Who impressed: MX2 World Championship – Semarang
It’s hard not to be really impressed with Jorge Prado after round twelve in Semarang as he simply dominated both moto’s to have yet another perfect weekend. The young Spaniard has so much technique on a bike and rides so smooth, he’s just a joy to watch.
Despite not liking the Semarang during qualifying he was much happier on race day and looked even more comfortable. With Olsen having a DNF in the second moto, Prado has now opened his championship points gap up to 78! Considering he missed a round of the series that’s pretty incredible.
Is there anyone out there that’s still doubting Tom Vialle? There were raised eye brows when Factory KTM signed the young French rider but they can be happy they took the risk. Vialle looked great at Semarang and went 2-4 for another podium with second overall. He’s going from strength to strength and is nearly the complete rider now – one mission for him is to improve his riding in the deep sand.
Pic: Youthstream
“The first race was really good for me because I could just follow Jorge and keep the speed. I made a mistake with five minutes to go and that decided it. I didn’t have the same rhythm in the second race and in the end just controlled my position to make sure of the podium. I just had trouble to find the right lines, so to take fourth and second overall meant a good day”, Vialle commented.
Sometimes when riders miss a lot of racing due to an injury it can take them a while to get back into the swing of racing but it hasn’t took Calvin Vlaanderen long at all. At just his second GP back he got himself on the box by going 5-3 for third overall. By showing he hasn’t lost all that much of his speed the Dutch will certainly find it tough not to select him for the Motocross Des Nations.
“In one way this podium was a bit of a surprise, but in another way, I feel like I’ve ridden well enough this year to have deserved to be on the box before. Obviously it is only my second race back from injury so I feel like I can improve even further both in speed and in my physical condition but I did feel really good this weekend. I tried to save a little bit of energy from yesterday, to make sure I could ride better today and it worked out well. I could push in both motos, which I couldn’t last weekend so already I have improved in one week so I just want to continue building and building. It was fun to be out there, with some good battles in both races and I enjoyed the whole weekend”, said Vlaanderen.
Indonesia is a long way to travel but it’s been a superb trip for French talent, Maxime Renaux. Honestly, he was very unlucky not to stand on the podium at the weekend – speed certainly wasn’t the issue.
Pic: Youthstream
A bad start left him buried down the order in the first moto but he recovered to a solid eighth. In the second moto, he had the ride of his life! The French talent was seventh on the first lap but worked his way through to second. He must have felt great passing the likes of Vialle and Vlaanderen. Now he will be hoping to carry on with this form as the series heads back to Europe with Loket being the next stop. It’d also be nice to see him get a good start – it’d make things easier for him.
Article: Andy McKinstry
Pics: Youthstream
