Tim Gajser maintains championship lead after hard-fought Loket 25.07.2021: MXGP of Czech Republic MXGP 2021 Round 5 Sunday, July 25th 2021 Team HRC’s Tim Gajser battled hard for every point at the MXGP of the Czech Republic this weekend, still maintaining the championship-leading red-plate as he finished sixth over

MXGP of Czech Republic
MXGP 2021   Round 5
Sunday, July 25th  2021



Team HRC’s Tim Gajser battled hard for every point at the MXGP of the Czech Republic this weekend, still maintaining the championship-leading red-plate as he finished sixth overall at the picturesque Loket track.


Coming into this fifth round, the Slovenian rider was confident of collecting his first overall at this hard-pack facility and those chances rose after what was an impressive second place in race one.



For the whole moto he stalked the leader, posting the fastest laptime and eventually crossing the finish line just 0.5 seconds behind in the race to the chequered flag. The tight and twisty circuit has always been known as one that is difficult to pass on, and the Honda CRF450RW rider wasn’t quite able to make it happen in the 30 mins plus two laps.


Still, he knew his speed was good and if he got out of the gate well in race two, he’d stand a really strong chance of winning his third overall of the season. When the #243 rounded the first bend in fifth place, he knew it would be tough, but he quickly moved into fourth and then set about moving further forward. Unfortunately, just as he was lining up another pass, his back-end slipped out and he had to bail from the bike.



As is his way, he quickly remounted, barely losing a place, but as he looked to get going again, he discovered the clutch lever was lodged in the hand-guard. He rolled into the pit-lane, losing almost a minute of time in the process, but thanks to the quick-thinking of the mechanics, they were able to fix the problem and he set off, re-joining the track almost in last place.


Knowing that every point is crucial in this championship campaign, he reeled in rider after rider, posting laptimes faster than the leaders as he eventually worked his way into the top 20. Not finished there, he was passing multiple riders per lap and by the time the chequered flag was waved, he ended up in 15th place.



While he was obviously disappointed with the overall outcome, his speed and determination shone brightly in the difficult second moto and he will head to the sands of Lommel, Belgium next weekend looking to repeat his 2020 exploits where he won two of the three events they held at what is known as the toughest track in the world.   
    


       
    
Tim Gajser  243


The first moto was good today, I was happy with how I was riding and it was good to finish second. Then in the second race, I had another solid start, made a quick pass to move into fourth and then on the fourth lap I had a crash and I had a bit of bad luck as my clutch lever went into the hand-guard so I couldn’t use the clutch.



I had to roll into pit lane where they were able to fix it and by the time I re-joined I was near the back. Thankfully I was able to ride well and saved some points, coming back to 15th but overall I am of course a bit disappointed. Still, I am ahead in the championship so I can’t complain too much and next week we have Lommel which I’m looking forward to.         

    

       
    
    
Marcus Fereira
HRC General Manager - MXGP


It is hard to really sum up this event as there was both good and bad things, but overall, there were a lot of positives we can take home from this event and while the points total wasn’t what we were after, I am very pleased with how Tim and the team reacted to what was an unusual situation.



Tim didn’t let the situation affect him, and his riding after the incident was excellent, and deserved a lot more. The team were also very quick to identify and fix the problem with the lever and the hand-guard and that allowed him to get back on track and score points, which could be extremely important at the end of the season. It was really good to see from everyone in Team HRC.         

    
       
    
    Race 1


1    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    25    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    35:10.919
2    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    22    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    0:00.529
3    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    20    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    0:21.968
4    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    18    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:23.975
5    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    16    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:25.449
6    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    15    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:36.914
7    VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy     89    BEL    14    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta    0:41.288
8    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    13    MRT Racing Team KTM    KTM    0:42.728
9    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    12    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:42.842
10    JACOBI Henry     29    GER    11    JM Honda Racing    Honda    0:51.359
11    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    10    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:52.489
12    LOCURCIO Lorenzo     183    VEN    9    JD Gunnex KTM Racing Team    KTM    1:00.260
13    JASIKONIS Arminas     27    LTU    8    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna    1:03.010
14    MONTICELLI Ivo     128    ITA    7    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    1:05.710
15    KOCH Tom     226    GER    6    KTM Sarholz    KTM    1:09.166
16    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    5    JK Racing Yamaha Active    Yamaha    1:16.332
17    SIMPSON Shaun     24    GBR    4    SS24 KTM MXGP    KTM    1:21.986
18    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    3    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    1:25.350
19    STERRY Adam     811    GBR    2    Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee    KTM    1:30.752
20    TIXIER Jordi     911    FRA    1    JT911 KTM Racing Team    KTM    1:33.673
    
    
       
    
Race 2


1    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    25    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    33:52.869
2    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    22    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:04.369
3    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    20    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:07.715
4    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    18    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:10.589
5    MONTICELLI Ivo     128    ITA    16    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    0:23.625
6    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    15    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    0:26.110
7    SIMPSON Shaun     24    GBR    14    SS24 KTM MXGP    KTM    0:28.763
8    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    13    MRT Racing Team KTM    KTM    0:30.342
9    VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy     89    BEL    12    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta    0:35.811
10    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    11    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    0:42.162
11    KJER OLSEN Thomas     19    DEN    10    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna    0:43.720
12    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    9    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:50.479
13    STERRY Adam     811    GBR    8    Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee    KTM    0:55.115
14    FORATO Alberto     303    ITA    7    Yamaha SM Action - M.C. Migliori    Yamaha    1:05.478
15    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    6    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    1:07.228
16    JACOBI Henry     29    GER    5    JM Honda Racing    Honda    1:18.267
17    LOCURCIO Lorenzo     183    VEN    4    JD Gunnex KTM Racing Team    KTM    1:20.023
18    BRYLYAKOV Vsevolod     18    RUS    3    JWR Honda Racing    Honda    1:22.112
19    BUTRON Jose     17    SPA    2    JD Gunnex KTM Racing Team    KTM    1:22.529
20    KOCH Tom     226    GER    1    KTM Sarholz    KTM    1:31.518
    
    
       
    



- HONDA HRC also photos