MXGP: Gajser dominates Lommel GP as positive COVID test halts Prado’s charge

Round 15 of the 2020 MXGP World Championship saw action get underway at Lommel for the third time in a week, as the Grand Prix of Lommel completed what was surely the most physically demanding of the triple headers that will hopefully be unique to 2020. Tim Gajser, the red plate holder, was the fastest rider in time practice, and came into this round with a 55-point lead in the championship. 

Gajser’s hopes of retaining the crown he won back in 2019 were strengthened when Jorge Prado was forced to pull out of the Grand Prix of Lommel following a positive COVID-19 test before the GP. While Antonio Cairoli was Gajser’s closest championship challenger in terms of points coming into this round, it was Prado who had shown the most potential for taking the red plate from Gajser between now and the season end in Trentino on November 8, having been the only rider to match both Gajser’s speed and consistency over the last few rounds. However, sitting 57 points back after the Grand Prix of Limburg on Wednesday, Prado had little option in the championship but to at least beat Gajser in every race between now and the end of the season. The Spaniard cannot be taken out of the championship mathematically this weekend, but it would take something miraculous to bring the #61 back into contention. 

With Prado out of action, there was at least a question about who would make the holeshot. On the occasion of the first moto, it went to Tim Gajser, ahead of Jeremy Seewer, although Antonio Cairoli was quickly able to demote the Swiss to third, before Romain Febvre went past the #91 as well before the end of the first lap.

After dealing with Seewer, Cairoli soon became a victim of Febvre who moved into second place on the first official lap. Already by this point, Gajser was three seconds out front. 

Febvre was able to close the gap to the #243 down to just under two seconds initially, but Gajser was able to respond and after half distance it was hard for the Frenchman to see which way his rival went. 

In the end, it was a relatively comfortable win for the reigning World Champion, who took his 11th race win of the season by 22 seconds from Romain Febvre, while Antonio Cairoli was third, 39 seconds down on the Slovenian. 

Behind Cairoli were two of the three factory Yamahas, those of Jeremy Seewer and Gautier Paulin, both around one minute behind Gajser, while Brian Bogers was sixth ahead of Jordi Tixier, Arnaud Tonus, Jeremy van Horebeek and Clement Desalle who completed the top 10. 

Nathan Watson, in Lommel after the Dunkirk beach race was cancelled, finished 11th in his first MXGP race of the season, ahead of Petar Petrov and Calvin Vlaanderen who was fortunate to even reach the finish as after only a couple of minutes there was smoke coming from his #10 Yamaha. Behind the Dutchman was Ivo Monticelli on the lone GASGAS, while Milko Potisek – in similar circumstances to Watson – completed the top 15. 

Tanel Leok was 16th, ahead of Dylan Walsh, Evgeny Bobryshev, Kay Ebben (his first MXGP appearance of the season) and Rene Ranikko who rounded out the top 20 for the first moto of the MXGP of Lommel.

Race two started with another Tim Gajser holeshot, ahead of Romain Febvre and Arnaud Tonus, although both Tonus and Jeremy Seewer were able to overcome the Kawasaki rider early on. 

Second soon became first for Seewer, though, as Gajser crashed before they reached the finish for the first time. That crash dropped Gajser to eighth, while the Yamahas lost the lead almost as soon as they had gained it with Romain Febvre charging through at the beginning of the first official lap. 

Febvre was able to pull away from Seewer to the tune of nine seconds before Gajser managed to fight his way up to second place from eighth. However, it was not done, as the #243’s pace was superior to the #3’s, and Gajser was able to catch and pass Febvre with three minutes left on the race clock. 

Gajser did not look back from there, and streaked away to take the race two win by 18.7 seconds ahead of Romain Febvre. For Gajser, it was an almost perfect day; operating a level above his competition from time practice until the final lap of the second moto, interrupted only by a crash from which he recovered in that second race. 

After the crash of Gajser, Febvre was out front and was on schedule to win his second GP of the year, but the speed of the Honda rider was simply irresistible. Still, 2-2 on the day was a strong effort from the Kawasaki man who has proven himself to be one of the top three riders in MXGP in recent weeks, often being the only rider to even come close to Prado and Gajser. He came up short this time, but Febvre was still five seconds clear of his nearest competitor, Jeremy Seewer who was third. 

Gautier Paulin and Arnaud Tonus ensured there were three factory Yamahas in the top five, despite a crash late on for the #4 who had his best moto finish of the season with fifth place. 

Behind the three Yamaha riders was Clement Desalle, ahead of Brian Bogers, Brent van Doninck, Jordi Tixier and Antonio Cairoli who completed the top 10 after crashing twice, including once on the first lap that dropped him to the back of the field. 

Evgeny Bobryshev kept Cairoli at bay for most of the second half of the moto, although to Cairoli it probably felt like the second half of his life as he searched for a way past the #777. However, when encountering a back marker with just a couple of laps to go, Bobryshev got unlucky and Cairoli was able to take advantage and pull away from the Russian, leaving him in 11th. 

Dylan Walsh was 10 seconds adrift of Bobryshev in 12th, ahead of Calvin Vlaanderen, Freek van der Vlist and Jeremy van Horebeek who completed the top 15; while Tanel Leok was 16th, in front of Ivo Monticelli, Valentin Guillod, Adam Sterry and Petar Petrov who rounded out the top 20. 

In the overall, Gajser’s first 1-1 of the season of course gave him the Grand Prix win, his third of 2020 as he moves 74 points clear at the top of the championship. Behind the Slovenian, Romain Febvre’s 2-2 was enough for second, while 4-3 gave Jeremy Seewer the final spot on the podium and moved him to within 10 points of Cairoli in the championship, 23 clear of the absent Prado.

Gautier Paulin went 5-4 for fourth overall, three points clear of Cairoli, who was a further two points clear of Arnaud Tonus and Brian Bogers, with Tonus beating Bogers for sixth in the overall courtesy of a better second moto result. 

Clement Desalle took eighth overall in his final home Grand Prix, ahead of Jordi Tixier and Jeremy van Horebeek, the #89 completing the top 10 on home soil.