A joint-best moto result from Honda HRC’s Ruben Fernandez wasn’t quite enough for the Spaniard to step-up onto the podium, but it was still an excellent MXGP of Great Britain for the Honda CRF450R rider with his five-two results giving him fourth overall and moving him up to fourth in the World Motocross Championship standings.
A fourth place yesterday in the qualification race gave him a good base to attack these two GP-scoring motos and he definitely gave everything he had to try and get on the box. In both races, he got utilised his gate-pick with two brilliant starts inside the top three, but whereas the tricky Matterley Basin conditions caused a couple of small errors in race one, in race two he was fully in control and came really close to his first race-win of the season. It was a big boost for the #70, who now has a couple of weekends to prepare for a new GP at the Kymi-Ring in Finland.
MX2 teammate Valerio Lata will also being happy to have a small break in the action, as he recovers from a tumultuous GP. Yesterday a rider crashed right in front of him on the landing of a jump, giving the #18 nowhere to go and ejecting him from his Honda CRF250R. Banged up from that, and with last gate-pick, the young Italian tried his utmost to score as many points as he could today, to maintain his eighth place in the series and showing a real fighting attitude, he was able to finish 12th overall. It certainly wasn’t what he was hoping for, before the weekend, but the 14-12 results showed everyone he can battle hard and now with 19 days before he must head to Finland, he’ll be using the time to recuperate as much as possible.
MX2 Race 1
- Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 35:30.890; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:05.401; 3. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +0:10.850; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:24.946; 5. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:26.515; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:26.761; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:28.999; 8. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:30.821; 9. David Braceras (ESP, Honda), +0:41.392; 10. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:42.153; … 14. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:10.437;
MX2 Race 2
- Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 34:13.385; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:06.362; 3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:11.721; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:14.077; 5. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:22.929; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:29.891; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:36.397; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:43.038; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:58.225; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:14.771; 11. David Braceras (ESP, Honda), +1:23.123; 12. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:24.585;
MX2 GP Overall
- Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 50 points; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 37 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 32 p.; 5. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 30 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 30 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 29 p.; 9. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 27 p.; 10. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 27 p.; 11. David Braceras (ESP, HON), 22 p.; 12. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 16 p.;
MX2 Championship
- Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 575 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 523 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 505 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 464 p.; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 433 p.; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 417 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 358 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 281 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 267 p.; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 246 p.;
Ruben Fernandez 70
I have to admit I’m a little disappointed not to get on the podium, considering how well I rode, especially in that second moto. Still, I am really pleased with that race and it has given me a lot of confidence that I can start with those guys and run the entire moto at a really fast pace. I closed up to the leader a lot in those last few laps and if I’d passed him, I’d have got on the podium. Now I have a couple of weekends off to get stronger for this next run of races.
Valerio Lata 18
After yesterday it was always going to be tough to get any decent results. Having last gate-pick and just feeling how I was feeling made things difficult and although I fought as much as I could, 12th overall was the best I could do. I know I had higher hopes coming into the weekend, but sometimes these things happen and now I just have to make the most of these next two weekends off and recover in time for Finland.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
A great ride from Ruben in that second moto really showed the quality that he has. He was under pressure the entire time and then at the end made it really close to the leader, with perhaps a couple more laps and he could have taken the lead. It is a nice boost heading into this break and I’m sure he’ll use it wisely and come out swinging in Finland. We didn’t really have any expectations for Valerio after yesterday’s incident, but it was good to see him fighting in both races and showing a strong spirit. It’s good he has a break to recover and we’re sure he’ll continue the progress he had shown before this event, when we get to Finland, which will be a new circuit for everyone.
Race 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 25 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 34:21.230
2 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 22 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:01.128
3 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 20 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:12.392
4 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:15.484
5 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 16 Honda HRC – MXGP 0:17.105
6 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 15 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:48.579
7 Cairoli Antonio 222 ITA 14 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:53.691
8 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 13 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 0:56.396
9 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 12 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:58.123
10 van Doninck Brent BEL 11 0:59.080
11 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 10 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 1:00.763
12 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 9 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:06.124
13 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 8 Ducati Factory MX Team 1:07.223
14 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 7 Honda SR Motoblouz 1:08.286
15 van de Moosdijk Roan 34 NDL 6 KTM Kozak Team 1:15.016
16 Koch Tom 226 GER 5 MRT Racing Team Beta 1:31.378
17 Sterry Adam 811 GBR 4 KTM Kozak Team 1:49.678
18 Watson Ben 919 GBR 3 MRT Racing Team Beta 1 lap
19 Nickel Cato GER 2 1 lap
20 Carpenter James GBR 1 1 lap
Race 2
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 25 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 35:50.762
2 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 22 Honda HRC – MXGP 0:01.427
3 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 20 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:02.495
4 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:10.713
5 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 16 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 0:11.121
6 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 15 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:35.429
7 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 14 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:36.934
8 Cairoli Antonio 222 ITA 13 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:38.346
9 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 12 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:40.438
10 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 11 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:46.297
11 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 10 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 0:53.963
12 Koch Tom 226 GER 9 MRT Racing Team Beta 1:05.623
13 van de Moosdijk Roan 34 NDL 8 KTM Kozak Team 1:08.859
14 Watson Ben 919 GBR 7 MRT Racing Team Beta 1:11.397
15 Sterry Adam 811 GBR 6 KTM Kozak Team 1:18.626
16 van Doninck Brent BEL 5 1:43.413
17 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 4 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:52.840
18 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 3 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1 lap
19 Carpenter James GBR 2 1 lap
Rider Standings
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 584 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
2 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 552 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
3 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 411 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
4 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 383 Honda HRC – MXGP
5 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 347 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
6 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 325 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
7 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 319 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
8 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 312 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
9 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 305 Honda HRC – MXGP
10 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 274 Ducati Factory MX Team
11 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 229 Honda SR Motoblouz
12 Watson Ben 919 GBR 197 MRT Racing Team Beta
13 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 192 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team
14 Geerts Jago 93 BEL 184 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
15 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 173 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
16 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 162 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
17 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 149 JK Racing Yamaha Active
18 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 142 Ducati Factory MX Team
19 van de Moosdijk Roan 34 NDL 113 KTM Kozak Team
20 van Doninck Brent BEL 74
21 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 72 Wildcard Rider
22 Sterry Adam 811 GBR 67 KTM Kozak Team
23 Koch Tom 226 GER 57 MRT Racing Team Beta
24 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 50 Wildcard Rider
25 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 44 Honda SR Motoblouz
26 Stauffer Marcel 411 AUT 38 Wildcard Rider
27 Cairoli Antonio 222 ITA 37 Ducati Factory MX Team
28 Spies Maximillian GER 36
29 Gilbert Josh GBR 27
30 Tondel Cornelius 17 NOR 20 JWR Honda Racing
