Prado takes honours at MXGP of China
Words and images courtesy MXGP
With a revised and condensed schedule due to incoming weather conditions, The Oriental Beauty Valley MXGP of China comprised Round 19 of the MXGP World Motocross Championships in torrid temperatures at the Shanghai International Off-Road Circuit. As befitting the penultimate round of this epic season of MXGP, both classes saw vital movements towards the destiny of the Championship medals!
The MXGP World Championship has a new leader, as Jorge Prado fought through the heat, humidity, and even a little illness for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing to win his 48th career Grand Prix. With Team HRC’s Tim Gajser struggling in race one, the Spaniard will now take the red plate to the final round of the season, in his home country!
MXGP Moto1
The Time Practice session, that served to form the grid positions in the absence of the RAM Qualifying Race, was topped with a final effort from Prado to nudge Gajser off the top spot by just 47 thousands of a second! Romain Febvre took third gate pick for Kawasaki Racing Team, while Jan Pancar was a surprise fourth for TEM JP253 KTM Racing. Just behind him was the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine of Jeffrey Herlings, who turned 30 years old on the Thursday before the GP!
The first race saw the seventh Fox Holeshot of the year for Jeremy Seewer and the Kawasaki Racing Team, with Prado and Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez hot on his heels. However, between turns one and two the Championship took a major twist as Gajser jumped into the back of Glenn Coldenhoff, who was fourth for Fantic Factory Racing, and took a heavy fall as a result!
The red plate holder had his bike run over in the process but got going again towards the back of the pack. His woes wouldn’t end there, however, as the Slovenian collided with Andrea Bonacorsi, sending himself and the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider to the floor, and very soon he toured into Pit Lane. He did finish the race with a broken left footpeg, but down in 17th place by the flag.
Meanwhile, his teammate Fernandez had taken the lead on lap one and held the advantage for half the race, fending off Seewer, then Prado, before finally yielding to Febvre, who had put in a great charge to pass the reigning Champ and haul in the other Spaniard! The Kawasaki man took the lead on lap eleven with a smooth inside move, and Fernandez also had Prado come past him a lap later.
Next up came Herlings, who climbed to third with a drag race past Pit Lane, and that was the top three set from there, ahead of Fernandez in fourth and Coldenhoff in fifth.
Seewer begun to slip down the order, and Maxime Renaux recovered from an average start to claim sixth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, followed by Kevin Horgmo of Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz, who passed Pancar on the final lap. In a similar move, Mattia Guadagnini relegated Seewer to tenth at the same time to finish ninth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.
MXGP Moto2
Gajser’s troublesome race had handed the Championship lead to Prado, who held a four-point advantage heading into race two, and of course decided to both celebrate and defend that position with a trademark Fox Holeshot, his 16th of the season.
Initially in second was Valentin Guillod for Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz, but Gajser tucked inside the Swiss rider for second in turn two, this time missing the incident through the first corner, as Seewer, Renaux, Guadagnini and Standing Construct Honda’s Alberto Forato all hit the deck. Only the two Italians got back into the race, although Forato would pull in after nine laps.
Fernandez followed his teammate past Guillod, and soon Febvre, the surprising Pancar, and Herlings would follow suit. As Gajser gave chase to Prado out front, Febvre could not go with them as it took him eight laps to get around the rejuvenated Fernandez. Herlings on lap ten, and then Pancar on lap 15, would also get past the Spaniard who is working his way back to full race fitness, and would finish sixth ahead of Bonacorsi, Coldenhoff, then the recovering Guadagnini getting back to ninth ahead of Horgmo.
The heat was clearly taking its toll on the leaders, who were trying to hold on in the soaring temperatures and humidity, and try as he might Gajser could not break Prado’s hold on the race. The Spaniard pushed himself to the physical limit, barely celebrating his tenth overall GP win of the season and unable to conduct any post-race interviews. He gritted his teeth to collect the red plate atop the podium however! Febvre’s third in race two was enough for second overall ahead of Herlings, with Fernandez fourth and the amazing Pancar in fifth.
It all sets the scene for the showdown in Cozar in two weeks’ time, with just seven points separating the leading pair. Herlings has a slim mathematical chance but admitted on the podium that the title for him is realistically out of reach.
PODIUM QUOTES
Jorge Prado: “We could finish the weekend with a red plate and seven points ahead. One round left and this makes us dream and I’m so excited for the final round in Spain. I think nobody expected to get out of this GP with a red plate. So we need to be super happy. My riding has been great. We worked hard on the bike too this weekend, like today, and they even took the RAM Quali race away and it didn’t matter, we still got points in our pocket, so super, super happy. I’m still super, super happy about the day. I still can’t believe it and yeah, happy. I’m still super, super happy about the day. I still can’t believe it and yeah, let’s get a title in Spain.”
Romain Febvre: “It was really tough. I mean, everybody gave them all I think, but yeah, first race, I think I gave a little bit too much, but I won. So I was really happy and then not so much break between the race as well, so it didn’t help. I didn’t get the start in the second one, but like good first turn and then I had a long fight with Fernandez. I used quite a lot of energy and then the guys were gone at the front so I was third on my own. It’s a good GP, 1-3 for second overall and happy to be back on the box. Now let’s go Spain”
Jeffrey Herlings: “I mean the championship, already coming into this one, was kind of over. Because it was not just Tim who had to make a mistake, it was also Jorge. Unfortunately I had a big fire mark from the exhaust in Turkiye, which gives me quite some pain. And also I broke two ribs meanwhile. And today there was quite a lot of pain so I was good with any result I just did, especially the second one as I knew I was gonna be in the podium anyway even though I would gain more points nothing would have changed in the overall so I was like just, okay I just want to go home safe from this one”
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 34:32.847; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:05.726; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:08.376; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:10.859; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:14.259; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:16.664; 7. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:19.004; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:21.709; 9. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:23.781; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:28.471
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 34:32.163; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:02.891; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:28.957; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:39.634; 5. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:42.345; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:43.523; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Yamaha), +0:47.062; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:50.251; 9. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:52.963; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:56.487
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 47 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 45 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 33 p.; 5. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 29 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 29 p.; 7. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 26 p.; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 25 p.; 9. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, HUS), 24 p.; 10. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, YAM), 23 p.
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 943 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 936 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 895 p.; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 643 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 611 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 574 p.; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 550 p.; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 428 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 359 p.; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, FAN), 319 p
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification:
1. Honda, 967 points; 2. GASGAS, 943 p.; 3. KTM, 907 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 818 p.; 5. Yamaha, 717 p.; 6. Fantic, 616 p.; 7. Husqvarna, 318 p.; 8. Beta, 164 p.; 9. Ducati, 10 p