Honda HRC’s Valerio Lata had a season-best fourth overall at the MXGP of Germany, after a pair of fourth place finishes in completely different conditions. The Italian tied on points with the third-place rider but lost out on the second moto tie-breaker, but can be extremely pleased with his performance this weekend, backing up his victory in the qualification race yesterday.
Having first gate-pick after the win, he took the inside and utilised that position to sweep around the fast left-hander inside the top five. At this point, the Teutschenthal circuit was still nice and dry, with the ruts proving a real challenge for the best MX2 riders on the planet with there being some crazy battles throughout the field. Lata was certainly holding his own, riding in third for the majority of the moto and holding off a pack of riders who were all charging hard. Eventually he was passed a couple of laps from the end by the home rider, but a fourth place was still a great result and gave him a real chance of a first visit to the podium.
Between the races, the skies darkened, and rain hammered the circuit to leave the conditions much worse than when they left them. Having struggled previously in mud, it certainly wasn’t what Lata wanted but he showed after the gate-drop that he had made big improvements in the wet. Inside the top five once again, passing was difficult for everyone, and unfortunately he couldn’t make the one pass he needed to get himself onto the box. It was a shame for the youngster but it was another positive step and he knows he is very close to where he wants to be.
Yesterday, Ferruccio Zanchi had to withdraw from the GP due to a crash on the section after the riders crossed the start-straight, and today, Honda CRF450R rider Ruben Fernandez also had an incident on that same section in the first lap of the first MXGP race and had to withdraw from the MXGP as well. It was a big disappointment for the Spaniard as he had been in good form and now missed out on the chance of moving into the championship top three.
With Kegums, Latvia up next weekend, there isn’t much time for the pair to get fit, but the plan is to get checked out more thoroughly on Monday near their homes and then make a decision on them joining Lata in Latvia for the 11th round of the world motocross championship.
MX2 Race 1
- Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 34:06.569; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.450; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:05.665; 4. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:08.112; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:08.386; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:09.828; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:11.030; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:12.474; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:18.712; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +0:19.517;
MX2 Race 2
- Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 36:24.207; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:06.779; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:12.108; 4. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:16.756; 5. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +0:37.502; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:49.212; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:51.808; 8. Julius Mikula (CZE, TM), +0:55.032; 9. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:56.627; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, KTM), +1:02.418;
MX2 GP Overall
- Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 45 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 37 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 36 p.; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 29 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 28 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 28 p.; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 27 p.; 10. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 26 p.;
MX2 Championship
- Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 466 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 463 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 435 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 377 p.; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 342 p.; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 337 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 294 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 265 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 231 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 220 p.;
Ruben Fernandez 70
Definitely not how I hoped the day would go, as I was actually feeling pretty confident about the racing. I got a good start and tried to make a pass into second place and made a mistake on the double and crashed. I knew how important track position was because it is always so difficult to pass here, so I wanted to make the moves as quickly as possible and it cost me. Now I need to get further tests and see exactly what has happened, which is obviously extremely disappointing. I feel confident I will be back quickly though, as I was enjoying my riding and looking good in the championship.
Valerio Lata 18
It is frustrating to finish on the same points as a podium but just miss out, however I have to be happy with how I rode, especially in the muddy second moto. I have been practicing in the bad conditions and it definitely has paid off because I was riding much better in that race and I felt I could have made the pass I needed to get on the podium. Still, this whole weekend has gone well and we are improving step by step and now my goal is definitely to get on the podium. A big thanks to everyone for all their work and I’m excited for Latvia now.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
A very tough weekend for Honda HRC with Ferruccio and Ruben not racing as a precautionary measure, but then it was also great to see Valerio continue his improvement and win the qualification race yesterday and finish fourth today. He has improved a lot, and it is great to see him grow as a rider and a person. Now we have to wait for the news from the scans for Ruben and Ferro to see what our plan is for the next race in Latvia next weekend.
Race 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 25 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 34:01.233
2 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 22 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:00.985
3 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 20 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:06.998
4 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 18 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:09.991
5 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 16 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:28.581
6 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 15 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:37.951
7 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 14 JK Racing Yamaha Active 0:42.363
8 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 13 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 0:44.516
9 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 12 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 0:46.916
10 van Doninck Brent BEL 11 0:48.948
11 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 10 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 0:50.958
12 van de Moosdijk Roan 34 NDL 9 KTM Kozak Team 0:52.560
13 Geerts Jago 93 BEL 8 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1:02.634
14 Koch Tom 226 GER 7 MRT Racing Team Beta 1:04.306
15 Stauffer Marcel 411 AUT 6 Wildcard Rider 1:10.709
16 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 5 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:12.459
17 Spies Maximillian GER 4 1:13.162
18 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 3 Ducati Factory MX Team 1:17.900
19 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 2 Honda SR Motoblouz 1:19.248
20 Gilbert Josh GBR 1 1:23.706
Race 2
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 25 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 34:27.938
2 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 22 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:07.225
3 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 20 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:25.895
4 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 18 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1:00.901
5 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 16 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:10.784
6 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 15 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:19.357
7 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 14 JK Racing Yamaha Active 1:34.104
8 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 13 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 1:43.721
9 Tondel Cornelius 17 NOR 12 JWR Honda Racing 1:55.231
10 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 11 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1:58.597
11 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 10 Honda SR Motoblouz 1 lap
12 Geerts Jago 93 BEL 9 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1 lap
13 Watson Ben 919 GBR 8 MRT Racing Team Beta 1 lap
14 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 7 Ducati Factory MX Team 1 lap
15 Spies Maximillian GER 6 1 lap
16 Gilbert Josh GBR 5 1 lap
17 van Doninck Brent BEL 4 1 lap
18 van de Moosdijk Roan 34 NDL 3 KTM Kozak Team 1 lap
19 Alonso Victor 196 SPA 2 Wildcard Rider 1 lap
20 Koch Tom 226 GER 1 MRT Racing Team Beta 1 lap
Rider Standings
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 487 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
2 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 451 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
3 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 326 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
4 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 322 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
5 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 305 Honda HRC – MXGP
6 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 298 Honda HRC – MXGP
7 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 265 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
8 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 262 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
9 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 244 Ducati Factory MX Team
10 Herlings Jeffrey NDL 219
11 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 204 Honda SR Motoblouz
12 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 168 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team
13 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 162 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
14 Watson Ben 919 GBR 161 MRT Racing Team Beta
15 Geerts Jago 93 BEL 154 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
16 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 137 JK Racing Yamaha Active
17 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 126 Ducati Factory MX Team
18 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 126 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
19 van de Moosdijk Roan NDL 83
20 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 72 Wildcard Rider
21 Sterry Adam GBR 55
22 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 50 Wildcard Rider
23 Koch Tom 226 GER 43 MRT Racing Team Beta
24 van Doninck Brent BEL 40
25 Stauffer Marcel 411 AUT 38 Wildcard Rider
26 Gilbert Josh GBR 27
27 Spies Maximillian GER 23
28 Tondel Cornelius 17 NOR 20 JWR Honda Racing
29 Ludwig Noah GER 19
30 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 14 Honda SR Motoblouz
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