Valkenswaard can swing either way. The fast Dutch sand has been home to burning spring sunshine but then has been the only site that snow has fallen on a FIM Motocross World Championship Grand Prix this century. At the historic Eurocircuit venue south of Eindhoven it was blue skies that greeted a packed crowd of almost thirty thousand racing fans as round six of the MXGP series came to town.
The Grand Prix of the Netherlands was a mixed bag for the Monster Energy motocross collective. On one hand Meghan Rutledge toasted her second GP success in just three rounds of the WMX series and CLS Kawasaki’s Arnaud Tonus and Dylan Ferrandis put on a great show in a frantic tussle for second place in the second MX2 moto. At the other end of the fortune spectrum Tommy Searle tried to make a comeback from a broken wrist but was in too much discomfort to race on Sunday and Kawasaki Racing Team’s Gautier Paulin was diagnosed with a broken right collarbone and left thumb after a brutal second moto crash in MXGP.
Paulin had started the day with some sublime riding in the opening MXGP sprint. The Frenchman played it cool behind Tony Cairoli; the epitome of smooth, efficient riding stocking energy reserves and poised to strike. Eventually Cairoli suffered a broken front wheel and Gautier zipped past for his fourth chequered flag of the year. Two hours later – in Moto2 – and GP21 was on the way to hospital after a nasty kicker put the Kawasaki ace headfirst into the sand. It is a bitter blow to Paulin’s title hopes and those of his KRT crew.
Ferrandis was an attacking force in the MX2 class and ended the day with sixth overall but Tonus was another who endured the ‘Day of Contrasts’ in Holland. Two crashes in Moto1 put the Swiss on the fringes of the top eleven but he roared back in style in the second dash. ‘200’ might have ended up losing the red plate as series leader to sand master Jeffrey Herlings but his charge to second place – passing Romain Febvre on the last lap – was exciting to chart and exhilarating to watch as Ferrandis also played a cameo role in fourth.
“I was lucky not to get hit by someone,” Tonus explained of his first moto prang that collected a number of riders on the second corner. “I was too far on the outside and just slid away. I came back pretty good but then someone hit me and I crashed again on a corner. It took me such a long time to get a rhythm going again. The second moto went so quickly. I must have missed the pitboard because suddenly I saw ‘FOUR LAPS’ and thought ‘f**k, I’d better get going’. I thought it be a really physical second moto so I took my time and was a bit safer after the mess in the first. I took a bit too long but still got second so it was good.”
Fair dues to Thomas Covington. The American teenager attempted his first Grand Prix in the sand expecting some brutal treatment through the bumpy terrain and gained some artistic merit for a big crash in the first moto from which he luckily escape unscathed. In his second bash at the sapping ground he pushed into the top ten for one of his best performances since becoming a full-time member of the GP pack, coming home eleventh.
The girls were also out in front Dutch crowd. World Champ Kiara Fontanesi owned the first moto without dispute but a crash early in the second meant a trawl back to fourth position, handing the top step of the podium to fellow Monster athlete and one of the main rivals for her crown Meghan Rutledge. Three more rounds for the girls to come, the fourth taking place at the French GP next month.
Tired and bruised limbs and torsos will only have a few days to seek respite as the first Grand Prix of Spain since 2011 will drag the GP circus down past Madrid and to the hills of Talavera de la Reina. Heat, hard-pack and hectic action ahead for round seven.