MX2: What Helped Geerts to his First Career GP Victory Last Weekend

Last weekend in Matterley Basin, the 2020 MX2 World Championship season got underway in remarkably decent conditions.

Storm Jorge battered Matterley Basin on Friday and Saturday, delaying proceedings due to the severity of the conditions which on Friday night saw the Skybox destroyed. 

Saturday’s curtailed schedule and sketchy conditions saw some unlikely qualifying results, with Mikkel Haarup finishing as fastest qualifier in MX2 for the first time. 

On Sunday, though, the conditions were better, in fact the track was in a quite good condition for the races in the afternoon. 

Tom Vialle led for the majority of the opening race, and it looked like it would be a routine win for the Frenchman who took his debut podium in Matterley back in 2019. But it was not to be for the #28, as he cased the uphill triple at the end of the lap, stalled the bike and dropped out of the podium positions. In his haste to try to recover time, Vialle crashed again in the same part of the track as he had previously stalled, and dropped further, eventually finishing sixth in the first moto.

Jago Geerts took the second moto win of his career, capitalising on Vialle’s mistakes in the first race. Despite a crash early in the second moto, the Belgian was able to hang on for the overall win, too, the first GP win of his career. 

Vialle was able to win the second race ahead of his Red Bull KTM teammate, Rene Hofer, who led for the majority of what was just his second race as a GP rider. The win was enough to give Vialle second overall, but cutting out those mistakes will be important for the young Frenchman going forwards, with respect to the championship.

It was also a debut MX2 podium for Haarup who went 3-3 for third overall, level on points with Vialle, who came out on top courtesy of a better second moto result. Haarup impressed all weekend, thriving in the F&H Kawasaki team, where all three riders are capable of top results. 

Three points outside of the podium places was Jed Beaton who went 2-6 for fourth overall, missing out on the top three in the closing stages of the second moto. Hofer had almost a reverse of Beaton’s results, going 8-2 for fifth overall on his GP debut. Hofer appears to be another of the seemingly random names that Red Bull KTM plucks out of the EMX ranks, works with for a winter, drops behind the gate of a GP and it somehow works. It was a very impressive second race from Hofer, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him carry the lead to the flag on a few occasions this season.

Alberto Forato was another impressive rookie, going 5-9 for sixth overall, ahead of injured Husqvarna stablemate, Thomas Kjer Olsen, who went 11-5 for seventh overall. Not the start to the season Olsen would have wanted, but he has a lot of races to try to recover the 17-point deficit he currently has to Geerts.

2019 EMX250 champion Roan van de Moosdijk finished eighth overall with a 9-11 scorecard on his debut for F&H Kawasaki, ahead of home favourite Conrad Mewse whose podium chances were ruined by a poor start in the second race. The third and final F&H Kawasaki rider, Mathys Boisrame, finished tenth overall in the first GP of the season, which was acceptable for the Frenchman after having six weeks off the bike with a broken thumb before this weekend. 

Maxime Renaux was somewhat disappointing with 11th overall, ahead of Mattia Guadagnini who in the Netherlands next weekend will be racing the EMX250 class – his respectable result in Britain means it will be possible to get a good gauge of the level of the EMX250 class in their first round of 2020 in Valkenswaard.

Jeremy Sydow took 13th overall ahead of Nathan Crawford and the injured Ben Watson who lost all his rear brake fluid from the first lap in the second race. 16th went to Ruben Fernandez, who finished ahead of Todd Wilson, Mitch Harrison, Richard Sikyna and Bas Vaessen who completed the top twenty.

Alvin Ostlund was 21st, ahead of Josh Gilbert, Kevin Horgmo, Stephen Rubini and Morgan Lesiardo who was the final points-scorer, taking 25th overall. 

The fast-paced sand of Valkenswaard is up next for the MX2 field, and perhaps it will once again favour Geerts, who was third overall last season with a second-place in the second moto.