Race One: Jeffrey Herlings, despite a bad gate pick took the holeshot – yes, a holeshot! It came down to a dual with him and his team mate, Tom Vialle. Vialle actually passed Herlings but the #84 didn’t let him out of his sights and towards the end pulled the pin and passed him to bring home the win.
Vialle rode great to bring home second ahead of Febvre who had a good race himself. Febvre by the time he got into third had around eight seconds to make up but actually caught the Honda duo but never got close enough to make a move.
Lucas Coenen had a tip over when he was behind Febvre after a bad start so he finished fourth – he’ll want more in race two.
Pauls Jonass impressed finishing fifth ahead of Tim Gajser and Maxime Renaux – Yamaha have work to do!
Race Two: It was a superb second race in the MXGP class. Renaux was leading at the start but Vialle made a move and looked great the front. Febvre didn’t take long to get himself into second and then Vialle had a tip over dropping him to third.
Meanwhile, Herlings didn’t get the best of starts but worked his way through the pack. He had an eight seconds gap to make up to Febvre by the time he got into second – but his hard work was done as 1-2 would have give him the overall. However, he chased Febvre down and made a move to go 1-1. His 113th GP overall – but his first with Honda – that didn’t take long.
Gajser rode much better in race two and passed for Vialle late in the race to finish in third. Fernandez also rode much better to finish in fifth – ahead of Coenen who will be wanting more at round two. Renaux actually tipped over again to drop to eighth behind Adamo.
Bring on Spain for round two!
Race One:
Race Two:
Overall:
Championship standings:
