FXR Racing: Race report: MXGP of Mexico

Tim Gajser won his third GP out of five this season and beat chief rival Romain Febvre straight up in the final moto to do it!

Gajser has found another level on a 450 this season.

Story: Jonathan McCready

Photos: MXGP

Tim Gajser won his third GP out of five this season and beat chief rival Romain Febvre straight up in the final moto to do it!

Febvre took race one after hunting down race long leader Gajser but Tim had and a radiator shroud come loose and couldn’t really fight for the lead once Febvre had caught him, with the shroud a constant distraction on his left hand-side. In race two Febvre got into second quickly and hounded the young Slovenian but Gajser showed his mental strength again and didn’t make a single mistake for Febvre to give up with two laps to go.

Yes, Gajser made Febvre give up! That is a pretty impressive thing to do recently given Febvre’s form and determination. Febvre said once he caught Gajser that Tim changed his lines and upped his pace making it impossible for Febvre to find a way through on the somewhat one lined circuit.

Gajser: “I really enjoyed that second race especially! The whole weekend has gone really well and I’m really pleased to take the win again. In the first race we had a little problem with a stone in the rear brake, and then I bent the radiator guard so it wasn’t so easy to ride, but we could come back stronger in the second race. That was a really hard fight with Febvre and he was really pushing me, and the pace we both had was really fast so it was really a lot of fun! To have had the last two weekends go as well as they have done is just fantastic, and I’m just feeling so good at the moment. The bike is great, so big thanks to the team, and we’re all working so hard so it’s a great feeling to be winning.”

In the championship Febvre still holds a three point lead but the speed of the two 2015 World champions was on another level to their rivals in Mexico, no-one else got close and they are easily the class of the field so far.

Max Nagl was best of the rest and claimed his second podium in a row with Bobryshev fourth despite behind battered and bruised from a big crash in Argentina. Clement Desalle is getting quicker every week. The raw speed is very nearly back now for the Belgian but he is still lacking the bike fitness to fight at the sharp end for the whole moto. But a fifth overall in Mexico shows that by Latvia in two weeks Desalle could well be back to 100%.

What happened to Tony Carioli? This might have been one of Cairoli’s worst performances in MXGP, a sixth and a ninth cost the Italian big time and he is now 48 points back on Febvre. Cairoli didn’t look comfortable on the track all weekend and especially struggled on the watered portions in race two after starting top five, finishing over a minute behind Gajser.

Cairoli said: “I didn’t feel so good all weekend. The track is very difficult compared to last week (in Argentina) when I was feeling comfortable, and better than I had before that. I had a very bad start in the first moto, but I came back to sixth, which was not so bad, but for sure not what I expected. The second moto was really not good. The riding was not how I wanted it, there were a lot of mistakes and also another bad start. It was just a weekend to forget. Hopefully we can be stronger and stronger over the next two weeks. I want to be in good shape and in the mood to attack for Latvia because that’s a track I like a lot.”

Cairoli needs to win in Latvia, he loves the sand and he always rides well there, if he doesn’t win he might not be able to get himself back into title contention barring injuries such is the pace and motivation of Gajser and Febvre.

Tommy Searle had a good weekend except for a crash in race one that dropped him to eleventh from eighth but in race two Searle rode fantastic, maybe his best in the last two years to come home in sixth. Tommy is building his speed and confidence and is looking stronger every weekend.

Herlings, Seewer, and Brylyakov on the podium in Mexico.

Jeffrey Herlings won again and as usual dominated both motos but Max Anstie got robbed of second overall after a mechanical with two laps to go in race one while lying second. Anstie’s Husky managed to stay in one piece in race two when he finished second but the damage was done in that first moto. Just like the last couple of years, mechanical problems continue to hound the unlucky Brit but the positive is his speed is almost back to where it was in 2015.

Jeremy Seewer took second overall with another two solid rides while Russian Evgeny Brylyakov took his maiden podium after showing impressive speed all weekend. The Russian proved himself an inspired signing by Steven Dixon after the Russian showed a few promising moments of speed last year and now, on proven racing winning machinery, Brylyakov is really showing what he can do.

An overjoyed Brylykakov said: “I feel amazing with this first podium in my career; it’s just great that it happens now! In the first moto I got a good start and was consistent; I was following Seewer and finally passed him and pulled away. It was good to score a second place in the first moto, but it also made me nervous for the second one! I had another good start but then it was a nightmare as I crashed and thought that I had lost any chance to be on the podium. But I just tried again to do my best, rode smoothly and when I saw that Jonass also crashed I thought there was maybe a chance for me to finally get this podium. I continued to push, caught a few guys and my mechanics helped me on the board to know what was happening. I can’t believe that I got this podium.”

The series now heads to Latvia in two weeks where Ben Townley and Gautier Paulin are expected to return to action, while Cairoli will be under huge pressure to perform and get the win, but can he deliver?

MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 47 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 47 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 40 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 36 p.; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 32 p.; 6. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 27 p.; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 25 p.; 8. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 24 p.; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 24 p.; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 24 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 219 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 216 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 171 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 170 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 165 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 162 p.; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 127 p.; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 122 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 104 p.; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 98 p.

MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 40 p.; 3. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 37 p.; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 32 p.; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 28 p.; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 27 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 26 p.; 9. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 25 p.; 10. Jorge Zaragoza (ESP, HON), 22 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 250 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 192 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 166 p.; 4. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 163 p.; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 132 p.; 6. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 126 p.; 7. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 121 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 117 p.; 9. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 89 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 82 p.