It’s a weird season in MXGP that will soon have three title contenders back in action with no title to contend for! Tim Gajser is expected back in Loket, Jeffrey Herlings in Sweden and Maxime Renaux could also be back by the end of the season with nothing but GP wins to go for.
That could infuse excitement into the end of the GP season that currently has Jorge Prado in control of the title with Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings, in theory, at last free to go as fast as they can to beat each other and show their raw pace without a championship at play. Gajser has long wanted to beat Herlings straight up for a title but beating him straight up on race pace could be the next best thing at least for 2023.
But there is another exciting avenue that Herlings and Gajser could go down – racing the final AMA MX round of the season and take on Jett Lawrence and Chase Sexton!
There is no GP that weekend and with no championship battle on the line, there is no reason bar team logistics that would prevent both riders taking a trip across the water to give Jett Lawrence some competition! Only Ken Roczen, who is supercross only, has been able to rival the smooth as silk Lawrence so far, but if Gajser and Herlings were on form the Aussie sensation might have to finally use all the speed under his hood to go for the win.
Herlings has of course done it before and went 1-1 in 2017, and he has also harbored ambitions to race an AMA season at the end of his career. Gajser has raced the Monster Energy Cup and also at one stage had US ambitions and this might just be a nice bonus race for the two former world champs to do, and slightly make up for the disappointment of not being able to contend for their sixth world title, with a different experience.
Jett Lawrence could do with the competition… and the hype of Gajser v Herlings v Lawrence and maybe Sexton if he is back, would light up the motocross world!
Image: Danny Relouw