The punishing Lommel sand put man and machine to the test for the 15th round of the FIM MXGP World Championship. MX3 World champion Klemen Gercar picked up a small injury on Saturday but he pushed all the way to score five well-earned championship points. Gercar is now 29th in provisional standings.
The punishing Lommel sand put man and machine to the test for the 15th round of the FIM MXGP World Championship. MX3 World champion Klemen Gercar picked up a small injury on Saturday but he pushed all the way to score five well-earned championship points. Gercar is now 29th in provisional standings.
The ever shifting soil, high temperatures, a packed track schedule and the physically demanding nature of the track made the Belgian GP without a doubt the toughest test of the season. While the ‘Stedelijk Motorcross Centrum’ circuit floored many bikes and riders, the pair of Gercar and his reliable 24MX Honda CRF450R finished both motos in point scoring positions. It was a satisfying finish to a difficult weekend. At the end of time qualifying on Saturday Klemen hit the deck and his tumble resulted in a painful leg.
After a bad start in the first moto Klemen did what he could and rode to 20th place. Again the young Slovenian suffered a dismal start in the second race. Biding his time and remaining consistent allowed Gercar to pick off more riders. In spite of the epic storm during the last 15 minutes the 24MX Honda rider managed to forget the pain and made his way to 17th. Klemen started to reel in Priit Rätsep to finish only 3 seconds behind the Estonian.
Lommel also hosted the final round of the Honda 150 European Championship. It was a bitter-sweet experience for Finland’s Here Haavisto who rode to a double race win, but narrowly missed out on the championship title by two points. So in the end Briton Albie Wilkie was crowned champion. The promising 14-year old from Dartford earned himself a support ride with J-Tech Honda in the 2015 EMX250 series.
Klemen Gercar: “The weekend started strange with my crash in time practice when I hurt my leg. I gritted my teeth in the qualifying race and today’s first moto. The conditions were really, really tough with the rain and wind in race two but both my riding and my rhythm were a bit bitter. I pushed right till the end and made up quite a lot of time on the guys in front of me. It was a pity that the race was not a little longer because I was catching up to Ratsep. All in all the final result was satisfying. To take five points on a track that’s super difficult for me is a big improvement after the disappointing race in Loket.”
Belgian MXGP Lommel
MXGP moto 1
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:22.254; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:03.902; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:04.930; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:16.506; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:21.324; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:26.489; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:45.874; 8. Tyla Rattray (RSA, Husqvarna), +0:47.105; 9. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:48.268; 10. Marc de Reuver (NED, Honda), +1:06.632; 11. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), +1:08.435; 12. Gert Krestinov (EST, Kawasaki), +1:12.755; 13. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:25.886; 14. Priit Ratsep (EST, Kawasaki), +1:30.785; 15. Rui Goncalves (POR, Yamaha), +1:32.224; 16. Filip Bengtsson (SWE, KTM), +1:36.417; 17. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), -1 lap(s); 18. Dennis Ullrich (GER, KTM), -1 lap(s); 19. Lukasz Lonka (POL, Honda), -1 lap(s); 20. Klemen Gercar (SLO, 24MX Honda Racing), -1 lap(s); 21. Milko Potisek (FRA, Yamaha), -3 lap(s); 22. Kornel Nemeth (HUN, KTM), -3 lap(s); 23. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), -8 lap(s);
MXGP moto 2
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:46.942; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:08.481; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:19.123; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:25.772; 5. Marc de Reuver (NED, Honda), +0:32.921; 6. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:35.867; 7. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:40.127; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:46.294; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +1:01.185; 10. Tyla Rattray (RSA, Husqvarna), +1:08.384; 11. Rui Goncalves (POR, Yamaha), +1:10.863; 12. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), +1:32.025; 13. Filip Bengtsson (SWE, KTM), +1:35.818; 14. Milko Potisek (FRA, Yamaha), +1:54.237; 15. Gert Krestinov (EST, Kawasaki), +1:57.975; 16. Priit Ratsep (EST, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s); 17. Klemen Gercar (SLO, 24MX Honda Racing), -1 lap(s); 18. Lukasz Lonka (POL, Honda), -1 lap(s); 19. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), -10 lap(s); 20. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), -11 lap(s); 21. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), -13 lap(s); 22. Dennis Ullrich (GER, KTM), -13 lap(s); 23. Kornel Nemeth (HUN, KTM), -18 lap(s); lap(s);
MXGP of Belgium classification
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, KAW), 40 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 29 p.; 6. Marc de Reuver (NED, HON), 27 p.; 7. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 26 p.; 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 26 p.; 9. Tyla Rattray (RSA, HUS), 24 p.; 10. Steven Frossard (FRA, KAW), 23 p.; 11. Rui Goncalves (POR, YAM), 16 p.; 12. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HON), 16 p.; 13. Gert Krestinov (EST, KAW), 15 p.; 14. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), 13 p.; 15. Filip Bengtsson (SWE, KTM), 13 p.; 16. Priit Ratsep (EST, KAW), 12 p.; 17. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), 10 p.; 18. Milko Potisek (FRA, YAM), 7 p.; 19. Klemen Gercar (SLO, 24MX HONDA), 5 p.; 20. Lukasz Lonka (POL, HON), 5 p.; 21. Dennis Ullrich (GER, KTM), 3 p.; 22. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), 2 p.; 23. Kornel Nemeth (HUN, KTM), 0 p.
FIM MXGP World standings after 15 rounds
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 669 points; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 588 p.; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 498 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 484 p.; 5. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 365 p.; 6. Steven Frossard (FRA, KAW), 356 p.; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HON), 307 p.; 8. Gautier Paulin (FRA, KAW), 275 p.; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), 245 p.; 10. David Philippaerts (ITA, YAM), 234 p.; 11. Rui Goncalves (POR, YAM), 227 p.; 12. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 197 p.; 13. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), 197 p.; 14. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 184 p.; 15. Xavier Boog (FRA, 24MX HONDA), 159 p.; 16. Joel Roelants (BEL, HON), 158 p.; 17. Tyla Rattray (RSA, HUS), 149 p.; 18. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), 146 p.; 19. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 131 p.; 20. Dennis Ullrich (GER, KTM), 126 p.; 21. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 125 p.; 22. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 107 p.; 23. Milko Potisek (FRA, YAM), 102 p.; 24. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 82 p.; 25. Nathan Watson (GBR, HUS), 62 p.; 26. Filip Bengtsson (SWE, KTM), 57 p.; 27. Valentin Teillet (FRA, KAW), 46 p.; 28. Marc de Reuver (NED, HON), 40 p.; 29. Klemen Gercar (SLO, 24MX HONDA), 37 p.; 30. Gregory Aranda (FRA, KAW), 32 p.; 31. Herjan Brakke (NED, KAW), 31 p.; 32. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, KTM), 29 p.; 33. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KAW), 17 p.; 34. Graeme Irwin (IRL, SUZ), 16 p.; 35. Gert Krestinov (EST, KAW), 15 p.; 36. Priit Ratsep (EST, KAW), 12 p.; 37. Jeremy Delince (BEL, 24MX HONDA), 12 p.; 38. Filip Thuresson (SWE, HON), 11 p.; 39. Jens Getteman (BEL, 24MX HONDA), 11 p.; 40. Augusts Justs (LAT, HUS), 10 p.; 41. Martin Michek (CZE, KTM), 9 p.; 42. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, HON), 8 p.; 43. Kornel Nemeth (HUN, KTM), 8 p.; 44. Matteo Bonini (ITA, KAW), 6 p.; 45. Nikolaj Larsen (DEN, HON), 6 p.; 46. Lukasz Lonka (POL, HON), 5 p.; 47. Marcus Schiffer (GER, SUZ), 5 p.; 48. Pier Filippo Bertuzzo (ITA, YAM), 4 p.; 49. Antonio Balbi (BRA, KAW), 4 p.; 50. Davis Ivanovs (LAT, KAW), 3 p.; 51. Samuel Zeni (ITA, KAW), 2 p.; 52. Timur Muratov (RUS, KTM), 2 p.; 53. Jesper Jönsson (SWE, SUZ), 2 p.; 54. Ludvig Söderberg (FIN, HUS), 2 p.; 55. Angelo Pellegrini (ITA, HON), 2 p.; 56. Fabien Izoird (FRA, SUZ), 2 p.; 57. Joni Roos (FIN, KTM), 2 p.; 58. Arnon Theplib (THA, HON), 2 p.; 59. Amirezza Sabetifar (IRI, YAM), 2 p.; 60. Ryan Houghton (GBR, YAM), 1 p.; 61. Raul Alvarez (ESP, YAM), 1 p.; 62. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, KTM), 1 p.; 63. Nicklas Gustavsson (SWE, HON), 1 p.; 64. Shane Carless (GBR, KAW), 1 p.;