Making his racing return today for Team Spain, Jorge Zaragoza put in a solid performance to finish sixth in the MX2 qualifying race today on his CRF250RW.
Impressing from the start, the young Spaniard showed he’s made the most of his time off from racing to recover from a surgery to his throat and looked comfortable from the outset. Alongside his teammates, his effort qualifies Spain in seventh for tomorrow’s 69th Motocross of Nations.
It wasn’t so easy for MX2 World Champion Tim Gajser today though. Riding the CRF450RW in the Open class, the Slovenian made a strong start and soon moved himself into second overall, but then a crash at the bottom of the first hill section demoted him to 25th. Nursing an injured thumb as a result of the crash, he fought his way back to 11th but was expecting more from the day.
Team Slovenia qualify 21st, meaning they are seeded second in the B Final which starts at 1100hrs local tomorrow.
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal
“We know that Jorge has a great potential and talent. Now he has been training for one month just focusing on this race, and now we can see the improvement. He made a great race, and this is what we expected from him – to see him in the top five or six. It’s a pity for Tim to have crashed as I think he could have finished second or third easily in the qualifying race today, and this will make it hard tomorrow because Team Slovenia are in the B Final which they must win now.”
Jorge Zaragoza, no.62, Team Spain
“This morning I didn’t go out expecting this because as had the place 34 at the start so I was thinking to have a bad start and to be in the back. But I had a very good start, in fifth position, and I was riding there all race around 4th and 6th so I’m very happy with this position. The track is good today – it has a lot of grip but also a lot of lines. It’s very deep, but I like it a lot.”
Tim Gajser, no.60, Team Slovenia
“I’m disappointed with today. We had a good chance as I was up to second on the first lap and it was looking good, but then I crashed. I was riding without my head and made a stupid mistake, and when I crashed I hurt my left thumb. We’re in the B Final tomorrow so I hope that I can race by the morning.”
Overall results
| 1 | Team France | 2pts |
| 2 | Team USA | 4pts |
| 3 | Team Belgium | 8pts |
| 4 | Team Germany | 10pts |
| 5 | Team New Zealand | 10pts |
| 6 | Team Netherlands | 12pts |
| 7 | Team Spain | 13pts |
| 8 | Team Austria | 14pts |
| 9 | Team Switzerland | 15pts |
| 10 | Team Estonia | 16pts |
| 21 | Team Slovenia | 31pts |