MX2: Vialle holds off Husqvarnas for Spanish race one win

The MX2 World Championship moved out of Italy for the first time since August for the MXGP of Spain. Conrad Mewse qualified on pole for the first time. 

It was Tom Vialle who took the holeshot, although he was immediately under pressure from Mathys Boisrame. The pressure was short-lived, though, as Boisrame tipped over in the third turn, which also proved problematic for riders behind, including Mewse. 

The crash of Boisrame allowed Vialle back into the lead, ahead of Jed Beaton and Thomas Kjer Olsen, while Jago Geerts’ start gave him work to do again. The Belgian was fourth at the end of the first official lap after an early expiration for Ruben Fernandez’ #70 Yamaha. 

By the end of the first 10 minutes, the first four were closing in, with four seconds separating them. Five minutes later and the battle for the lead was on between Vialle and Beaton, with the Frenchman holding on in the early exchanges.

Disaster then struck for Geerts, as he dropped from fourth to fifth, behind Conrad Mewse, and out of the lead battle that was now a three-way affair between Vialle and the two Rockstar Husqvarna riders. 

As they neared the final five minutes, Vialle was still holding strong from the two behind him, but they Husqvarnas were now clearing the big triple in the middle of the lap that none of the 250 riders had managed over the course of the day up to the race, nor the EMX250 riders on Saturday. 

A couple of laps after Beaton and Olsen started to triple, so did Vialle, and that seemed to allow him to escape. Helping his lead further was that the teammates engaged each other as the clock hit zero, Olsen passing Beaton at the third turn with three laps to go. 

The challenge was not over for Vialle, though, as Olsen’s pace was strong and the gap was under one second as they entered the final corners of the last lap. Olsen had left himself little time to fashion a move for the lead, and when he tried around the outside of the left-hander after the Ipone double Vialle was able to read it well and defend the move. 

That meant Vialle was in the clear, and he took his 11th race win of the season ahead of Olsen and Beaton, with 3.8 seconds covering the top three at the end. Yet again, Vialle’s starts put him in the position to run his own race, and as the season progresses the Frenchman’s ability to withstand the pressure coming from those behind, who often are faster, is improving. 

Behind the top three was an 11-second gap back to Mewse, who was able to hold on to fourth from Geerts. In fact, Mewse’s pace was as strong as the leaders’, he just missed out due to that lost time at the start with Boisrame. Ultimately, the #426 did a good job to hold of the #193, and is in a position to aim for the overall podium in the second moto. 

The only positive from this race for Geerts is that he was able to run the same pace as those at the front, meaning he can be in the fight for the win in the second moto. However, courtesy of the crash that dropped him to fifth, he now drops to over 50 points back of Vialle, a crucial two motos worth of points. A victory in race two is now almost a necessity for the Yamaha rider. 

Maxime Renaux completed the top six, holding off Stephen Rubini with whom he battled in the closing stages. At the end, Rubini was seventh, but just half a second behind Renaux, whilst behind was an almost 22-second gap to Roan van de Moosdijk in eighth. Ben Watson and Alberto Forato completed the top 10, after both were left down the order after the start. 

Isak Gifting continued his decent form in his replacement role at GASGAS, finishing 11th. The Swede was ahead of Richard Sikyna, Morgan Lesiardo, Ashton Dickinson and Bas Vaessen who completed the top 15; while Kevin Horgmo was 16th ahead of Nathan Renkens, Alvin Ostlund, Michael Sandner and Jan Pancar who completed the top 20. 

Ruben Fernandez, Mathys Boisrame and Bailey Malkiewicz were all out after the first two laps.