MXGP: Prado continues winning streak
Red Bull GasGas driver Jorge Prado once again used his winning recipe. After his fourth holeshot of the season, he again won the first round! By a massive fallparty at the start was Maxime Renaux, who finished second, the only other title pretender sitting at the front. Jeffrey Herlings had to settle for P9, just after Glenn Coldenhoff.
The first and most important match fact this time was not Prado's holeshot. Behind him things went wrong in the first corner. Among the unfortunate ones are many big names with Jeffrey Herlings, Romain Febvre, Jeremy Seewer, Brent Van Doninck and Brian Bogers. This gave us unexpected riders at the front, in the wake of leaders Prado and Fernandez.
Ben Watson, away in third, gave Beta a highlight by competing well in the initial rounds. The Baets Motors & More pilot Benoit Paturel also caught the spotlight. The sympathetic Frenchman even hung third for a while before he had to make way for training buddy Maxime Renaux. He was ultimately able to take full advantage of a mistake by Fernandez to finish second. The same Fernandez, still the only HRC Honda rider after world champion Tim Gajser's leg fracture, finished third ahead of the Italians Mattia Guadagnini (Red Bull GasGas) and Alby Forato (SM Action KTM).
Overtaking on the narrow and treacherous Circuito Ciclamino is notoriously difficult, but Calvin Vlaanderen (Gebben Van Venrooij Yamaha) still made a profit after a mediocre start. He finished sixth and first Dutchman. Of the early “escapees”, the reborn Valentin Guillod held up best. The Ship to Cycle Motoblouz Honda leader came in seventh ahead of Coldenhoff, Herlings (photo below) and Paturel. With a 12th and 16th place respectively for Febvre and Seewer, they paid for their early fall in cash. The same applied to Bogers and Van Doninck. They finished 22nd and 23rd, after all, outside the World Cup points.
The decisive second MXGP series starts at 17:10 PM!
MXGP Race 1
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 35:37.190; 2. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:12.946; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:15.731; 4. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GASGAS), +0:16.529; 5. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:20.544; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:22.312; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:23.707; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:24.588; 9. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:25.301; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:30.451; 11. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +0:32.827; 12. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:43.579; 13. Alvin Östlund (SWE, Honda), +0:45.227; 14. Pierre Goupillon (FRA, KTM), +0:49.661; 15. Alessandro Lupin (ITA, Beta), +0:53.871; 16. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +1:02.619; 17. Adam Sterry (GBR, KTM), +1:11.057; 18. Kevin Brumann (SUI, Yamaha), +1:14.855; 19. Tom Koch (GER, KTM), +1:17.022; 20. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, GASGAS), +1:21.521; 21. Michael Sandner (AUT, KTM), +1:24.804; 22. Brian Bogers (NED, Honda), +1:26.507; 23. Brent Vandoninck (BEL, Honda), +1:33.108; 24. Thomas Kohut (SVK, KTM), +1:33.706; 25. Jacob Teresak (CZE, KTM), +1:45.069; 26. Giulio Nava (ITA, Yamaha), +2:00.773; 27. Maximilian Spies (GER, KTM), -1 lap(s); 28. Mark Scheu (GER, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 29. Michael Ivanov (BUL, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 30. Simon Jost (SVK, KTM), -1 lap(s); 31. Simone Croci (ITA, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 32. Filippo Zonta (STONE, SCRATCHES), -1 lap(s); 33. Hardy Roosiorg (EST, Honda), -1 lap(s); 34. John Adamson (GBR, GRASS), -1 lap(s); 35. Emmanuel Alberio (ITA, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s); 36. Paul Haberland (GER, House), -7 lap(s); 37. Tom Grimshaw (GBR, GASGAS), -11 lap(s); 38. Jimmy Clochet (FRA, Honda), -13 lap(s); 39. Nicholas Lapucci (ITA, Husqvarna), -15 lap(s); 40. Stephen Rubini (FRA, Honda), -18 lap(s);
Photos: JP Acevedo, Full Spectrum Media, Ray Archer
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