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Jonass, Everts Top Podiums in Portugal R ound five of the FIM Motocross World Championship saw wet conditions as rain soaked the track for the MXGP of Portu - gal on May 5. The treacherous racecourse wreaked havoc on the riders and the points chase, and the red plate changed hands in the MXGP division. At the end of a muddy weekend of racing, Pauls Jonass and Liam Everts stood atop their respective podiums. MXGP Tim Gajser is gaining momentum as the series hits its stride. He won the weekend's qualifying race and rolled that into a holeshot in race one with longtime competitor Jeffrey Herlings hot on his heels. The two five-time champions duked it out in the opening laps, with Herlings eventually over- taking the position. The leader later fell back into Gajser's hands when Herlings' bike expired and forced him out of the race. This made things easy on Gajser as he cruised to the win and took over the points lead in the process. Jorge Prado held the red plate going into race one, but a crash and two pit stops pushed him back to 15th at the finish line. Standing Construct Honda's Jonass snuck past Romain Febvre on the final lap as the two claimed second and third. This set Jonass up for a strong overall finish. Race two again saw Gajser run to the front, but a crash in the first turn spelled trouble for the new championship leader as both he and Prado found them - selves at the back of the pack. With one and two in points near the tail end of the field, Herlings looked for redemption from race one. He put his Red Bull KTM at the front of the pack and eventu- ally crossed first to take his first race win of the 2024 season. Jonass again took second and used 2-2 finishes to claim his first-ever Grand Prix overall win. "This year, our main goal was to be consistent, enjoy my riding, and enjoy racing," said Jonass. "We work very hard in the wintertime with the team, and we improved a lot from last year, and it's paying off as you can see the results! Now, it's staying consistent! I really enjoyed the mud today." Febvre landed on the box in third with 3-4 scores, giving him second on the day. "I wouldn't say that I stayed out of trouble this weekend, but, you know, it was really tough conditions, tough to ride for everybody," said Febvre. "I took two good starts, and in race one, I was behind Tim and battled with him, but with one lap to go, I passed the finish line and crashed, full of mud, crashed again before the finish line and lost the second place there. Then in the second race, I hope Tim is okay after the start as he slid in front of me, and I couldn't avoid him entirely. But in the end, I got third, so I'm a bit disappointed, as I feel I could have made it, but overall picture, it is very good for the championship." Gajser managed to finish 10th after crashing early and was awarded third overall for his 1-10 results. He now leads the points by 14 over Jorge Prado. "Of course, it is great to get the red plate after all the work we've put in," Gajser said. "Even getting the podium position after that second moto was a surprise, but those conditions can be a lottery. I made far too many mistakes, which is frustrating, as I had a really good start before that first mistake, and from there on it was just survival. It was also a WIND IN THE P52 Pauls Jonass claimed his first career MXGP overall victory in the mud in Portugal.