Pauls Jonass talks about the MX2 title duel in Assen!
MX2 World Champion Pauls Jonass has just four motos to make up his 24-point deficit to Red Bull KTM teammate Jorge Prado. The Latvian rode the first 13 GPs of the season with the red leader plate and currently has two series victories more than the Spaniard. Although he enters the final straight line with a handicap, Pauls is not yet defeated.
As is known, Jonass will switch to the MXGP next year. Before that happens, he still hopes to become the third rider to extend his MX2 world title for KTM. For the second year in a row, the MX2 seems to be on its way to the decisive final in the last round. In 2017, Jonass became the first Latvian to win a motocross world title during the last GP in Villars-sous-Ecot, France. Only with a strong result at the Assen TT Circuit can the Red Bull-KTM rider maintain his chances of a title fight during the closing event in Imola. Yet Pauls is already assured of second place in the World Cup thanks to his 156 point bonus over Thomas-Kjer Olsen. That gives him a comfortable position to go on full attack.
“I go to Assen with a relaxed feeling,” he said in Turkey after his 12th podium of the season. “I like sand courts and I have nothing to lose. Okay, I'm 24 points behind but there's no pressure. I just have to ride my best in every series. “
However, the fate of Harry Everts' opponent lies in the hands of Jorge Prado. Not only is he in top form, he immediately reached the podium in his Grand Prix debut in Assen in 2016 and took victory twelve months ago. Prado also feels at home in the sand of Assen. After the Dutch there is a break of a weekend before the last GP is completed in Imola. The stakes in the remaining GPs are 100 points. Both MX2 titans will give it their all. However, the momentum is in Prado's favor. The 17-year-old Spaniard has 10 wins and fifteen podiums (of which only one third place) to his name this season. Regardless of how the MX2 duel turns out, it is already certain that Red Bull KTM will take the titles in both classes for the second consecutive year. Moreover, it would already be the seventh(!) time since the beginning of the decade that the Austrian manufacturer has accomplished this feat.
Tekst: Adam Wheeler, Tom Jacobs
Photos: Ray Archer
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