IN
THE
WIND
P32
STRIJBOS,
ANSTIE
MASTER
LOMMEL
SAND
T
he 14th stop of the 2016
World Motocross Champi-
onship saw the riders hit the
treacherous Lommel facility
in Belgium, July 30-31, argu-
ably the toughest track in the
world. Hidden inside a Belgian
industrial estate, it certainly isn't
the most aesthetically pleasing
track, but in terms of sheer dif-
ficulty, there isn't much that can
match the whooped-out sand
monster that the circuit turns
into throughout the day.
Coming into the race, much
of the talk revolved around Red
Bull KTM's Jeffrey Herlings
and his collarbone injury that
prevented him from lining up
and showcasing his sand skills
in MX2. In his absence it was
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Max Anstie who stepped up
and proved that he is the next-
best 250cc sand rider with an
impressive 1-1 performance for
his third win in a row at Lommel.
It certainly wasn't easy, though,
as he overcame Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Dylan Ferrandis and
Petar Petrov in race one, before
hunting down eight riders in race
two. Even with this result, he still
sits in sixth place in the cham-
pionship but with another sand
race at Assen coming up, he
has another opportunity to climb
even higher—even if Herlings
is expected to return and try to
regain his title of sand king.
Behind Anstie, it was Team
Suzuki's Jeremy Seewer whose
4-2 moto scores meant that
the gap at the top of the table
is down to 87 points. With four
rounds left and Herlings 50/50
on whether he'll attend next
weekend's MXGP in Switzer-
land, the gap could get even
closer which must be making
the KTM camp a little nervous.
Rounding off the podium was
Petrov who finally put together
two good scores for what was
the Bulgarians' first podium of
the season.
In the MXGP class, Honda
Gariboldi's Tim Gajser was look-
ing to maintain his championship
lead on a surface that he hasn't
always excelled at. Coming into
this round he was 109 points
ahead, but with Red Bull KTM's
Antonio Cairoli riding one of
his favorite tracks, there was
always the chance he could lose
his two-race buffer. Despite a
15th-place finish in the first race,
a second-moto win saw the
Kevin Strijbos scored
his first MXGP win
since 2007.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
WWW.SUZUKI-RACING.COM
