MX2: Geerts Strikes Back in Championship Fight with Race One Win in Emilia Romagna

Round eight of the 2020 MX2 World Championship, the MXGP of Emilia Romagna, took place in Faenza, the third and final round at the Monte Coralli circuit. Roan van de Moosdijk was the fastest in timed practice, whilst Tom Vialle looked to take back-to-back GP wins after his success in the MXGP of Citta di Faenza on Wednesday.

It was a reduced gate for this round, with only 26 riders on the 250 gate as some riders, such as Mattia Guadagnini who led in his wildcard appearance on Wednesday, going off to do the Italian championship round that is taking place this weekend, and others, such as Simon Laegenfelder, Mikkel Haarup and Mathys Boisrame missing the race for injuries.

Once again, though, it was Tom Vialle who made the holeshot on the Red Bull KTM, but he immediately ran wide, giving Jago Geerts the early advantage. However, Vialle was able to reclaim the lead at the top of the hill after the waves section, and as they started the first official lap the Frenchman had two seconds over the #193 Yamaha rider. 

Behind Geerts was Thomas Kjer Olsen, who was fighting at the front of a race for the first time since 2019, but the Belgian’s eyes were focused ahead, and he started to close in on the red plate holder, taking Olsen with him.

As the race neared the halfway point, Geerts made his move, taking the lead almost in exactly the same place as he lost it 14 minutes earlier. It was now Vialle’s turn to chase, whilst behind Maxime Renaux was coming into the picture to make it a four-bike leading group. 

Renaux was able to pass Olsen as the race approached the final 10 minutes and by this point Geerts had pulled two seconds on Vialle who was now in the sights of his Yamaha-moutned compatriot.

The #959 was then closing on Vialle before he crashed with seven minutes to go. 500 metres later, the Yamaha rider was down again, and back in 10th place, his hopes of challenging for the overall podium all but done. 

That let Vialle off the hook, and he started closing back in on Geerts. The race became, shortly, a condensed version of the season so far, with the two evenly matched and trading blows. In the final minute, Vialle had the gap down to just over one second, but traffic halted his charge. In his attempts to regain the momentum in the fight with Geerts, he went down in one of the 180-degree switchbacks in the middle of the lap, which dropped him back into the clutches of Olsen who, in turn, was fending off the attentions of his Rockstar Husqvarna teammate, Jed Beaton. 

Vialle was able to hold off the Dane in the final three laps, although he made the race difficult for himself by putting himself in the fight in the first place. Olsen, equally, was able to hold off Beaton and keep hold of third place in the opening moto. 

But out front it was once again Jago Geerts who took the win in the first race of the MXGP of Emilia Romagna, and with Vialle in second the Belgian cuts the gap at the top of the championship by three points ahead of the second race later today. 

Whilst he was unable to do anything about the two ahead of him in the end, Jed Beaton’s ride to fourth was encouraging for the Australian who has struggled to make clean motos since the first Latvian round. On this occasion, he proved his speed and the potential he has when he can run that speed for 30 minutes. 

Behind the two factory Husqvarna riders was Conrad Mewse, who showed good speed throughout the moto, the #426 finishing in fifth eventually. Behind the Briton was Roan van de Moosdijk, ahead of Ben Watson, Stephen Rubini, Ruben Fernandez and Maxime Renaux who completed the top 10. 

Nathan Crawford was 11th on the #199 Honda, ahead of Bailey Malkiewicz who finished 12th after a good start inside the top six. Alvin Ostlund was 13th, whilst Richard Sikyna and Morgan Lesiardo completed the top 15, ahead of Jan Pancar, Josh Gilbert, Nathan Renkens, Enzo Toriani and Cyril Genot who rounded out the top 20.