MX2: Vialle Completes First Ever Double Win as Geerts Crashes

The second MX2 race of the MXGP of Citta di Faenza saw Tom Vialle head in as the leader of the GP having won the first race earlier in the day, but Maxime Renaux and Jago Geerts were also looking in good shape to challenge for the overall win. 

It was Vialle with the early lead, again, ahead of Geerts and Renaux, whilst Jed Beaton had made a better start than in the first race, and critically not been caught in a crash, and was sitting in fourth as the first official lap started.

The first minutes saw Vialle edging away at the front, whilst Geerts was relieved of the pressure of Renaux behind courtesy of Jed Beaton and Mathys Boisrame moving through on the #959. However, the pair soon started pressuring the Belgian themselves. This was good news for Vialle, as the others fighting meant he was able to maintain his gap. 

As the clock dipped below 20 minutes, though, the gap at the front started to diminish, and as Geerts was coming under pressure from Boisrame he was simultaneously pushing on and catching Vialle. 

But the #28 was let off the hook with 10 minutes to go, as Geerts crashed on the uphill waves section, dropping outside of the top 10. Another crash from the Belgian one lap later cost him a further position, dropping him to 14th.

That allowed Vialle to control the race to the end, although behind him things were more chaotic. Mathys Boisrame was on for a podium, fighting for the top three in the moto which would have put him in the top three overall after a crash for Maxime Renaux dropped him to seventh but then the #172 hit the deck hard, although he looked relatively unscathed. Then, as he was closing down the two factory Husqvarna riders for a top three moto finish, Geerts’ factory Yamaha teammate, Ben Watson, crashed and dropped to the lower reaches of the top 10. 

All this meant that Jed Beaton would take a career-best moto finish with second place, six seconds behind Vialle who took his first ever 1-1 for the overall win and to extend his championship lead to 21 points. In third place in the moto was Thomas Kjer Olsen, his best moto result of the year and it gave him his first overall podium of the season as well, the #19 finishing third overall. 

Renaux was able to benefit from the falls of Watson and Boisrame to climb to fourth at the end, which was enough for second overall. It was a more messy day for the Frenchman than when he won on Sunday, but he got the result nonetheless. 

Stephen Rubini took a season-best moto finish of fifth place, in as anonymous a fashion as his seventh in the first race. It was enough for sixth overall for Rubini, whilst behind him Conrad Mewse who took sixth in similarly anonymous style for ninth overall. Ruben Fernandez took seventh to follow up his eighth from the first race – good enough for eighth overall. 

The early leader of the first race, Mattia Guadagnini, took eighth in the second race, giving him a 6-8 scorecard – good enough for seventh overall, whilst Geerts finished ninth in the end of the second race, which gave him fourth overall – he now sits those aforementioned 21 points behind Vialle. Jan Pancar completed the top 10 of the second moto, although that wasn’t enough for him to overcome Watson in the overall, the #919 going 9-11 for 10th overall. 

Behind Watson was Josh Gilbert in 12th, ahead of Roan van de Moosdijk who was another crasher, although he went down alone this time. Alvin Ostlund and Richard Sikyna completed the top 15; whilst Gianmarco Cenerelli was 16th ahead of Kevin Horgmo, Nathan Renkens, Enzo Toriani and Bailey Malkiewicz who rounded out the top 20 after crashing on the first lap.