It was a mixed weekend for Tim Gajser and the Honda Gariboldi squad this weekend at the MXGP of Czech Republic, as Tim Gajser crashed out of race one whilst in fifth, but bounced back to finish second in race two.
With championship leader Jeffrey Herlings out through injury for the remainder of the season, the top three are now separated by just 24 points with Tim lying in second. Never has the championship chase been so tense entering the final five rounds of 2015, with a maximum of 250 points still on the table.
In the opening race at the Loket track, Gajser emerged from turn one in twelfth and quickly set about climbing through the pack until his crash. Although able to restart his CRF250RW, he was forced to retire with extensive damage to the exhaust. Jorge Zaragoza also struggled with the tricky first corner, lying in 22nd on the opening lap. By the finish, he had managed to pick his way through to 16th.
Race two was a much smoother affair for Tim, who started strongly and lead for much of the race, only passed in the closing minutes as his pre-race injuries sapped a little of his strength and manoeuvrability on the bike. It was also a stronger race for Jorge, who emerged unscathed from the first turn in 12th and went on to cross the line in 14th.
The next challenge for the Honda Gariboldi Racing pair is the MXGP of Belgium at Lommel in just five days.
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal
“It was a big shame that Tim crashed in the first race today as without that he would have been on the podium again. The championship is now so close at the top that the extra points would have put him in a stronger position, but anyway he came back well in race two and is still second in the World Championship. Honestly we expected a little more from Jorge this weekend, but now we are looking at a different approach to training for him which I think will really help him. He has the talent, but the injury at the start of the year meant he lost a lot of training, and that is showing now.”
Tim Gajser, no.243
“I’m really disappointed with the first race today. I had a pretty good start and was making some nice passes with some good lines I had. Then on the fourth lap I made a mistake and crashed, and Jeremy [Seewer] was behind me and hit my bike and broke the pipe, so that was the race over for me. In the second race, I can say I made the best start on the Honda! I was first, but then I was making many mistakes. But we finished second so didn’t lose too much. Anyway, the championship is now really tight. I have quite some pain in my body after this weekend and recent crashes, but anyway we all know that this is a tough sport. We saw the crash of Jeffrey yesterday which put him out for this season, so I also want to wish him a good recovery.”
Jorge Zaragoza, no.101
“It was a tough weekend for me with some crashes. It didn’t quite go as well as I’d have hoped, as usually I go well on hard pack tracks, but now we look at what we can do to improve for the rest of this season and next year. Lommel will be tough as it’s sand again, but we just have to do our best and continue working.”
Overall results
| 1 | Valentin Guillod | Yamaha |
47pts |
| 2 | Pauls Jonass | KTM |
38pts |
| 3 | Jordi Tixier | Kawasaki |
36pts |
| 4 | Benoit Paturel | Yamaha |
34pts |
| 5 | Petar Petrov | Kawasaki |
30pts |
| 6 | Julien Lieber | Yamaha |
27pts |
| 7 | Max Anstie | Kawasaki |
25pts |
| 8 | Jeremy Seewer | Suzuki |
24pts |
| 9 | Brent van Doninck | Yamaha |
24pts |
| 10 | Tim Gajser | HONDA |
22pts |
| 15 | Jorge Zaragoza | HONDA |
12pts |