Today was one of those pivotal races for Tim Gajser. One of those races in which he demonstrated all of his guts, determination and sheer speed to take a hugely impressive victory; his third Grand Prix win of the season.
Race one started well for the Slovenian MX2 World Champion, as he took an early lead and set about building a comfortable gap. Unfortunately, first a stone got stuck in his rear brake, and then he bent his radiator cowl in a rut, both of which hampered his ability to ride and cost him time, meaning he fell back to second place.
Digging deep, he came back stronger in race two. With another great start that saw him launch into the lead, the battle of the World Champions then commenced as Romain Febvre gave chase. It was a fight that required enormous speed, consistency and determination from each rider as they took turns at setting fastest laps, the gap ranging from one to four seconds at any point.
In this straight fight between the 2015 MX2 and MXGP World Champions, Tim kept pushing and, with eight minutes remaining, started to eek out a gap which quickly grew to 16seconds by the finish.
In doing so, he earned his fifth and possibly the hardest fought moto victory in MXGP, to come home with his third GP victory of the season and maintain his 100 per cent podium record.
Jorge Zaragoza also earned his best result of the season aboard the CRF250RW, with a pair of tenth places which have him tenth overall, and his first top ten of 2016.
Tim Gajser, no.243
“I really enjoyed that second race especially! The whole weekend has gone really well and I’m really pleased to take the win again. In the first race we had a little problem with a stone in the rear brake, and then I bent the radiator guard so it wasn’t so easy to ride, but we could come back stronger in the second race. That was a really hard fight with Febvre and he was really pushing me, and the pace we both had was really fast so it was really a lot of fun! To have had the last two weekends go as well as they have done is just fantastic, and I’m just feeling so good at the moment. The bike is great, so big thanks to the team, and we’re all working so hard so it’s a great feeling to be winning.”
Jorge Zaragoza, no.101
“It’s been a good weekend here in Mexico. In the first race I had a very strong start and was riding in fifth for a time and I was feeling really good. I made one mistake though and I felt a little bit of pain in the knee that I hurt last weekend in Argentina, so I lost a few positions and finished tenth. In the second moto I lost a bit in the first laps, but I’m happy to finish tenth overall. I’m improving every race and my goal is just to keep like this and keep getting better with each race.”
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal
“What a battle that was between Tim and Romain! They were pushing so hard, they were in a different league to all the other riders today. Tim showed again all the determination, speed and mental strength that brought him the MX2 title last year, and that has taken him to three wins and five podiums from five races so far this season. It’s a remarkable achievement, and I’m so proud of the whole team for all their work. For Jorge too it was good to see him taking another small step forward, and although he couldn’t hold on to fifth in the first race, it was good to see him there and he still made two solid races to finish in the top ten which is what we expect of him.”