MX2: Geerts defeats Vialle for race two and overall win

The 11th round of the MX2 World Championship, the MXGP of Europe, took place in Mantova, the third race in a week in the Italian track. Unlike in the first race, there was rain falling for the second, which gave the riders a different challenge. 

Ben Watson took the holeshot, pushing out Tom Vialle who did well to emerge in third place ahead of Jago Geerts. Vialle was then able to pass Roan van de Moosdijk for second place early in the first lap after which he set his sights on Watson.

Geerts was then impatient to get past van de Moosdijk, and he was through as they started the first official lap. The Belgian knew the importance of staying with Vialle, who took the lead from Watson halfway round the first official lap.

The #193 was able to pass his factory Yamaha teammate at the same spot as Vialle one lap later than the #28. But now he had a clear shot at the championship leader, and was significantly closer to Vialle than he was at the point at which he took second place in the first moto. 

The two were then able to pull away from the rest of the field and turned the battle for the moto win affirmatively into a private battle between them. 

Geerts took his time, making his move for the lead with 10 minutes to go. The gap between the two stayed around 1-1.5 seconds for pretty much the entirety of the rest of the race. The equality of their speed when everything is equal is remarkable, both have the ability to be a clear step above the rest but so comparable to each other on raw speed.

It is, then, almost bizarre that the gap coming into this round was 46 points, almost a whole GP’s worth. Essentially, this is down to Geerts’ inconsistency – he has had more crashes and more bad luck than Vialle. In this second moto, though, it was highlighted once more that in actuality the #28 and the #193 are almost perfectly evenly matched. Geerts held on for the win in the end, pushed all the way by Vialle, whose championship lead remains the same as it was at the beginning of today – 46 points. Geerts’ win was enough for the overall win, courtesy of a better second race result in what was one of the best races of the season. 

Behind the leading pair was Ben Watson in third place. It was a quiet race for the #919 for the majority, although he came under pressure at the end from Thomas Kjer Olsen, whose fourth place in the second moto was enough to bag him third overall. Watson’s third palace put him fourth in the GP on 35 points, level with Conrad Mewse who finished the second moto in sixth behind Jed Beaton who matched his first moto result to go 5-5 for sixth overall. 

Roan van de Moosdijk was seventh in the second moto after what looked like a small tip off in the last of the switchbacks. The Dutchman was ahead of Kevin Horgmo who went 14-8 for ninth overall; while Maxime Renaux was ninth which was not enough to get him into the top 10 overall after his gear shifter damage in race one. Alberto Forato rounded out the top 10 in the second race, which was enough for seventh overall for the #303.

Ruben Fernandez was 11th in the second race which, together with his ninth from race one, was enough for eighth overall. The Spaniard was ahead of Mathys Boisrame, the #172 going 11-12 for 10th overall. Jan Pancar was 13th in the second moto, ahead of Bailey Malkiewicz and Michael Sandner who was 15th for the second time today. 

Behind, Alvin Ostlund crossed the finish in 16th, ahead of Enzo Toriani, Filippo Zonta, Richard Sikyna and Ashton Dickinson who rounded out the top 20, as he did in race one.