Valkenswaard in the Netherlands hosted the sixth round of the 2017 Motocross World Championship and once again the racing in both classes didn’t disappoint with battling all down the field.
After his amazing performance in Italy last weekend, many expected Antonio Cairoli to sweep both motos at a sandy track that is one of his better venues. Instead though, it was Gautier Paulin who survived an onslaught from the pack of riders behind him to come out on top with 1-2 race results. For Paulin, it was his first win on the Husqvarna and his first win since this very race two years ago and his celebrations matched the occasion. Tasting second place for the first time ever at Valkenswaard was Jeffrey Herlings who had won all his previous seven outings here, and desperately tried to make it eight in front of a vocal home crowd. Instead he could only manage a pair of third place finishes as bad starts hindered any chance he had of getting the overall victory. Cairoli almost sneaked onto the podium, winning the second race, but he couldn’t quite overcome the ninth in race one, due to some vision problems. Instead it was Jeremy van Horebeek who rounded out the top three as he climbed to fourth place in the championship, with Tim Gajser still out front holding the red plate with the gap closing to 14 points now.
In the MX2 class Pauls Jonass put in a commanding 1-1 performance to extend his lead at the top of the standings to 19 points. Jeremy Seewer tried his best to overcome his terrible qualification result and fought his way through to finish with 4-2 scores which was good enough for second overall. Behind him was Brent van Doninck whose 36 points were good enough to land him on the podium for the first time this year. In fact with some better starts, the young Belgian rider could have well been challenging for the lead, his pace was that impressive coming through the pack.
The series now takes a weekend off before heading east to Kegums in Latvia, where another sandy circuit awaits the riders in the MXGP and MX2 classes.
MXGP Overall:
1. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 47 points
2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 40 p.
3. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 38 p.
4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 37 p.
5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 33 p.
6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 31 p.
7. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, SUZ), 30 p.
8. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 25 p.
9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 24 p.
10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 21 p.
MXGP Points Standings:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 234 points
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 220 p.
3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 192 p.
4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 182 p.
5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 176 p.
MX2 Overall:
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 50 points
2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 40 p.
3. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 36 p.
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 30 p.
5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), 29 p.
6. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, SUZ), 27 p.
7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 26 p.
8. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 22 p.
9. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 22 p.
10. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 20 p.
MX2 Points Standings:
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 242 points
2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 223 p.
3. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 197 p.
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 188 p.
5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 173 p.
