MXGP: Gajser fends off late challenge from Coldenhoff for eighth race win of 2020

The 11th round of the MXGP World Championship, the MXGP of Europe, took place in Mantova, the third race in a week in the Italian track. Tim Gajser led by five points coming into the first moto, whilst Romain Febvre was looking to take back-to-back overall wins. 

But it was the holeshot master, Jorge Prado, who took the lead into the first corner ahead of Romain Febvre. There was disaster lurking, though, as Prado stalled the bike going into the first switchback and Febvre had nowhere to go. Prado dropped to fifth, although he soon re-passed Antonio Cairoli for fourth, whilst Febvre dropped to eighth behind Clement Desalle, his factory Kawasaki teammate. 

The mistake of Prado saw Dylan Walsh take the lead in an MXGP race for the first time, and it was a Honda 1-2-3 with the two HRC bikes of Tim Gajser and Mitch Evans in the wake of the JM Honda Racing machine of Walsh. 

10 minutes in, though, and the factory guys were growing impatient with Walsh and Gajser started to apply the pressure, although the New Zealander’s defense proved strong. 

Behind the leading two, Prado had caught Evans, and passed him at the end of the first 10 minutes before immediately turning his attention to Gajser, who needed to clear Walsh and create some distance between himself and the #61. 

Gajser took the lead with just under 20 minutes to go, although he only had half a lap to make an advantage as Prado passed Walsh half a lap after the #243.

Prado was unable to make much of an impact, though, on the championship leader once he cleared Walsh, and Gajser was steady out front with around two seconds over the Spaniard. 

It looked a nailed on victory for the Slovenian until the final two laps, when Glenn Coldenhoff’s speed went off the charts, taking two or more seconds out of the leader and passing Prado on the penultimate lap. It seemed impossible five minutes previously but on the final lap the GASGAS rider had a genuine shot at the moto win. Gajser’s lead was down to around one second halfway round the lap, but the #243 was able to respond in the switchbacks and maintain enough distance between himself and the #259 to take his eighth win of the season, even if it looked doubtful towards the end. 

It was something of a statement ride from Gajser, an answer to those convinced that Jorge Prado’s consistency out of the gate combined with his speed will make the Spaniard irresistible in the run-in for this title. In this first moto, Gajser reminded everyone why he has the red plate, out-pacing Prado when he needed to and coming from behind at the start to win. 

Coldenhoff’s ride was equally as important, the Dutchman making his strongest performance since his overall win in the MXGP of Latvia at the beginning of August. Although he was unable to beat Gajser in the end, he proved to have the speed of the #243, and more at the end. He is in the frame for his second Grand Prix win of the season, and should still not be discounted from the championship. 

Prado had another golden opportunity to eat into the points lead of Gajser, but the mistake on lap one cost him. The Spaniard, though, lost only five points to the red plate holder and it is almost a certainty at this point that he will be playing for the race win from the start of the race in the second moto later today. 

Mitch Evans took a run at Prado in the final five minutes but was unable to pass the Spaniard. He then seemed to tire and that cost him to Coldenhoff and almost Cairoli. The Australian rallied, though, and broke away from the #222, taking a strong fourth in the end. 

Behind, Cairoli was fifth, having been as low as eighth at times in the race. It was the first part of the race that cost the Italian, who was strong towards the end but had too much ground to make up on a track where passing is not as easy as, say, Latvia. There was nothing wrong with the speed of the 35-year-old, though, and it is possible that he could reverse the points he lost in this race to Gajser. 

On the positive side for Cairoli is that he beat Jeremy Seewer, who has been coming strong in the championship recently. The Swiss’ rhythm dropped in the middle of the race, and he dropped from the battle for the top three to sixth, behind Cairoli. From there the #91 was unable to recover. The reality, though, is that he was only 11 seconds off the win. The pace of the top riders is so close that anyone of the top six, plus a few others, could emerge as a potential race winner in the second moto. The term ‘startcross’ was used to describe AMA Supercross earlier this year by Steve Matthes on his PulpMX Show, and there is an argument for saying that the same could be applied to MXGP in 2020, and especially in Mantova, where the pace is so close and passing is so difficult. 

Behind Seewer was his factory Yamaha teammate, Gautier Paulin, who was seven seconds down on the #91 but only 19 seconds off the win. The Frenchman was ahead of Ivo Monticelli, the Italian’s best result of the season in eighth, and behind him were Brian Bogers and Romain Febvre who completed the top 10, the #3 going down for a second time at the finish jump as he was battling with Coldenhoff. 

Calvin Vlaanderen was 11th, ahead of Clement Desalle, Henry Jacobi, Jeremy van Horebeek and Nicholas Lapucci who completed the top 15. In 16th was Valentin Guillod, ahead of Tanel Leok, Jose Butron, Petar Petrov and Adam Sterry who rounded out the top 20. Dylan Walsh ended up 22nd after a crash, but this was nonetheless a breakthrough ride from the New Zealander.