Top five for Gajser in Dutch qualifying

MXGP
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser fought through the pack to finish fifth in the MXGP of the Netherlands qualification race, held at the sand track of Arnhem. After a second-place in timed practice, the Slovenian was in high hopes heading into the qualification race, but he wasn’t able to get a good enough start around the tight left-hander and instead had to come through from outside the top 10.

Motivated to show everyone his sand skills, the Honda CRF450R rider immediately looked more comfortable than the last time on the soft-stuff in Lommel, Belgium and put in some really fast laps in free and timed practice. One of those was good enough for second gate-pick heading into the qualification race, with the hope to challenge at the front of the field and keep his good run of Saturday results going.

Unfortunately, after fighting up to ninth by the time they rounded the first lap, he gave himself too much to do to get up to the leaders and although he overtook some high-quality riders, he had to settle for fifth by the time he received the chequered flag. It was still a decent result for the championship and he still leads the series by 15 points, but he’ll be hoping to be closer to the podium positions tomorrow when the GP-scoring motos take place.

MX2
After an excellent eighth in timed practice, Team HRC’s Ferruccio Zanchi was victim to some first lap craziness which dropped him well down the field on the first lap. As the young Italian tried to get himself into the top 20, he unfortunately had a crash that ended his involvement in the race and as such, he’ll be lining up in last position for the two races tomorrow.

It isn’t an ideal situation, but he is motivated to see what he can achieve given the difficulty he faces in the first few corners.

1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), 25:07.407; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:21.785; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:23.132; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:30.792; 5. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:31.808; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:34.441; 7. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:42.345; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:44.593; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:55.567; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:59.560; … 36. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), -9 lap(s);