Strong second for Gajser, strengthens championship lead after MXGP of Lombok

MXGP
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser continued his high level of performance, by reeling off a pair of second-place finishes, giving him second overall at the MXGP of Lombok and increasing his lead at the top of the 2024 MXGP World Championship back to 34-points – the same margin as when he arrived on Indonesian shores before the previous round.

After his holeshot in the qualification race yesterday, the Honda CRF450R rider made it three holeshots out of three, with two more excellent starts today, giving him perfect track position for this reversed-circuit layout at the old Mataram airport.

In the first race, he was able to lead the majority of the race, but was never able to pull a convincing gap ahead of second place, and as a result, after a couple of small errors, he had to concede the lead with five laps remaining. It was still a good result as he gained more points in the all-important championship battle.

Like race one, he grabbed the holeshot in race two but this time wasn’t able to hold onto the advantage for too long and instead settled in behind the leader, watching and waiting to make his move. Keeping the gap under three seconds, and even closing right up to under a second, the #243 tried his best to make the pass, but on the tricky terrain, he eventually decided that it was better to come home safely in second than to perform a high-risk manoeuvre. That position was still six-points ahead of his nearest championship rival, moving the gap back to 34-points with eight rounds remaining.

Next up is the MXGP of Czech Republic, held at the historic Loket track which is known for it’s hard-pack surface on hilly terrain. It is a track that Gajser has never won on, but given the way he is performing this year, he will enter into the weekend looking to right that wrong.

MX2
Both races for Team HRC’s Ferruccio Zanchi followed an unfortunate pattern as a first lap mistake saw him remount at the back of the field, giving him a mountain of work to come back through the field in high temperatures on a tricky Mataram circuit. In the first race, the #73 did exceedingly well to fight his way all the way up to ninth place, passing a lot of riders to get himself into the top 10.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do quite as well in race two, and could only get back to 16^th, which gave him 12^th overall on the weekend. They weren’t the results he was looking for, but given that he has never raced in this country, or in conditions like this, he can be proud of his efforts and know that his speed is good and that if he cuts out those small mistakes, he can score decent points.

Race 1
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 33:56.609; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:04.273; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:05.096; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:12.029; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:20.389; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:53.457; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:56.826; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:08.826; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:11.541; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:14.062;

Race 2
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 34:51.702; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:04.910; 3. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:05.658; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:19.113; 5. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:26.015; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:58.445; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +1:03.411; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:08.121; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:10.631; 10. David Braceras (ESP, Fantic), +1:24.547;… 16. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), -1 lap(s);

Overall
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 50 points; 2. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 38 p.; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 38 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 37 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 35 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 26 p.; 8. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 20 p.;… 12. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 17 p.;