Red plate holder Gajser is ready for the deep sands of Lommel
After conquering the toughest motocross race on the planet last year, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser heads to Lommel, Belgium once again, this time prepared for three rounds in the deep sand-track close to the Dutch border.
His victory in the 2019 MXGP of Belgium (one of his nine overall wins last year) was a milestone event for the Slovenian rider as he showed the world just how far his sand riding had progressed. Known in his early-career as a hard-pack rider, the two-two results for first place was a culmination of months and months of training in sand and a just-reward for all that effort he put in. He since showed at Valkenswaard in March this year that he still improving, going one-two in the horrible conditions there, confirming he can win on his Honda CRF450RW anywhere.
Now, with six rounds left, three in Lommel and three in Trentino (another venue where the Team HRC rider has won) and with a 24-point lead in the championship, this coming month of racing represents a really good chance for Gajser to win his third MXGP world championship.
Unfortunately, teammate Mitch Evans won’t be racing in Lommel after the injuries he sustained at the previous round in Spain have now ruled him out. Evans travelled back to Italy to see a specialist in Milan on Monday, where he had surgery on his fractured left wrist. The procedure was a complete success, but during the examination, it was also found that Evans broke six ribs in the incident. It is disappointing news for the Honda CRF450RW rider, who was showing good speed and was running in fourth place when he flat-landed on one of the big double-jumps at the Arroyomolinos circuit, but now he must stay off the bike in order to let his body recover from the injuries.
Like previous triple-headers, Gajser will be racing on Sunday 18th, Wednesday 21st and Sunday 25th October with everything taking place in a one-day format once again. It isn’t a schedule that the #243 prefers but he has been able to adapt well to it so far this year, winning plenty of qualifying sessions and races on his way to taking the championship leading red-plate.
Tim Gajser 243
Coming into the year, you always look at when Lommel is taking place because it is probably the toughest race in our calendar so to have three rounds there is going to be a challenge for everybody. I am really looking forward to it though, because I am confident in my fitness and my speed and I think I have showed everyone that I am fast in the sand and can win events here. However, my main focus is to go and have fun and if I can do that, I know my results will be good. I would also just like to say ‘get well soon’ to my friend Mitch. He’s been looking really good recently and it was a shame that he can’t race here with us, so I hope his recovery goes well.
Mitch Evans 43
I’m disappointed to be missing these next races as I really felt like I was starting to show my best form. I’d been getting better and better since the restart and I was running up the front when the incident happened in Spain. Now, my focus is on getting fit and healthy and making sure that when I come back, I’ll be able to show everyone what I’m capable of. A big thanks to the team for all their support and to all the fans who have wished me well.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
The Spain weekend was almost a strange experience, being in and out of the venue so quickly and only having one day of actual riding, compared with these triple-headers which have been 10 days at a venue with three days of riding. However, Tim once again showed the right mentality in the racing, pushing when he needed to and securing valuable points in the championship battle. While we only go to two more tracks, there are still a lot of points still to play for so we are still working hard to make sure everything is right for Lommel this week. Unfortunately Mitch won’t be riding here but we saw how well he came back from his shoulder injury so we are all confident he’ll be back up to speed soon and once again battling with the best in this MXGP class.
Rider standings
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Location Information
Dodenveldstraat, 3900 Overpelt, Belgium - View in Google Maps
