Published on 14 July 2015

MX2 & MXGP: Who impressed in Latvia?

MXGP headed to Latvia to host the twelfth round of the championship at the sandy venue of Kegums, the same track that hosted the motocross of nations in 2014! Gatedrop will take a look at the riders that impressed during the course of the weekend in the MX2 and MXGP classes, some surprises were in store!

MX2

Whenever Jeffrey Herlings can’t ride a sand race then who usually steps up? Max Anstie of course! Before this GP, Tim Gajser had all the momentum as he had won three GP’s in a row and many thought he would continue his winning streak but Max had other ideas. In the first moto Max had to make a few passes and was six seconds down on Jonass but he charged hard and was able to pass Jonass and take the win in an impressive ride. The second moto was simpler as he got the hole shot and lead from start to finish, he was brilliant all weekend. It will be interesting to see if Max can carry this form into Loket which should favour Tim but if Max could win there he will be full of confidence!

For this season Harri Kullas wasn’t able to secure a GP ride which meant he was riding for Heads ‘N’ Threads in the British championship and he wasn’t having much joy in the series. After Tonkov was ruled out for the season, Jacky Martens decided to save Harri from his British championship misery and give him a bike until the end of the season. It just goes to show what a difference a factory bike can make! Harri got two great starts and hung it out there with the front boys to take his first overall podium in MX2! Even though it is quite surprising, he was really fast at the nations last year and even battled with Martin for a while. It will be interesting if he can show this speed for the rest of the season!

It has been quite frustrating for Ben Watson this year as I feel he is riding a lot better than the results show but Latvia was a game changer for him. A thirteenth and an eighth give him his career best GP of ninth overall and being the youngest rider in MX2 that is very encouraging. It would be interesting what Ben could do with a factory bike, Harri Kullas just got a podium and was no were near Watson in the British. I would really like to see what Ben could do on a factory bike, I think he has a lot of potential and will be a front runner in the class in the future.

MXGP

Well who was expecting that? Glenn Coldenhoff was immense all weekend long and won his first MXGP moto and overall. Glenn got told a few weeks ago that he won’t be needed by Suzuki next year, he had all the motivation he needed before Latvia and he was awesome! Glenn has always been fast at Latvia though, at the nations he almost passed Tomac on a 250 so I am not too surprised that he was able to pull the win off. This will give Glenn the confidence that he needed – that he has what it takes to run at the front with the MXGP boys. He might have just landed himself a factory ride in 2016 as well, Suzuki might regret letting him go!

It has been  a terrible season for Steven Frossard so far but Kawasaki have always rated him (probably regret letting him go for Rattray) and after he split with STR they decided to give him a bike until the end of the season. Latvia was good for Steven, he’s like a new rider and felt right at home on the Factory Kawasaki, a sixth and an eighth give him a sixth overall which is his best GP so far in 2015. Steven will be looking for better results before the end of the season as he wants a factory ride for next year. I don’t think he enjoyed riding for a privateer team too much and he now has to prove he deserves a factory ride for next year!

Last year Filip Bengtsson showed great speed in all the sand GP’s that he rode in and it got him a full time ride with 24MX Honda for the 2015 season. Filip still needs to find his feet at the hard pack tracks as he isn’t the best in those conditions. He also recently got injured, Latvia was his second GP back so even though he is really fast in sand I didn’t expect him to do so well this weekend. An eleventh and a ninth meant he ended up ninth overall, this will give him something to build on! There are more sand races approaching soon so he could go on a role now putting good results in, he needs to get past Loket first though as its those sort of tracks he needs to improve.

Article: Andy McKinstry
Pic: MXGP