Tim Gajser maintains championship lead after muddy Maggiora 05.07.2021: MXGP of Italy MXGP 2021 Round 3 Team HRC’s Tim Gajser kept hold of the championship-leading red-plate, after a rain storm hit the beautiful Maggiora track before his second race. Unfortunately, the weather meant the track in northern Italy turne

MXGP of Italy
MXGP 2021   Round 3




Team HRC’s Tim Gajser kept hold of the championship-leading red-plate, after a rain storm hit the beautiful Maggiora track before his second race. Unfortunately, the weather meant the track in northern Italy turned from a pristine circuit into a mud-fest, and it made the moto a battle for survival in the extremely difficult conditions for all riders.


Coming into the race, the Honda CRF450RW rider had won three out of the four motos so far this season but he was unable to add to his tally in what was a very much an afternoon of two halves. In the first moto, the track was dry with very few lines and that made passing extremely difficult.


Despite pressuring the riders in front for the entire race, Gajser received the chequered flag in fifth place, exactly where he crossed the line for the first time. It was a frustrating moto, but like in Matterley Basin where the risk of passing was too great, he hoped to make up for it in race two.


Unfortunately, 30 minutes before the race was about to begin, the rain storm that had been threatening all day, finally materialised. Within minutes, the track became slick and slippery and it made the start even more critical, as the riders tried to preserve their vision from the muddy roost off other bikes.


For Gajser this became a difficult proposition as he rounded the first lap in 11th place, but knowing that every position would be important in order to hold onto the championship lead, he put his head down and went to work. Showing some excellent line choices, he eventually worked his way up to sixth, passing some of title rivals and securing the red plate with his 31 points which was good enough for seventh overall.


The next round of the motocross world championship will take place on July 18th at the new MXGP venue of Oss, in the Netherlands. The sandy terrain wasn’t a favourite of Gajser’s, but after working hard in the past couple of off-seasons, he will look forward to the new challenge and hope to continue his form on sand that saw him dominant the triple-header at Lommel last year.   
    
       

    
Tim Gajser  243


It was a difficult day, with the weather and the results but I’m still leading the championship so I have to look at the positives. In the first moto I had a decent start but I couldn’t work my way through the field so I just had to be happy with a fifth place, although I felt I was faster than those in front.



Again, I struggled out of the gate in race two and with the heavy rain that made things hard. Then a rock hit my goggles in the first lap and that was really difficult because it meant I was having to work even harder to make passes but I made my way up to sixth and I still keep hold of the red plate. I am excited to go to Oss though as it’s a new track and I’m enjoying riding sand so it should be fun.         

    

       
    
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager - MXGP


Sometimes things just don’t quite go to plan and this was unfortunately one of those days. The important thing was the start in both races as in race one, none of the top five made a pass on each other the entire moto so where you started is where you finished. And then in race two, due to the rain, the track completely changed and it was a totally different challenge with mistakes easy to make in the slippery conditions.



 Overall though, after six motos, Tim has won three of them and we lead the MXGP championship so we are happy with how 2021 has gone so far. We know there are still a lot of races to go and that starts with Oss in a couple of weeks, so we will all keep working hard and trying to make sure that Tim continues to lead the championship.         

    
       
    
Race 1


1    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    25    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    34:00.711
2    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    22    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:02.948
3    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    20    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:05.240
4    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    18    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:06.961
5    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    16    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    0:09.446
6    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    15    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:13.052
7    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    14    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    0:14.708
8    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    13    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:30.816
9    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    12    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:37.357
10    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    11    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:46.310
11    VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy     89    BEL    10    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta    0:51.219
12    MONTICELLI Ivo     128    ITA    9    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    0:53.810
13    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    8    JK Racing Yamaha Active    Yamaha    0:54.440
14    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    7    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:54.786
15    SIMPSON Shaun     24    GBR    6    SS24 KTM MXGP    KTM    0:56.841
16    STERRY Adam     811    GBR    5    Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee    KTM    0:57.337
17    JACOBI Henry     29    GER    4    JM Honda Racing    Honda    0:58.941
18    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    3    MRT Racing Team KTM    KTM    1:00.133
19    STRIJBOS Kevin     22    BEL    2    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    1:00.918
20    GOLE Anton     297    SWE    1    JWR Honda Racing    Honda    1:01.051
    
    
       
    
Race 2

1    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    25    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    35:58.417
2    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    22    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:06.911
3    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    20    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:29.021
4    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    18    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    0:31.204
5    JACOBI Henry     29    GER    16    JM Honda Racing    Honda    0:31.717
6    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    15    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    0:32.851
7    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    14    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:46.734
8    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    13    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:52.013
9    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    12    MRT Racing Team KTM    KTM    1:09.670
10    VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy     89    BEL    11    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta    1:13.969
11    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    10    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    1:16.105
12    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    9    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    1:23.303
13    STRIJBOS Kevin     22    BEL    8    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    1:29.487
14    SIMPSON Shaun     24    GBR    7    SS24 KTM MXGP    KTM    1:54.457
15    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    6    JK Racing Yamaha Active    Yamaha    2:04.405
16    TONUS Arnaud     4    SWI    5    hostettler Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    1 Lap
17    CLOCHET Jimmy     520    FRA    4    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta    1 Lap
18    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    3    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    1 Lap
19    KJER OLSEN Thomas     19    DEN    2    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna    1 Lap
20    MONTICELLI Ivo     128    ITA    1    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    1 Lap
    
    
       
    
Rider Standings


1    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    124    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda
2    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    118    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
3    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    107    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki
4    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    105    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
5    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    97    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
6    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    86    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
7    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    82    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
8    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    82    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas
9    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    69    MRT Racing Team KTM    KTM
10    VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy     89    BEL    60    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta
11    KJER OLSEN Thomas     19    DEN    45    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna
12    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    44    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
13    STRIJBOS Kevin     22    BEL    38    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha
14    TONUS Arnaud     4    SWI    36    hostettler Yamaha Racing    Yamaha
15    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    36    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha
16    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    32    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha
17    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    30    JK Racing Yamaha Active    Yamaha
18    JACOBI Henry     29    GER    27    JM Honda Racing    Honda
19    SIMPSON Shaun     24    GBR    27    SS24 KTM MXGP    KTM
20    STERRY Adam     811    GBR    22    Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee    KTM
21    TIXIER Jordi     911    FRA    19    JT911 KTM Racing Team    KTM
22    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    15    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas
23    MONTICELLI Ivo     128    ITA    10    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki
24    CLOCHET Jimmy     520    FRA    4    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta
25    WATSON Nathan     991    GBR    4    Honda SR Motoblouz    Honda
26    LOCURCIO Lorenzo     183    VEN    3    JD Gunnex KTM Racing Team    KTM
27    BRYLYAKOV Vsevolod     18    RUS    2    JWR Honda Racing    Honda
28    GOLE Anton     297    SWE    1    JWR Honda Racing    Honda
29    GUILLOD Valentin     92    SWI    1    Standing Construct KTM    KTM
    



 Team HRC - MXGP,  photos Honda