finally moved into 19^th position, to give him two points.

A much better gate-drop in race two meant that he was just outside the top 10 as they rounded the first bend, already giving the Honda CRF450RW a boost of confidence that he could limit too much further damage. Riding in pain, but feeling physically fit, he began picking off the riders in front of him, moving through into 8^th position in what was an amazing effort in such treacherous terrain.

The 13 points in race two meant that he now enters the weekend-off with just a one-point deficit, still keeping him very much in this extremely close title hunt. With 14 days until the MXGP of Germany, Gajser will be doing everything possible to regain his fitness and to make sure that he is back battling at the front of the field on a Teutschenthal track that he very much favours.