Jorge Prado started the season on fire and Jeffrey Herlings is now hitting his best form in a couple of years but the man with the red plate is Tim Gajser.
The Slovenian, for some reason, tends to go under the radar, but so far this season he has been always there, week-in and week-out – if he isn’t winning he is on the podium. He is executing this championship pretty perfectly so far and, after his broken leg last year ended his title hopes before they began, he deserves a lot of respect for his performances so far this season.
Wins and consistency have given Gajser the red plate, he is ALWAYS there. He didn’t panic when Prado put his win streak together at the start of the season, when it would have been easy to push too hard and have a big crash. Now, after navigating the mud races and Indonesia, he is the man in pole position for the title and his starts are on point. The normally mild mannered Gajser even showed some aggression with the move on Herlings in Latvia and Prado in Maggiora. Prado responded with a brake check and Herlings had some hard moves in Indonesia that he even apologised for, it’s clear all three know it’s fine margins with their direct competition, hard but fair and never give an inch.
The title tension is rising and Gajser has stepped up the intensity, both Prado and Herlings are chasing, and chasing the HRC Honda rider hard, but Gajser is no stranger to this sort of pressure.
There is a certain mystery to the Slovenian who spends most of his time back in his homeland doing his preparation, similar to Tomac in Colorado. He just gets to work, knows what works and takes care of business efficiently.
This season is a battle of the legends, a five-time world champ versus a five-time world champ versus the three-time world champ who is also the defending MXGP champ. This is a special time in World Championship motocross. At the halfway point Gajser has the red plate on his red bike, he knows things are heating up and Herlings and Prado will not be easily defeated but Gajser is where he wants to be and he deserves immense credit for his season so far.
The title run-in starts this weekend in Loket, the pressure mounts on all three, with every mistake costly and potentially momentum changing. They all know what it takes to win but it’s Gajser who has the most margin for error, he has a the 34 point lead over Prado and 51 over Herlings. Gajser has put himself in pole position going down the stretch.
