Gajser leaves Lommel in commanding championship position

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser heads into the final four rounds of the season with a commanding 122-point lead, after a tough day at the office in the deep sands of Lommel. His seven-seven moto scores weren’t what he was looking for, especially after qualifying in second place yesterday, but in extremely difficult conditions the #243 kept the championship in mind to race solidly for seventh overall.

With temperatures around 30C, the MXGP of Flanders was always going to test the riders, and combined with the typical Lommel deep-sand, the motos were all about getting through the 30 minutes plus two. Having won here three times in the past, Gajser was hoping to add to that number and with second gate-pick, he then gave himself a good chance in both races with two top five starts. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t find good lines to negotiate the deep holes and bumps, and realised early-on that it would be damage-limitation mode. Keeping fairly consistent laptimes, the Slovenian did his best to avoid any major mistakes and managed to cross the line in seventh place.

Hoping for better in race two, another good start saw him challenging for the top three positions. However, a small mistake in the rhythm section dropped him a couple of positions and from then on, he once again tried to minimise any errors and just ride out the moto, knowing that he was still in a very strong position in the championship.

Teammate Mitch Evans wasn’t able to complete the first moto today, as the repercussions from his nasty qualification race crash forced him to retire after 15 minutes. Knowing that things would only get worse if he tried to line-up in race two, the Australian decided to sit-out and give his body some much-needed rest, in order to start the recovery so he can be ready for the next round in Sweden on August 6-7.

Making a return to the calendar after missing the last two seasons, Uddevalla is always a popular event and with the weekend off, both Gajser and Evans will look to get back to their pre-Lommel form, where the pair were challenging at the very front of the field. The cancellation of the MXGP of Oman, means there are now just four rounds remaining, with Sweden, Finland and France in back-to-back weekends before the series finale in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey on September 3-4.