VOLUME 57 ISSUE 9 MARCH 3, 2020 P45
race. I wanted to go out this
round taking easy and see what I
could be capable of and eventu-
ally it was a good weekend, and
I'm happy to be on the podium."
Seewer ended up fourth
overall with a 2-8, and Honda
HRC's new young star Mitchell
Evans of Australia rounded out
the top five. In his debut race,
Evans took third in the first moto,
turning a lot of heads. Evans
went down early in the first
moto, completing the first lap
nearly dead last. But he charged
through the field to finish a re-
spectable seventh.
Frenchman Gautier Paulin (Ya-
maha) was sixth overall, followed
by Clement Desalle (Kawasaki)
of Belgium.
GasGas made its MXGP debut
and came away with eighth over-
all in the hands of Dutch rider
Glenn Coldenhoff. (KTM bought
the GasGas brand last year.)
Former MXGP Champion
Romain Febvre was set to make
his Kawasaki debut at Matterley
Basin but a knee injury prevent-
ed that from happening. Febvre,
however, is expected to race the
next GP at Valkenswaard.
In MX2, Belgium Jago Geerts
(Yamaha) started things off with
a win in the first moto but a crash
in the second moto left him with
a sore shoulder and places to
make up. He managed to work
his way up to fourth, which was
good enough to give Geerts the
overall victory for the day, edging
out Red Bull KTM's Tom Vialle,
the race-two winner. Vialle was
also leading the first moto and
was heading to a certain win
when he fell and finished sixth.
His 6-1 tally gave the Frenchman
second overall.
"It's really a good feeling to
pick my first overall win here in
Matterley Basin," Geerts said.
"At the first heat I had a small gift
from Tom [Vialle]. I had a really
good start in second heat, and I
just battled for the lead; I had a
crash and beat my shoulder a bit
so I came back to fourth, but I'm
super happy, I feel like my riding
is really good now."
"I started the season really
good," Vialle said. "During the
first race I felt really comfortable
in first [place], but then I made
a mistake on a jump. In the
second race I was leading, and I
managed to win the race."
Denmark's Mikkel Haarup
(Kawasaki) announced his arrival
to the class by pulling down two
third-place finishes for third over-
all. "I'm just happy," he said. "I
did not come here to contend for
the [win], but at the end I man-
aged to finish with a third overall
which is amazing. I had two
decent races, good riding."
Australian Jed Beaton
(Husqvarna) and Austria's Rene
Hofer (KTM) rounded out the top
five overall. CN
MXGP
1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 1-2
2. Tim Gajser (Hon) 8-1
3. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 4-3
4. Jeremy Seewer (Yam) 2-8
5. Mitchell Evans (Hon) 3-7
MX2
1. Jago Geerts (Yam) 1-4
2. Tom Vialle (KTM) 6-1
3. Mikkel Haarup (Kaw) 3-3
4. Jed Beaton (Hus) 2-6
5. Rene Hofer (KTM) 8-2
Dutchman Jago
Geerts got the MX2
Championship started
off with a victory.
