There are only nine points separating Tim Gajser from his closest rival Jorge Prado with four rounds to go in MXGP in 2024 – with Jeffrey Herlings still hovering on the periphary 35 points back ready to pick up any pieces in a pulsating title battle that is seeing all three riders getting more intense each weekend.
Prado compared the difference between a championship he controlled last year to the dogfight this year and that has seen him in catch-up mode in recent rounds. “I go for the win every time , like last year, said Prado. “But last year I could afford to be on the podium and not win every GP, make the best out of it and stay safe, I had almost 100 points advantage, so that is a lot of points to play with, with good starts and good riding I could manage very well.”
“This year it’s a different,” he conceded. “The 10 points in Arco (qualifying race) and 25 points in Maggiora makes it tougher. Those are 35 points I lost very quickly and it’s not easy, because Tim is also riding very well and very consistent so we are getting closer, it takes time hopefully in the next rounds I can manage to ride at my best level like I am doing right now and not make any mistakes and get the red plate.”
Gajser, who said Arnhem was a “solid day” and that he was riding “way better than Lommel” after doing some testing in the sand to feel at one with the bike, said of the title battle, “I feel that i am in good shape, I knowsand tracks are not my strongest point but give my best but there are four rounds to go, all tracks that I think we are all riding well here, it’s going to be interesting end of the season, we all want to win, so I am going to try and win as much as possible and we are going to see.”
On the near miss that saw both touch rear wheels in th air over jump – yet somehow not crash, Prado admitted he was fearing the worse! “Neither of us wanted to get so close in the air, it just happened the sand is unpredicatble, we landed in a soft spot in the jump before, and this made me go one side and Tim the other side. It ended up very good, I was seeing myself with my face in the sand but we ended up in the next corner – this was a very lucky moment! We need to be happy we are standing here right now!”
Gajser added: “I was in front and I scrubbed the finish line quite hard and I looked on my left and Jorge was there scrubbing on the other side, facing me,. it was really close a couple of centimetres, luckily we stayed on two wheels.”
See Gajser’s view at 1m 52 seconds in and the TV footage below that:
