MXGP of Sweden | Kate Kowalchuk Checks In from Uddevalla

Story and Photos by Kate Kowalchuk

Between the round in Lommel and Sweden a lot has happened! History has been made, championship points have changed, and the 250 red plate has exchanged hands AGAIN. 

MX2

Factory KTM rider #28 Tom Vialle lost the red plate heading into Belgium, the home race of Yamaha Factory rider #93 Jago Geerts. This past weekend in Sweden the two exchanged moto wins giving Yamaha Factory rider Geerts the upper deck on the podium and a 23-point lead going into Finland this weekend.

Neither rider can afford any mistakes going into the last 3 rounds of the season. The championship can still go either way and if Vialle didn’t have the DNF due to his broken bike in Germany, he would still be leading the championship.

Vialle is looking to gain momentum this weekend in Finland and carry it into his home race in France at the next round.

It is going to be quite difficult for Vialle to gain 23 points on Geerts to regain the red plate and championship with just 3 rounds to go, considering how strong Geerts looked last weekend in Sweden.

Is it too late for Vialle or can he get it back?

Rounding out the MX2 podium last weekend in Sweden was factory Gas Gas rider #516 Simon Langenfelder who came off of a stellar ride in Lommel, Belgium to get third overall. With so much happening in the MX2 class it does not leave for much excitement in the MXGP class except the Factory Yamaha team continues to keep everyone hooked in the MXGP class.

MX2 – GP Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Fed. Bike Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 28 Vialle, Tom FRA FFM KTM 22 25 47
2 74 de Wolf, Kay NED KNMV HUS 20 22 42
3 93 Geerts, Jago BEL FMB YAM 25 14 39
4 39 Van De Moosdijk, Roan NED KNMV HUS 18 20 38
5 72 Everts, Liam BEL FMB KTM 14 18 32
6 24 Horgmo, Kevin NOR NMF KAW 15 15 30
7 198 Benistant, Thibault FRA FFM YAM 16 13 29
8 516 Laengenfelder, Simon GER DMSB GAS 12 16 28
9 11 Haarup, Mikkel DEN DMU KAW 13 10 23
10 27 Guyon, Tom FRA FFM KTM 8 12 20
11 253 Pancar, Jan SLO AMZS KTM 9 11 20
12 80 Adamo, Andrea ITA FMI GAS 11 7 18
13 38 Rubini, Stephen FRA FFM HON 7 9 16
14 33 Karssemakers, Kay NED KNMV KTM 10 1 11
15 224 Teresak, Jakub CZE ACCR KTM 5 5 10
16 52 Gerhardsson, Albin SWE SVEMO HUS 0 8 8
17 912 Rizzi, Joel GBR ACU YAM 2 6 8
18 401 Stauffer, Marcel AUT AMF KTM 6 2 8
19 242 Verbruggen, Kjell NED KNMV KAW 3 4 7
20 180 Ambjörnson, Leopold SWE SVEMO HUS 1 3 4
21 422 Koskinen, Kimi FIN SML GAS 4 0 4
22 338 Olsson, Filip SWE SVEMO HUS 0 0 0

MXGP

Last weekend for the first time ever Factory Yamaha swept the MXGP moto 1 with #959 Maxime Renaux leading start to finish followed by his teammates #91 Jeremy Seewer and #259 Glenn Coldenhoff.

Unfortunately, Renaux got taken out in a gnarly first lap crash in moto 2 resulting in a DNF, but his teammates Seewer and Coldenhoff continued their great riding, taking 1st and 3rd overall on the day with Championship leader Honda HRC rider #243 Tim Gajser in second.

Seewer has finally found comfort on his bike riding great since France, but with 3 rounds left and Gajser ahead by over 90 points it would take some pretty dramatic events for Seewer to be able to catch him.

Never say never as in the sport of Motocross anything can happen, but Factory Yamaha is far from over this season. Let’s see if they can continue their strong streak going into Finland this weekend. Will we see them take a podium sweep in the last 3 rounds?

MXGP – GP Classification
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Fed. Bike Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 91 Seewer, Jeremy SUI FMS YAM 22 25 47
2 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS HON 18 22 40
3 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV YAM 20 16 36
4 3 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM KAW 15 20 35
5 61 Prado, Jorge ESP RFME GAS 16 15 31
6 43 Evans, Mitchell AUS MA HON 11 18 29
7 32 Van doninck, Brent BEL FMB YAM 13 12 25
8 959 Renaux, Maxime FRA FFM YAM 25 0 25
9 303 Forato, Alberto ITA FMI GAS 10 11 21
10 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS YAM 12 9 21
11 189 Bogers, Brian NED KNMV HUS 6 13 19
12 41 Jonass, Pauls LAT LAMSF HUS 14 5 19
13 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB BET 5 10 15
14 919 Watson, Ben GBR ACU KAW 8 7 15
15 10 Vlaanderen, Calvin NED KNMV YAM 0 14 14
16 70 Fernandez, Ruben ESP RFME HON 4 8 12
17 911 Tixier, Jordi FRA FFM KTM 7 4 11
18 101 Guadagnini, Mattia ITA FMI GAS 9 0 9
19 226 Koch, Tom GER DMSB KTM 0 6 6
20 14 Beaton, Jed AUS MA KAW 2 3 5
21 142 Haavisto, Jere FIN SML KTM 3 0 3
22 128 Monticelli, Ivo ITA FMI HON 0 2 2
23 161 Östlund, Alvin SWE SVEMO YAM 0 1 1
24 87 Brumann, Kevin SUI FMS YAM 1 0 1
25 30 Hjortmarker, Eddie SWE SVEMO KTM 0 0 0
26 16 Paturel, Benoit FRA FFM HON 0 0 0
27 426 Mewse, Conrad GBR ACU KTM 0 0 0
28 667 Nordström Graaf, Anton SWE SVEMO YAM 0 0 0
29 107 Jonrup, Emil SWE SVEMO KTM 0 0 0
30 248 Berggren, Emil SWE SVEMO HUS 0 0 0
31 75 Roosiorg, Hardi EST EMF KTM 0 0 0
32 692 Karlsson, Danne SWE SVEMO HUS 0 0 0
33 29 Jacobi, Henry GER DMSB HON 0 0 0