The 2023 FIM Motocross World Championship arrives in The Netherlands and will discover a new venue in its history in Arnhem for the sixteenth round of the campaign.
The MXGP of The Netherlands comes back to the MXGP Calendar after 2021. Arnhem is a sand track that many riders would know as an ideal training facility although the context will be different in competition mode.
Along with MXGP and MX2, the EMX250 and WMX will compete this weekend in their 8th and penultimate round respectively this season. In EMX250, Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing Team’s Andrea Bonacorsi is the Red Plate Holder with 2 Round wins and 7 podiums out of 7 rounds. Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan leads the WMX by 20 points after winning the last 3 rounds.
Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado kept his good form and his large advantage in the Championship thanks to his Race win putting him on the third step of the podium along with the RAM Qualifying Race victory in Uddevalla. Coming in Arnhem on a sand track will be certainly an advantage for the Red Plate to get even closer to the mighty Title.
The winning streak of Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre came to a stop but the French rider still managed an excellent second place in Sweden which confirms even more his impressive form in this second part of the season. He is still 98 points behind Prado and with 4 GP to go, time does not play in his favours.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer finally got his second GP win of the season with a solid weekend in Sweden. His famous fast starts helped him a lot at Uddevalla to clinch the victory and take his 11th FOX Holeshot along the way to take the lead in that competition in front of Prado.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff didn’t perform as he would have loved to in Sweden as he finished 9th overall and lost precious points to his victorious teammate Seewer in the Championship for the 3rd place. He will surely take the opportunity of racing at home in The Netherlands to give everything and chase after the victory that eluded him so far this season.
Team HRC’s Rubén Fernández managed to come back to compete in Sweden after his crash in Finland and managed a good 8th overall given the circumstances with two top 10 finishes. He will be able to raise his level again this weekend in Arnhem.
Team Gebben Van Venroy Yamaha Racing’s Calvin Vlaanderen was quieter than usual in Sweden as for the first time of the season he didn’t finish in the overall top 10. His home GP in Arnhem will definitely give him an extra boost from the support of the Dutch fans to bounce back.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings performed very well in difficult conditions in Sweden to get a good and encouraging 4th place overall which is the perfect timing for him to get his home Grand Prix in the Netherlands. The ‘bullet’ is going to have an immense amount of support from the Dutch crowd who will all come to get a glimpse at the recordman in Motocross Grand Prix wins.
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser keeps building his fitness and rhythm as he finished 10th overall in Sweden but finished 5th in race 2. Gajser will definitely want to prove that he can be back riding at the top in The Netherlands and maybe even eying a podium.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Maxime Renaux has signed his highly-anticipated comeback in Uddevalla and didn’t take long to put his print in the race as he clinched the 3rd place in Race 2 to get an excellent 6th overall. With a back-to-back Grand Prix, it will be interesting to see if Renaux can get a momentum and starts to fight for podiums straight away.
Home Rider Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Brian Bogers is 15th in the Championship and will also be competing in his home GP. Bogers will hope to better his season’s best finish in Flanders where he managed to get 9th overall. No doubt that the support from the Dutch fans will help him in that quest.
Championship Standings
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 770 points;
2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 672 p.;
3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 603 p.;
4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 553 p.;
5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 521 p.;
6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 498 p.;
7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 456 p.;
8. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 380 p.;
9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 281 p.;
10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 230 p.;
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo had two very different races in Sweden as he got tangled in the start in race 1 to finish 10th while he took a better start in race 2 to then made his way to the top and fly to victory. He got onto the 3rd step of the podium and kept a good margin on his first pursuer and teammate Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Liam Everts.
Liam Everts was very solid as he went 2-3 for 2nd overall. He also got a back-to-back podium and gained points on Adamo along the way which will definitely make it interesting for the last GPs. Everts also gets more comfortable and relaxed as the season goes on which will be an advantage for the end of the season.
While Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Jago Geerts and Thibault Benistant along with the two Dutch riders from Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, Kay de Wolf and Roan Van De Moosdijk are out of the competition for now, Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Simon Laengenfelder who is 4th in the Championship is simply performing at his best as he finally managed to get a second Grand Prix victory to his name this season in Sweden with strong ridings. It is now 5 podiums in a row for Laengenfelder who really found the switch to find himself at the top week in week out.
For the 7th in the Championship, Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen the MXGP of Sweden was literally one to forget after crashing in Time Practice and suffering from a concussion that prevented him to line-up in the RAM Qualifying Race and the Sunday racings. L.Coenen will hope to be back this weekend.
F&H Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo who is 9th in the Championship nearly got it right in Uddevalla which was nearly like a home GP for the Norwegian. He was leading MX2 race 2 but got overtaken and his bike failed on him which made him miss out on his first podium. However, Horgmo showed great speed and will get other chances of podium if he keeps riding that way.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Rick Elzinga will be the first home rider in the MX2 Championship Standings that will compete in Arnhem and will be getting a lot of support. Following his season’s best finish in Sweden in 4th position, the young Rookie has improved consistently since his return from injury.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Sacha Coenen is also getting better consistency which helped him to get his MX2 career’s best MX2 finish I 6th overall. S.Coenen made some costly mistake which denied him so far to get closer to a podium finish but if the young Belgian reduces these mistakes he will have all the talent to get podium finishes regularly.
Championship Standings
1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 663 points;
2. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 583 p.;
3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 559 p.;
4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 546 p.;
5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 501 p.;
6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 462 p.;
7. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 461 p.;
8. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 433 p.;
9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 425 p.;
10. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 306 p.;
Words & Photo Credit – MXGP
