After a few corners local boy Pascal Rauchenecker took over the lead in the first moto of Ried to the delight of a decent Austrian crowd in temperatures beyond the 35 degree mark. In lap two Slovenia’s MX2 GP title contender Tim Gajser (this weekend on his practice 450 CRF) made the pass for the lead and checked out to a never doubted victory in heat one. Behind him Rauchenecker tried his best to defend the runner-up spot, but was fading after 20 minutes and got shuffled back to fifth until the end of the moto. Latvian MXGP winner Glenn Coldenhoff fought his way up to second but at this point Gajser was out of sight. Third went to Swiss Jeremy Seewer on the 250 factory Suzuki. German Dennis Ullrich took 4th after leading a few corners into race.
The second race seemed to be a Dejavu from the first moto. Until Coldenhoff was in second, Gajser had gapped him for 8 seconds which “the Hoff” never was able to shorten anymore. Rauchenecker this time seemed to have more to give but had to realise after 20 minutes that his effort was not enough to beat a strong Seewer for third place. So the only change in the top 5 compared to the first moto was that Rauchenecker and Ullrich switched positions.
In the Youngster class former Junior World Champion Brian Hsu and South African Nick Adams shared the race wins.
In the Junior Cup Mikkel Haarup went over the finish line first in moto 1 but was put back 5 position due passing under yellow flags on the final lap. This meant that Jeremy Sydow took the 25 points after leading the whole race. Haarup striked back with a moto win in race 2.
Text: Peter Reitbauer