Just as the sun scorched the sand of Lommel this weekend, so the contest for the MX2 World Championship is also intensifying as the series enters its final phase with four Grands Prix remaining.
At the MXGP of Belgium today, Gajser was at the centre of that battle for the crown. After his crashes in qualifying yesterday, there was always going to be work to do today, and that’s exactly what the young Slovenian did with gusto.
From eleventh at the start of race one, Gajser quickly moved himself into the battle for fifth. In the deep and rutted Belgian sand, physical endurance was tested to the extreme, and Gajser proved just how fit he is. Pushing to the very end, he made the pass for fifth position on the final lap to take more crucial championship points.
Race two didn’t start as smoothly as might have been hoped for as Tim emerged from the first two corners down in 20th place. In a drama-filled opening few laps, as others fell foul of the increasingly demanding track, Gajser’s progress was rhythmic as he rose to cross the line in seventh, taking sixth position overall in the Grand Prix.
With just four rounds remaining, Gajser and the Honda Gariboldi Racing team are second in the MX2 World Championship, just four points shy of Pauls Jonass who leads, indicating just how close this title fight is.
On the other side of the garage on the #101 CRF250RW, unfortunately Jorge Zaragoza didn’t compete today, suffering the effects of a recurring infection in his tonsils that flares up in the wake of intense physical exertion, as experienced yesterday in qualifying. Without the physical power necessary to attack the deep and rutted sand of Lommel, he decided with the team that he would not race and will now focus on surgery to address the problem.
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal
“I’m very happy with the result from this weekend because we knew it would be very tough but Tim got a lot more championship points at the type of track he doesn’t like so much and we leave here without any kind of injury. We are closer to the goal of the red plate and at this moment in the season the title is so open, and coming up next are tracks Tim will be very strong at. Unfortunately Jorge couldn’t race today because he felt too bad with the infection in his throat, so now he must focus on solving this problem so we can move on with training into next season.”
Tim Gajser, no.243
“Actually I’m really happy that Lommel is now done! The sand is not my favourite ground, but anyway it was not so bad. We took some important points. The key this week was to stay on two wheels. I had solid starts and then could make passes and in race one finished fifth, but in the second race I’m a little disappointed because I went down in the first lap and was last. Still, to come back to seventh is important for points. For the championship, it is really tight. Last week I made a mistake, and this week Valentin, so it will be tough to the end and I think the person who makes fewest mistakes will win. At the moment it’s so close it sort of feels like Qatar, like starting the season again from zero, but the motivation is so high so we’ll keep pushing and see what happens.”
Jorge Zaragoza, no.101
“Unfortunately I couldn’t race today. I have an infection in my throat, in my tonsils, that came again last night after qualifying and when I have that I have no power in my body. I talked with the team and we decided not to race today, and now I must get surgery to correct this because every time I train hard or push hard physically, it comes again and I have to stop. I’m very disappointed, but we know what to do about it and will then focus on training and coming back stronger.”
Overall results
| 1 | Max Anstie | Kawasaki | 50pts |
| 2 | Pauls Jonass | KTM | 44pts |
| 3 | Petar Petrov | Kawasaki | 38pts |
| 4 | Julien Lieber | Yamaha | 35pts |
| 5 | Harri Kullas | Husqvarna | 34pts |
| 6 | Tim Gajser | HONDA | 30pts |
| 7 | Jeremy Seewer | Suzuki | 26pts |
| 8 | Benoit Paturel | Yamaha | 23pts |
| 9 | Jordi Tixier | Kawasaki | 23pts |
| 10 | Brian Bogers | KTM | 18pts |
| DNS | Jorge Zaragoza | HONDA | 12pts |