MXGP: Britain Plays Host as MotoCross Season Kicks Up Dust in Matterley Basin

This weekend the 2020 MXGP World Championship gets underway in Matterley Basin for the MXGP of Great Britain.

The 2020 season has been highly anticipated, with said anticipation heightened by some intriguing results in the preseason races in Italy, Lacapelle-Marival and Hawkstone.

In particular, it was interesting to see Mitch Evans in race-winning form out in Italy, taking the Superfinal win at the final round of the Internazionali d’Italia at Mantova, besting both Red Bull KTM’s Tony Cairoli, who returned that weekend from his summer 2019 injury, and fellow HRC Honda rider, reigning World Champion Tim Gajser who took the championship overall.

Jeffrey Herlings won the overall in Lacapelle, the Red Bull athlete finishing ahead of the Monster Energy-backed trio of Yamaha’s Jeremy Seewer and the factory Kawasaki duo of Romain Febvre and Clement Desalle.

In Hawkstone, Shaun Simpson got off to a good start to life as a team owner, taking the win in the first rain-soaked moto, ahead of Jeffrey Herlings and 2019’s late bloomer and MXdN star Glenn Coldenhoff who this season will debut the GasGas after their capture by KTM. Herlings took the overall in Hawkstone courtesy of a better second race result for the 2018 champion, ahead of Simpson and Coldenhoff.

The Superfinal was cancelled in Hawkstone thanks to Storm Ciara, and with the weather not looking especially pleasant for this weekend in Matterley Basin, you have to question the judgement to put the British Grand Prix in the end of February/beginning of March. Whilst it might be unreasonable to expect the kind of conditions we saw in Hawkstone at the beginning of the month, those results might be something to look at when it comes to mud races, which could well be the situation for this weekend.

Anyone who has been keeping up with or watching Monster Energy Supercross so far this season will be accustomed by now to an incredibly stacked premier class, and the MXGP category for this season is no different.

In 2020 we have the potential to see for the first time Jeffrey Herlings versus Tim Gajser. Injuries have prevented this battle playing out over a full season in the premier class before and hopefully they won’t get in the way in 2020. That battle will start this weekend, where Herlings won in 2018 and Gajser took the fight to Cairoli in 2019, winning the qualifying race and the second race on Sunday, after crashing hard in the first moto and coming back to finish third behind Gautier Paulin.

Whilst Herlings was injured in the beginning of 2019, Gajser and Cairoli were the class of the field for the opening races, and it looked as though it could be a battle to the end between the two. An injury from Cairoli, however, curtailed that. It is unlikely that Cairoli will be at his very best this weekend for the opener in Matterley, but taking strong points will be important for the Italian if he wants to get his prospective title challenge off to a sufficient start. He will likely miss the speed of both Gajser and Herlings in 2020, at least in some races, so consistency really will be key for the Italian veteran in his search for his tenth world title.

The favourite for the title going in must surely be Herlings. 2018 was a remarkable season from the Dutchman, in which he was capable of making the best riders in the world look distinctly average. Should he be able to avoid injury in 2020 it could well be a repeat performance of two years ago, and it could well be that he stops a season-long title fight with Gajser simply with his speed. That speed also makes him the favourite for victory this weekend, but staying out of trouble in what could be far-from-ideal conditions may present further challenges that keeps Herlings’ speed in check.

Surprisingly, Jorge Prado is in action this weekend. He missed Matterley Basin last season courtesy of injury and it looked as though it would be the same story this year after breaking a femur in December of last year. Such a short turn around for Prado means he could be in a similar situation to the other rider in the de Carli side of the Red Bull KTM awning, Cairoli – not at his very best. Prado also has very little time with the 450 SX-F that he will be riding in 2020, his debut MXGP season due the back-to-back championships rule forcing him out of MX2 after a simply dominant 2019. Prado’s performance in Assen last year at the Motocross des Nations, his 450 debut, was an impressive one with the Spaniard taking fourth overall in the wet Dutch sand, but coming back from injury after almost zero preseason preparation could leave the two-times MX2 World Champion somewhat struggling for the 2020 opener.

Nonetheless, Prado is perhaps the most exciting MXGP rookie to arrive since Herlings in 2017, and he comes along with a crop of other promising stars, such as Mitch Evans who has gotten off to a strong start with the 2021 Honda CRF450 RW; Adam Sterry, Henri Jacobi, Thomas Covington who returns from the US, and Calvin Vlaanderen who all make the jump to 450s this season and will be making their World Championship debuts this weekend.

Additionally, this weekend we will see Romain Febvre’s World Championship debut on the Monster Energy Kawasaki alongside Clement Desalle who will ride his first GP since his injury in Russia last season. Last season’ runner-up Jeremy Seewer will be keen to show this weekend that he can cut it with the best of the best, and that he earned that runner-up spot in 2019, rather than being handed it by others’ misfortune and injuries. Seewer will also be after his first 450 GP win in 2020.

Also keep an eye out for Gautier Paulin on the factory Yamaha, as the Frenchman was the only rider even remotely close to Gajser and Cairoli in Matterley last season, as well as Arnaud Tonus who showed promising signs last season and will looking to put it all together in 2020.

The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna duo of Arminas Jasikonis and Paus Jonass will be keen to build on what were promising seasons in 2019, whilst two-time GP winner in the back end of 2019, Glenn Coldenhoff will be interesting to watch as he begins life as a factory GasGas rider – even if it is just as much a KTM as the Husqvarna.

Finally, after parting with Team VHR KTM, Jordi Tixier this weekend will be lining up for Sarholz KTM.