Gajser wins in the deep sand of Lommel to set more records

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser became the first Honda rider to win the MXGP class at the toughest GP of the year in the deep sand of Lommel, Belgium. Known throughout the world as a brutal test of both man and machine, Gajser put his Honda CRF450RW exactly where it needed to be in both races, starting out front before securing two comfortable second place finishes which was good enough for his ninth MXGP overall of the season.

With the championship title becoming a bigger and bigger focus, Gajser entered this race not needing to push for the win, but rather to try and minimise any mistakes and survive the treacherous sand on the Lommel circuit. However, helped by two great starts, he was able to get out front and push early on in the race to try and break away from the pack and while he wasn’t able to win, he was comfortably ahead of third in both races. As others struggled to stay upright, he rode two extremely smooth races to take a deserved victory and extend his points lead at the top of the MXGP championship to 187 with just 200 points remaining. This means that he heads to Imola with the championship crown well within reach and after taking victory in these sandy conditions, no one can argue that he has been the best 450cc rider in the 2019 world motocross championship.

Team mate Brian Bogers wasn’t quite able to achieve his goal of two top 10 finishes as a crash at a crucial time robbed him of that opportunity in first moto. After a tough start to the race, he came through the field and was approaching 10^th place when a crash dropped him back outside the top 20. He then fought his way through the field again but could only manage to get up to 15^th in the tough conditions. Then another tough opening lap in race two saw him in 12^th place before progressing up to ninth over the next few laps. Despite a small tip-over late in the race, he maintained that position which was good enough for 13^th overall, just five points off the top 10.

Gajser and Bogers now have a weekend away from the series in order to prepare for round 15 at the famous racing circuit of Imola, Italy. Introduced to the world championships last year, it provided another different challenge for the riders and with its close proximity to Slovenia, there is expected to be a lot of Gajser fans making the trip in order to cheer their hero on to a third world championship when the gate drops on August 24-25.