CAlvin Vlaanderen has – after a long wait and a lot of hard work – secured his first GP podium of the year. The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory rider finished third in the MXGP of Finland and moved up to fifth in the World Championship standings.
It was also a nice gift for Yamaha, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Jago Geerts, despite a serious crash in warm-up, finished nicely in the top 10.
Yamaha is celebrating its 70th anniversary. And of course, that couldn't go unnoticed. The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team (still without the injured Maxime Renaux) unveiled a special design – both bike and apparel – at the KymiRing in Iitti. And that was inspiring for the riders.
Finally, reward for your hard work!
From the very first session, Vlaanderen felt comfortable on the brand-new Finnish sand track. The South African was particularly impressive in the qualifying race. He entered the first corner in fifth place and immediately began putting pressure on his opponents. Sterry, Fernandez, and Bonacorsi were all caught up in the mix. The gap to leader Coenen was just a tad too wide, so Vlaanderen wisely decided to secure his second place.
Vlaanderen missed his start (tenth) in race 1, but was already in fifth place after two laps. Halfway through the race, a long, drawn-out battle ensued with World Championship leader Febvre, who had rejoined from the back. The two exchanged a few leapfrogs, but Calvin ultimately managed to hold off the Frenchman. Even better: in the closing stages, he overtook Fernandez to take fourth place.
Vlaanderen was now in the groove. In the second moto, he got off to a good start and immediately put together a strong first lap. Calvin was in second position and even briefly took the lead on lap six after a crash by Coenen. However, the Belgian quickly retaliated, and Febvre also overtook him, relegating Vlaanderen to P3. He held on to that position impressively, earning his first – and well-deserved – podium of 2025.
Calvin Flanders: My first podium of the year. I've been looking forward to it for a long time, and I've worked incredibly hard for it. Finally, the reward is here. Not just for me, but for the whole team. Everyone worked incredibly hard. I'm happy to finally be able to give something back. Especially this weekend, with Yamaha celebrating its 70th anniversary. Geerts had a good opening day at the KymiRing in Iitti. The Belgian climbed the standings session after session: twelfth in free practice, eighth in timed practice, and a strong fifth place in the qualifying race, where he even overtook Adam Sterry in the closing stages.
Progress for Jago Geerts
Jago wanted to continue his good form on Sunday, but he suffered a heavy crash on the waves during warm-up that morning. Fortunately, examination revealed no fracture or crack. The pain was generally bearable, but Jago – who had also broken his toe in the previous GP – struggled mentally after yet another setback. Nevertheless, he still managed to score six World Championship points (15th place) in the first race.
A solid start and a great first lap – he thankfully avoided a few crashes right in front of him – put Geerts up to third place at the start of the second moto. Jago clearly felt much better than in the first moto, even though he lost a few places as riders like Febvre and Coldenhoff passed him. Jago dropped back to P7, but managed to wrest sixth place from Forato in the closing stages.
Jago Geerts: All in all, I'm pretty happy with my weekend. Especially after that big crash in warm-up on Sunday morning. I'm glad I didn't sustain a serious injury. Although, especially in the first moto, I did struggle mentally after yet another setback. Things went much better in the second moto, though. Sixth in moto two and fifth in the qualifying race: those are two good results in three races.
Photos: Full Spectrum Media
