Brent van Doninck might not be grabbing the headlines every weekend, but the Belgian has been quietly piecing together very consistent results in MXGP. Regularly finishing inside the top ten – and often doing it the hard way – van Doninck has shown grit, speed, and determination aboard his JM Honda. Despite battling setbacks, including a controversial disqualification in Loket and a gruelling Lommel weekend, he continues to push forward and prove his worth in a stacked field. We caught up with van Doninck to talk about his season so far, the disqualification drama, the future of the JM Honda and his hopes for the rest of the year.
GateDrop: Brent, you are quietly going under the radar I would say. You are having a really, really solid season yet nobody seems to speak about you that much… But you must be really happy with how things are going?
Van Doninck: The last few weeks have been good actually. Since Germany, I feel like I’ve got my speed back again. Just this weekend a little bit of mixed feelings, I maybe hoped for a little bit more, like a top five. It looked like it was going to work out in the first moto but then with three laps to go, man, I saw stars. Like I had no energy anymore. I don’t know, but this was going on for the whole weekend a little bit. I don’t know if I have a little bit of sickness going on. I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow or the day after.
GateDrop: Well, have you had that feeling on a normal track? Or was it just here?
Van Doninck: It was just here, actually. Then in the second moto, I had a good start again just like race one but then Renaux stepped on the brake and it scared me a little bit and I missed the turn. Well, I didn’t miss the turn, but I made a mistake and I went over the berm and went down. Then from dead last to eleventh, it wasn’t too bad. But like I said, I was hoping for a little bit more.
GateDrop: Well, I have to ask you about last week and what happened in Loket. Everyone saw what happened. I mean, what’s your take on it? I’m surprised you actually were able to keep quiet on social media because that’s a bit of a disgrace.
Van Doninck: What happened with me and Guadagnini was racing, you know. That’s alright…
GateDrop: For sure, but the decision to disqualify you?!
Van Doninck: I think FIM had to see this through and had to give me the joker because I didn’t go into the pit lane by my own will, you know. I mean, I just got shot into the pit lane. Lucky the pit lane was there because if it was somewhere else, I would end up on the fence, you know. I did slow down in the pit lane, it was not like I was going full gas through the pit lane but they say rules are rules. I had to make it to a full stop and go again but in race mode, you are not thinking about it. You’re just like, f**k, slow down a little bit and then you better get back on the track. I didn’t care that much because I’m not battling for a championship or whatever because of the injuries. But for the team and for Jacky, it’s nice to show these results to the sponsors and another top ten, you know. I was ninth at that time, I worked my way up from almost last as well. I mean, I think I went from 22nd to ninth in my first moto. I think I was the one making passes in that moto but it is what it is. I’m not bound to think about it anymore. I just want to finish the year strong.
GateDrop: Lommel, even for Lommel standards, that looked ridiculous today. What was it like to ride? It looked so rough, just bumps everywhere…
Van Doninck: This was the roughest I’ve ever seen Lommel, the holes were so deep. There was no rhythm. I was actually struggling quite a lot yesterday in the qualifying moto.
GateDrop: And you are a sand man (laughs)…
Van Doninck: But that’s the thing. People that come here, they always expect much more from me in this race. But it’s not like ten years ago anymore when the French and the Italians were struggling here. I feel now everyone can ride the sand and figured it out with the bike and everything. Things have changed a lot. I don’t feel like you have an advantage on some tracks. Everything is the same right now, everyone is fast, fit and strong.
GateDrop: It was a packed-out crowd. Was it nice to ride in front of that atmosphere? And obviously they were going pretty wild for Lucas as well. It’s nice to see a Belgian win at their home GP…
Van Doninck: Yeah, I feel like Belgium is doing pretty good at the moment. For the amount of tracks we have in Belgium. We have four tracks. Someone like Lucas is good for the sport in Belgium, I mean he brings more attention and what he’s doing is amazing. He’s so strong for his age. It’s unbelievable because as strong as he is, physically he still has more to come normally. I feel this GP was… I don’t know how many spectators there were last year. But to me it felt like this year was incredible how many people were there.
GateDrop: You are very consistent between 7-11 pretty much every weekend now. What do you think you need to do to get closer or even into that top 5? It’s obviously not easy…
Van Doninck: No, it’s not easy. But I’m just a little bit frustrated every weekend. There’s always one of the two moto’s where something happens – I crash in the start or I crash with another rider and this frustrates me a little bit. I feel like I always do good two motos but the results don’t show it. There’s always one good moto, like this one, 7th and then the second moto I came from last to 11th. But like I said, I want to do solid mottos. You can’t do that when things like this happen.
GateDrop: You’ve seemed to have found a home here with the JM Honda team. What’s it like working with Jacky and Yentl? Are you enjoying it?
Van Doninck: So this is my third season already with the team. I love it. I mean, I live 15 minutes away from here but I’m still unsure on what’s going on for next year. At the moment I have no contract. The team is still looking at what they’re going to do with support and what brand or whatever. So everything is still a little bit unsure. I mean, I feel like the way I’m riding now, I deserve a ride. But with the way many guys are riding at the moment, it’s hard at the moment. I feel like the factory teams still haven’t signed all the big guys so the budgets are not out yet for the private team. So it will take a few more weeks.
GateDrop: Have you had any talks with any sort of teams in the paddock? And I did hear a rumour this weekend actually. That this team, the future is uncertain. Is that true? I obviously hope they continue.
Van Doninck: I don’t know, to be honest. I know they had some talks this weekend, Jacky with people but I didn’t want to know what was going on because I’m racing this weekend. I want to focus on my racing but I think after this weekend and on the future for sure, we will talk about it and see what’s going on. It’s a difficult time at the moment.
GateDrop: Sweden is the next GP. Will you get some hard pack riding in before that one? What’s the plans? Obviously there’s Genk in Belgium or will you go somewhere else for hard pack prep?
Van Doninck: I think I will take an easy week, I’ll take a week off maybe and then next weekend we have actually a really nice race. We have Balen which is something I always look forward to and it’s close to my place. The week after I will do some hard pack riding of course. I really like Sweden and always enjoy going there. I like the track so am looking forward to it.
GateDrop: And the Belgian Motocross des Nations team. What do you think your chances are in getting selected? Have you spoken to Joel yet?
Van Doninck: No, I have no idea. But I bet that, think that for sure you’ll have Lucas and then I think Sacha and Liam. I think they will put Liam on the 450cc maybe. For sure, he will be fit again and I think that’s the pick. But you never know.
