Tim Gajser has claimed second place overall in the MXGP of Asia, which drew to a close today at Semarang in Indonesia. The Team HRC rider led a good part of the opening moto and was eventually second at the line, and with a third place in race two he is now fourth in the championship standings. Gajser’s team mate Todd Waters was twelfth and sixteenth in the two encounters – with a stomach bug affecting his overall health.
Gajser had a decent start to the race one and was almost unstoppable on the opening lap as he made his way past Clement Desalle, Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin and eventually, after a quick swap of positions, he overtook Jeffrey Herlings for second. He then closed the gap on Cairoli and with the then-fastest time, he took the lead on lap one and tried to check out.
With the battle for the top-three raging in the background, Gajser kept pulling away and by lap six he was already five seconds ahead of second place. On lap 13, however, he was caught and passed by a resurging Herlings. Tim did not give up and, in the final three laps, he matched the pace of the leader – but it was not enough to have one last go at the win.
In race two, Gajser was third as the MXGP field jumped over the finish line for the first time, and tried to stay with Herlings and Desalle while pulling away from Jeremy Seewer. He eventually got very close to second place but was unable to maintain the same quick pace and lost ground from the first two. With second place overall in his pocket, Gajser consolidated third place in the remaining laps.
Waters had a good start to the first moto as he rode within the top-ten in the first four laps. Still suffering the effects of a stomach bug, the 27-year-old Australian dropped down to sixteenth in the central part of the race, but was eventually able to recover two places before the end and he was then promoted to twelfth due to other riders’ penalties. Todd was sixteenth in the final encounter of the day.
The 2018 Motocross World Championship will return to action in two weekends at Loket, for the MXGP of Czech Republic.
