Race Report

HRC’s Tim Gajser wins again

16 Jun 2019

GP of Latvia

Kegums, Latvia

MXGP 2019, Round 9

This weekend the 2019 World Motocross Championship stopped off for round nine at the central Latvian locality of Kegums.

Situated 50km south-east of the capital city Riga, the sandy Kegums circuit sits close to the banks of the Daugava River which flows from Russia’s Valdai Hills into the Gulf of Riga and onto the notorious Baltic Sea.

In the MXGP class it was HRC’s Tim Gajser who once again topped the podium, overcoming a tough qualifying race on Saturday to take the overall win and a 30-point advantage in the championship. Tim keeps hold of the leader’s red plate for another weekend.

In the MX2 class Honda 114 Motorsports Mitch Evans and Zach Pichon had a tough day out with battles through the pack and crashes spoiling their obvious potential. Meanwhile, Team Honda RedMoto Assomotor’s Stephen Rubini finished the day in fourth overall in the EMX250 class – only two point adrift of a second place.

The next stop on the GP tour takes us to the Saxonian town of Teutschenthal, Eastern Germany in one week’s time when all Honda riders are hoping to improve on the their performances and results.

Gajser_Kegums_©hondaproracing_@shotbybavo_13

Images are copyright free for editorial use. Honda Pro Racing/@ShotbyBavo

Gajser_Kegums_©hondaproracing_@shotbybavo_15

Images are copyright free for editorial use. Honda Pro Racing/@ShotbyBavo

Tim Gajser ²⁴³

I’m really happy because I really didn’t expect this after yesterday’s performance. I had 18th gate pick after a horrible crash and I wasn’t feeling great in that first moto today either. I couldn’t find good lines or a good rhythm so I was only able to finish sixth. In the second race I had an even better start and although it took a few laps, I passed my way into the lead with about 10 minutes remaining. I’m really happy to win another overall and a big thanks to all of the team who work so hard, because that hard work is really paying off so a big thanks to everyone. Still there are a lot of races to go so I will continue to go into each GP trying to have fun, giving my best and hoping to come out on top and remain leading this MXGP championship.

Team HRC – MXGP

Mitchell Evans ⁴³

It was a tough day today. I had a decent start in race one from a pretty poor gate choice and made my way forward into ninth place. After my qualifying race crash I didn’t really gel with the track and struggled to find my flow but I was quite happy with race one. I didn’t get a great start in race two and was battling through the pack and then had a pretty big crash again. Then after the crash I was riding in fear of crashing again. It was a tough race and a tough weekend. I’ll rest up this week and come back swinging in Teutschenthal.

Team Honda 114 Motorsports

Brent Van Doninck ³²

I have some mixed feelings about the weekend. I wasn’t feeling 100% because I got a little bit sick on Friday night so I felt like my energy tank was empty. I think my riding was pretty good though, it’s just the overall result I’m not so happy with. I can do better. I’m 11th overall now, but I think I can push up to 7th in the championship. I’m hoping for a good result in Germany next weekend.

Honda RedMoto Assomotor

Stephen Rubini ¹¹⁸

I came here with the red plate so the weekend was a little bit stressful for me.

The weekend started with second place in free practice, but I made a few mistakes in timed practice and finished in 7th. I took some bad starts in the races but tried to push hard until the end. I got really bad blisters on my hands because my ankle injury has kept me away from bike training, so the skin softens. Fifth in race one was OK, but someone crashed in-front of me at the start of race two so I had to push hard again to finish third. I lost the red plate, but I have the same points as my main rival, so it’s still OK for the championship. We have three races left so we’ll all work hard to win.

Team Honda RedMoto Assomotor

Gordon Crockard

Honda Europe Off-Road Manager

We came into Latvia with a two-point lead in the EMX250 championship. Stephen is now tied on championship lead points, but it’s still been a good weekend to be in the hunt for the EMX250 title.

Josh Gilbert has jumped up two places and is now in eighth position in the championship and it’s good to see that progression and reward for his hard work.

Mathys Boisrame showed good lap times and speed in many of the on-track sessions this weekend and had his season best qualification. In race one he was in third place but another rider crashed and brought him to the ground, which was a real shame because he was showing that he could ride within the top five. Then later in the race he crashed in the wave section, which also claimed a lot of riders this weekend.

Brent Van doninck had a good weekend. He had some good speed and was running at a top-ten pace. Mitch Evans had some crashes this weekend and he’ll be glad to leave here and start to focus on the next race in Germany. The same goes for Zach Pichon who also had some crashes, so he’ll be looking forward to putting this behind him and moving onto the next race.

In MXGP Honda had a great result with Tim Gajser wining the overall and expanding his championship lead which his really positive. Jeremy van Horebeek rejoined the top-five and showed some quality riding this weekend.

Honda Motor Europe

16 Jun 2019

GP of Latvia

Kegums, Latvia

MXGP 2019, Round 9

Cloudy / 23

Sunday 16 Jun 2019, 14:57 UTC

Track Condition: Sandy
Air Temp: 23°C

#	Rider	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Tim Gajser	243	SLO	25	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda	35.56.037
2	Romain Febvre	461	FRA	22	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha	+2.189
3	Jeremy Seewer	91	SWI	20	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha	+2.738
4	Arnaud Tonus	4	SWI	18	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha	+15.871
5	Jeremy Van Horebeek	89	BEL	16	Honda SR Motoblouz	Honda	+22.078
6	Pauls Jonass	41	LAT	15	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna	+26.723
7	Arminas Jasikonis	27	LTU	14	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna	+30.127
8	Glenn Coldenhoff	259	NDL	13	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+32.947
9	Julien Lieber	33	BEL	12	Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing	Kawasaki	+39.120
10	Ivo Monticelli	128	ITA	11	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+46.611
11	Gautier Paulin	21	FRA	10	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha	+56.344
12	Brian Bogers	189	NDL	9	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda	+1.05.661
13	Max Anstie	99	GBR	8	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+1.11.212
14	Jordi Tixier	911	FRA	7	Team VHR	KTM	+1.15.126
15	Tanel Leok	7	EST	6	A1M Husqvarna	Husqvarna	+1.42.754
16	Vsevolod Brylyakov	18	RUS	5	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+1.44.861
17	Sven Van Der Mierden	94	NDL	4	Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+1.53.304
18	Gert Krestinov	37	EST	3	Wildcard Rider	Kawasaki	+1.57.826
19	Anton Gole	297	SWE	2	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+2.00.154
20	Harri Kullas	151	EST	1	Wildcard Rider	Honda	++1 Lap

Cloudy / 23

Sunday 16 Jun 2019, 12:12 UTC

Track Condition: Sandy
Air Temp: 23°C

#	Rider	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Jeffrey Herlings	84	NDL	25	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	34.02.925
2	Arnaud Tonus	4	SWI	22	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha	+1.599
3	Antonio Cairoli	222	ITA	20	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+12.059
4	Romain Febvre	461	FRA	18	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha	+14.205
5	Jeremy Seewer	91	SWI	16	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha	+15.980
6	Tim Gajser	243	SLO	15	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda	+17.943
7	Jeremy Van Horebeek	89	BEL	14	Honda SR Motoblouz	Honda	+24.661
8	Gautier Paulin	21	FRA	13	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha	+26.842
9	Max Anstie	99	GBR	12	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+27.942
10	Ivo Monticelli	128	ITA	11	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+34.864
11	Tommy Searle	100	GBR	10	BOS GP	Kawasaki	+46.802
12	Glenn Coldenhoff	259	NDL	9	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+47.516
13	Jordi Tixier	911	FRA	8	Team VHR	KTM	+51.610
14	Tanel Leok	7	EST	7	A1M Husqvarna	Husqvarna	+1.17.354
15	Petar Petrov	152	BUL	6	North Europe Racing	KTM	+1.19.403
16	Micha-Boy De Waal	34	NDL	5	Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+1.20.884
17	Pauls Jonass	41	LAT	4	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna	+1.23.358
18	Brian Bogers	189	NDL	3	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda	+1.29.178
19	Kevin Strijbos	22	BEL	2	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+1.37.322
20	Sven Van Der Mierden	94	NDL	1	Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+1.39.694

Sunny / 25

Saturday 15 Jun 2019, 17:22 UTC

Track Condition: Sandy
Air Temp: 25°C

#	Rider	Num	Nationality Nat.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Jeffrey Herlings	84	NDL	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	24:36.646
2	Arminas Jasikonis	27	LTU	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna	+4.138
3	Arnaud Tonus	4	SWI	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha	+12.069
4	Jeremy Van Horebeek	89	BEL	Honda SR Motoblouz	Honda	+16.422
5	Jeremy Seewer	91	SWI	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha	+19.591
6	Pauls Jonass	41	LAT	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna	+22.128
7	Ivo Monticelli	128	ITA	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+24.301
8	Glenn Coldenhoff	259	NDL	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+25.651
9	Romain Febvre	461	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha	+30.560
10	Julien Lieber	33	BEL	Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing	Kawasaki	+35.372
11	Max Anstie	99	GBR	Standing Construct KTM	KTM	+43.779
12	Antonio Cairoli	222	ITA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+46.381
13	Brian Bogers	189	NDL	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda	+48.242
14	Tommy Searle	100	GBR	BOS GP	Kawasaki	+50.450
15	Gautier Paulin	21	FRA	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha	+52.414
16	Jordi Tixier	911	FRA	Team VHR	KTM	+54.519
17	Micha-Boy De Waal	34	NDL	Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+58.292
18	Tim Gajser	243	SLO	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda	+1:01.005
19	Kevin Strijbos	22	BEL	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha	+1:03.702
20	Petar Petrov	152	BUL	North Europe Racing	KTM	+1:04.773

Rider Standings

Sunday, 16 Jun 2019 - Open world standings grid

#	Rider	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.
1	Tim GAJSER	243	SLO	391	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda
2	Antonio CAIROLI	222	ITA	358	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
3	Jeremy SEEWER	91	SWI	256	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha
4	Gautier PAULIN	21	FRA	254	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha
5	Arnaud TONUS	4	SWI	246	Wilvo Yamaha MXGP	Yamaha
6	Arminas JASIKONIS	27	LTU	226	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna
7	Clement DESALLE	25	BEL	208	Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing	Kawasaki
8	Jeremy VAN HOREBEEK	89	BEL	200	Honda SR Motoblouz	Honda
9	Glenn COLDENHOFF	259	NDL	190	Standing Construct KTM	KTM
10	Pauls JONASS	41	LAT	186	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna
11	Julien LIEBER	33	BEL	184	Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing	Kawasaki
12	Romain FEBVRE	461	FRA	157	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha
13	Shaun SIMPSON	24	GBR	129	RFX KTM Racing	KTM
14	Ivo MONTICELLI	128	ITA	122	Standing Construct KTM	KTM
15	Max ANSTIE	99	GBR	111	Standing Construct KTM	KTM
16	Alessandro LUPINO	77	ITA	103	Gebben V Venrooy Kawasaki	Kawasaki
17	Tommy SEARLE	100	GBR	96	BOS GP	Kawasaki
18	Brian BOGERS	189	NDL	82	Team HRC – MXGP	Honda
19	Tanel LEOK	7	EST	82	A1M Husqvarna	Husqvarna
20	Jordi TIXIER	911	FRA	71	Team VHR	KTM
21	Benoit PATUREL	6	FRA	65	Gebben V Venrooy Kawasaki	Kawasaki
22	Jeffrey HERLINGS	84	NDL	57	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
23	Kevin STRIJBOS	22	BEL	43	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha
24	Vsevolod BRYLYAKOV	18	RUS	38	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha
25	Petar PETROV	152	BUL	24	North Europe Racing	KTM
26	Harri KULLAS	151	EST	19	Wildcard Rider	Honda
27	Jose BUTRON	17	SPA	16	JD Gunnex KTM Racing Team	KTM
28	Anton GOLE	297	SWE	16	JWR Yamaha Racing	Yamaha
29	Samuele BERNARDINI	321	ITA	14	Ghidinelli Racing Team	Yamaha
30	Sven VAN DER MIERDEN	94	NDL	13	Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing	Yamaha
31	Dean FERRIS	111	AUS	6	Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team	Yamaha
32	Micha-Boy DE WAAL	34	NDL	5	Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing	Yamaha
33	Gert KRESTINOV	37	EST	3	Wildcard Rider	Kawasaki
34	Joaquin POLI	179	ARG	3	Wildcard Rider	Honda
35	Pascal RAUCHENECKER	760	AUT	2	Wildcard Rider	KTM
36	Juan Pablo LUZZARDI	171	ARG	1	Wildcard Rider	KTM
37	Jetro SALAZAR	220	ECU	1	Wildcard Rider	Honda