Red-plate still in Gajser’s hands after MXGP of West Nusa Tenggara

MXGP

In hot and sticky conditions on the Indonesian island of Lombok, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser narrowly missed out on the podium at the Mataram track, but still retains a healthy lead in the 2024 MXGP World Championship.

Gajser’s three-five results saw him miss out on third place due to the second-moto tie-breaker, in what was a tough day of racing for the five-time world champion. After a third in yesterday’s qualification race, he used his third gate-pick to excellent advantage, starting well in both races, including a race two holeshot. However, on what was a difficult track, the Slovenian was unable to capitalise as much as he would have liked and instead leaves the circuit ruing what might have been.

In a largely uneventful race one, Gajser held onto a third place, comfortably ahead of P4 but not quite being able to stay in touch with the leaders. Although this lonely race did allow him to save some energy for the second moto where the #243 looked much more positive.

After the holeshot, he did run a little wide and that allowed two riders through, but he soon got back into second place and started stalking the leader. A mistake then allowed him through to first position but as the sun became a problem, the bumpy terrain started causing some issues and he made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes. As he crossed the line in fifth place, his 36-point tally wasn’t quite good enough for the podium, but he does have a 22-point advantage in the standings which he takes into next weekend, when the series returns to the Mataram circuit for the second of the two rounds to be held here, but on what is said to be a changed layout.

MX2

Ferruccio Zanchi fought hard in the second moto, to put a difficult race one behind him and bounce-back for an eighth-place finish, giving him 10^th overall on the weekend. On what was a tricky track, race one didn’t get off to a great start as a crash on the first lap dropped him to 20^th place, way behind the rest of the field. Putting his head down, he was able to make it back to 14^th but it was a lot of effort in the high temperatures at this Lombok circuit.

Knowing that he needed a better start in race two, he very nearly got the holeshot around the outside and slotted himself into fourth place. Running the same pace as the leaders for the five four laps, the youngster looked the part as he navigated a heavily watered race-track. As time went on, he did gradually slip down the field as the vastly more experienced riders made their way past, but he still ended up in a highly respectable eighth place, giving him a lot of confidence he can do the same next weekend at the same venue.

Race 1
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 35:10.052; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:02.638; 3. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:11.678; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:19.781; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:23.319; 6. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:36.206; 7. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:39.953; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:56.497; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:26.088; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:29.423;… 14. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:47.748;

Race 2
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 35:20.858; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:00.745; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:21.415; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:25.768; 5. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:36.271; 6. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:38.050; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:41.968; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:09.094; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:16.687; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:20.622;

Overall
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 50 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 42 p.; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 36 p.; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 32 p.; 7. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 30 p.; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 25 p.; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 22 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 20 p.;