The 17th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, brought both challenges and highlights for the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP and MX2 teams. Although the team wasn’t at full strength due to the last-minute withdrawal of Calvin Vlaanderen and the unfortunate early exit of Jago Geerts during qualifying, the return of Maxime Renaux and Thibault Benistant was a major boost. Both riders, despite their lack of race fitness after extended absences, performed admirably, securing three holeshots between them and showing flashes of their top-tier talent.
However, the standout performance of the weekend came from 18-year-old Karlis Reisulis. As a newcomer to MX2 and the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 team, Reisulis took the holeshot in Race Two and led for an impressive 12 laps before finishing in second place. This career-best result highlighted his raw speed and potential and made it a clean sweep for Yamaha in terms of holeshots at the Swiss Grand Prix.
Thibault Benistant:
I’m actually so happy to be back racing and there are plenty of positives for me to take away from here after being out of action for a few months. I struggled a little bit in Race Two as I’d not raced for so long but with more time on the bike, my feeling on the bike will only get better and better.
Maxime Renaux:
I’d say my return to racing was ok. I had two good starts which is something positive to build from and my sprint speed for the first four or five laps was also really good. With so much time off the bike I’m really sore, but I just need more time on it to get back into race shape. Overall, it’s been a decent first race back and we’ll only get stronger from here.
Yamaha Motor Europe’s Off-Road Racing Manager Alexandre Kowalski reflects:
“I think both Maxime and Thibault made a positive return. For both of them, the plan was to come back easy and smooth and to evaluate their health and physical condition. It was really positive to see Thibault fighting with the top guys in MX2 right away. Of course, Thibault struggled a bit near the end of the races, but it is to be expected to lack some endurance. The top riders have been fit, healthy and racing at this level all year, so we did not expect him to return from injury and be up there for the entire race. But the speed is already there, so from here he will just need to rebuild his physical fitness and endurance and then he will be back where he belongs. For Maxime, his return was impressive. To come back from a very complicated injury that has been problematic for a very long time, the main aim for Maxime was to test his foot and to work on some small techniques while racing like the position of his feet on the bike. Overall, it was successful and the result from the weekend was positive given the circumstances.”
