MX2: Two race wins for Yamaha but Vialle takes Flanders overall victory

Round 13 of the 2020 MX2 World Championship took place in Lommel for the MXGP of Flanders. Tom Vialle came into this round as a healthy championship leader, with over 50 points back to Jago Geerts.

The first moto began with a familiar sight, as Tom Vialle took the holeshot ahead of the two factory Yamahas of Ben Watson and Jago Geerts. That order lasted until the first official lap, when Geerts tucked the front end as he was looking for a way through on his teammate. The crash dropped Geerts to eighth although he was able to find his way past Mathys Boisrame and into seventh quickly. 

That left Watson with a cushion behind him and therefore the ability to focus completely on Vialle. It took the Brit 15 minutes, but he eventually found his way past Vialle when the #28 made a mistake. 

Watson and Vialle remained together for almost the remainder of the race, until another mistake from Vialle saw him lose the front on the penultimate lap, handing Watson in the end a comfortable race win with a margin of 22 seconds over the red plate holder. It was Watson’s first moto win in the MX2 World Championship in one of his last opportunities as next year he moves up to the MXGP class. 

Vialle’s mistake did not cost him a position and he crossed the finish in second place, six seconds ahead of Maxime Renaux, the #959 having spent much of the final 10 minutes fending off Jago Geerts as the Belgian was making his way through after his second fall. Geerts’ speed, as always, was as good as anyone’s, but as has happened so often this year it was overcome by his mistakes. 

Behind Geerts was Thomas Kjer Olsen, while Isak Gifting took his best result in MX2 with a sixth place, ahead of Jed Beaton, Alvin Ostlund, Ruben Fernandez and Roan van de Moosdijk who completed the top 10. 

Bas Vaessen was 11th, ahead of Stephen Rubini, Conrad Mewse, Cyril Genot and Kevin Horgmo who completed the top 15; while Josh Gilberts was 16th, in front of Alberto Forato, Nathan Renkens, Morgan Lesiardo and Glen Meier who rounded out the top 20.

Race two began with yet another holeshot for Tom Vialle, his 16th of the season, as the two Yamahas followed him yet again, although this time Geerts had the advantage from Watson.

Maxime Renaux was able to split the two factory Kemea Yamahas of Geerts and Watson early on, and while Watson was able to stay with the rider who will replace him next season, a crash for the Brit just after the five minute mark saw him drop to seventh and out of contention.

At the front, Vialle and Geerts were stretching away from those behind, but Vialle’s time at the front was limited as the #193 went through to the lead with 17 minutes to go.

The two continued to stretch away from the rest, making the victory battle a private one between themselves. Vialle did not let Geerts get away and as they entered the final three laps the #28 began to apply more pressure to the Belgian. However, Geerts withstood, and Vialle backed off on the final lap to settle for second place. 

It was a calm and measured ride by Geerts, showing what he can do when he doesn’t feel rushed by a bad start when Vialle is way out front. However, the story of the championship this year is defined by the #193’s inability to make these kinds of races on a regular basis – that is why he still finds himself over 50 points down in the championship.

Vialle held onto second place after backing off on the final lap. The risk to take the moto win was not necessary and over the course of the whole day his advantage over Geerts increased in the championship which looks more destined for Vialle’s hands as each Grand Prix passes. 

Long behind the two leaders was Roan van de Moosdijk with a ride more fitting of the Dutchman’s prowess in the sand which seemed to be missing for some reason in the first moto. Behind the #39 was Thomas Kjer Olsen, then Ben Watson who recovered to fifth after his early crash. Maxime Renaux ended the second race in sixth ahead of Jed Beaton. Isak Gifting made an impressive recovery after going down in the first turn to finish the second moto in eighth, ahead of Nathan Renkens and Ruben Fernandez, the Spaniard also going down in that first turn but coming back to complete the top 10.

Alvin Ostlund was 11th, ahead of Alberto Forato, Stephen Rubini, Bas Vaessen and Bailey Malkiewicz who completed the top 15; while Josh Gilbert was 16th ahead of Jan Pancar, Morgan Lesiardo, Ashton Dickinson and Petr Polak. 

In the overall, Tom Vialle’s 2-2 scorecard secured him his sixth GP win of the season and saw him extend his championship lead over Geerts to 53 points. Each week the #28 seems to move closer to the title, and with just five rounds to go it is going to take an implosion on the part of the Frenchman or 10 perfect motos from the perspective of Geerts to stop yet another Red Bull KTM triumph in the MX2 class this year.

To Geerts’ credit, however, he continues to show that he has the capability to fight with Vialle in terms of speed and he showed it again in the second race today. In fact, it is possible to say that Geerts’ performance in the second race in the MXGP of Flanders was one of his best of the season, to ride so calmly and effectively after another mistake-filled first race was impressive. However, in a season of 36 races it is always going to be difficult to fight for the title when there is a mistake in every second or third race. 

Ben Watson’s fifth place in the second moto was enough to land him a second podium of the season. It was an impressive day for the Brit; taking his first win whilst holding off Vialle before recovering from a mistake in early in the second moto to salvage a podium overall makes this first Lommel round his best of 2020. The #919 should be fighting for the podium in at least the remaining two Lommel rounds now. 

Missing out on the podium with fourth overall was Maxime Renaux, whose day went somewhat inversely to that of Geerts. A relatively mistake-free opening race saw Renaux stand firm in third place despite the riders behind him arguably being faster, but the second race saw a mistake end his podium hopes. 

Fifth overall was Thomas Kjer Olsen, ahead of Roan van de Moosdijk who was much improved in the second race to finish third, matching something like the form we saw from him in the other, albeit quite different, sand tracks in this condensed schedule: Kegums and Mantova. 

Behind the #39 was Jed Beaton, the Australian going 7-7 for seventh overall, while Isak Gifting’s impressive comeback in the second moto to go 6-8 secured the Swede eighth in the Grand Prix, ahead of the similarly impressive Ruben Fernandez, and Alvin Ostlund who completed the top 10 in the overall.