In MXGP, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser was the fastest in Time Practice and will be on pole position for the first time this season. In MX2, Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Simon Laengenfelder took the race into his own hands to lead from start to finish. The German won his 3rd RAM Qualifying Race of the season.
Earlier in the day, the first races of WMX and EMX250 took place in Afyon. In WMX, we witnessed the domination of Red Plate Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan who led the race from start to finish to inch closer to the Title. The last race of the season in WMX could really see the Kiwi take the crown as she gets 21 points on RFME GasGas WMX Team’s Daniela Guillen. It would take a big twist of events for Guillen to win the mighty Title although it cannot be ruled out.
In EMX250, it was Fantic Racing MX’s Cas Valk who clinched the win after a strong race. The EMX250 leader Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Andrea Bonacorsi is now 56 points in front on BT Racing Team’s Kay Karssemakers who need to finish well in front of the Red Plate to keep some hope of a Title.
In MXGP, with no RAM Qualifying Race, the gates will be picked based on the results of the Time Practice. At this exercise it was Team HRC’s Tim Gajser who got the advantage as showed great speed on this hard pack of Afyon. Gajser won here last season and he showed that he likes this track. The Slovenian finished in front of Red Plate Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado who will ideally get a good gate pick to start well on during Sunday races.
The usual suspects showed up once more at the top of the timings with with Monster Ernergy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer getting the 3rd place, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre finishing 4th while Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer 5th. Behind them were the good performers of the day with Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Mitch Evans and Ship to Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz’s Valentin Guillod who finished in 5th and 6th respectively. The returning Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Mattia Guadagnini showed an encouraging and strong ride to get the 7th best time of the day.
Tim Gajser: “I felt really good in both practice sessions, and to get first gate-pick is nice for us, even if the track will be completely different when the gate drops. Hopefully they can do the worked needed to make sure we have two good races tomorrow.”
MXGP – Time Practice – Top 10 Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 1:44.446; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:00.798; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:01.572; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:01.792; 5. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:02.126; 6. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:02.135; 7. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GASGAS), +0:02.270; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:02.348; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:02.547; 10. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:02.569
The MX2 RAM Qualifying Race started perfectly for Simon Laengenfelder who took a blistering start to take the command of the race from the first corner. While Laengenfelder was getting comfortable in front, things got heated towards the end with changing weather conditions and an excellent Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Liam Everts who showed a great consistency and good pace throughout the race to gets closer to Lanegenfelder in the last couple of laps. Getting to 3rd place on the opening lap, Everts had to find a way passed another strong performer in Turkiye who was Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Roan Van de Moosdijk. It took 9 laps out of 12 for the Belgian to make a successful move on Van De Moosdijk.
Then, Everts offered an intense last lap showdown for the crowd as he pushed hard to pass Laengenfelder. However, the German handled the battle very well and got to the last jump only a few metres in front of Everts to win it. Everts got another good performance under his belt to close the gap in the Championship with Red Plate and his teammate Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo. Van De Moosdijk confirmed a good comeback after his return in the last Grand Prix in The Netherlands and finished solidly in 3rd place.
MX2 leader Adamo unfortunately fell on a turn in the opening lap while he was 3rd. He picked himself up in 12th place and struggled to pass JM Honda Racing’s Camden Mc Lellan. Adamo and Mc Lellan capitalised on TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team’s Jan Pancar’s mistake to both gain a position. Adamo then took 10 laps to finally made a great move on Mc Lellan to go 10th. However, Mc Lellan never gave up and didn’t let it go as he kept a strong pace to overtake the Italian on the very last lap for 10th while Adamo finished outside of the points in 11th place. Pancar finished 14th in the end.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Jago Geerts continues to show a very good form as the Belgian got a good start to find himself 5th on the opening lap behind the surprising Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz’s Emil Weckman. The Finnish showed great speed in the beginning of the race although he had to concede his 4th place to a determined Geerts on lap 4. Geerts would go on to ride through the rest of the race in 4th. Things got more complicated for Weckman who got picked up by three riders on lap 5 after a couple of mistakes. Weckman in the end had to settle for 9th which is still a good performance for the Finnish who gets another top 10.
Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen showed once again that he never settled and always push forward. The young Belgian went from 9th on the opening lap to consistently overtaking riders in front of him to finish 5th in the end. He showed great skills along the way similarly to F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo who also managed to gain many positions going from the 10th place to finish 6th in the end. The Norwegian is confirming after a solid Grand Prix in The Netherlands.
VHR Racing Team’s Isak Gifting is another rider who is getting consistently into the top 10 as he solidly started in 7th place. Gifting managed to pass a good F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s David Braceras for 6th but got overtaken by Horgmo in lap 11 to finish where he started in 7th place. Braceras took a good start in 6th and moved up to 5th but unfortunately could not maintain his great pace in the second part of the race and went down the rank. In the end Braceras showed great qualities to finish 8th.
Simon Laengenfelder: “It was not an easy race. I made the Holeshot and normally after it gets easier but after that It rained a lot it got complicated. With the wind picking up at some point, it took you off-line in the air which made it difficult. I was lucky to stay on the bike and take another RAM Qualifying Race. I’m very happy about that.”
MX2 – RAM Qualifying Race – Top 10 Classification: 1. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), 24:19.392; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:00.389; 3. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, Husqvarna), +0:18.587; 4. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:23.542; 5. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:24.428; 6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:25.512; 7. Isak Gifting (SWE, GASGAS), +0:30.599; 8. David Braceras (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:34.111; 9. Emil Weckman (FIN, Honda), +0:34.781; 10. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Honda), +0:36.879
MX2 – World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 705 points; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 642 p.; 3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 610 p.; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 605 p.; 5. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 517 p.; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 501 p.; 7. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 470 p.; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 465 p.; 9. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 462 p.; 10. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 325 p
WEEKEND TIMETABLE (Local Time / GMT+3 )
SUNDAY: 09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
MXGP OF THE TURKIYE QUICK FACTS:
Circuit length: 1725m
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 23°
Weather conditions: Cloudy/Rain
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