Soaring temperatures, rocky terrain and large quantities of dust made qualification day at the MXGP of Italy really tough for the Honda HRC PETRONAS quartet. The Montevarchi track, located on the hillside up from the town, hasn’t hosted a GP since 2006 and with similar weather forecast for tomorrow, it will likely be another gruelling day at this old-fashioned circuit.
Jeffrey Herlings had the best result of the team, ending up in seventh place after battling through from around 20th after a tough start on this narrow hairpin first turn. He made a pass just a few turns from the end, to give himself another point, but knows that if he wants to have any chance of victory, he needs to get him with front guys from the very beginning.
Returning Tom Vialle was one of the guys Herlings passed, but it was still a good performance from the Frenchman after missing the last couple of GPs through injury. It certainly wasn’t the easiest place to comeback on, but he got a good jump out of the gate and then fought hard, ending up in ninth place.
Unfortunately the third Honda CRF450RW rider Ruben Fernandez didn’t survive the day, as a nasty crash in timed practice left him less than 100% heading into the qualification race. The Spaniard tried his best to tough it out, but had to pull-off midway through the race, despite running inside the top 10. It was hard on the #70 who podiumed a couple of rounds ago and had looked to be rising up the ranks slowly but surely.
Valerio Lata also had a tough day at his home GP, getting caught up in the first turn crash which dropped him way down the field after what looked like being a good jump out of the gate. Whilst fighting through the field, the Italian suffered another crash and from there, he did his best, ending up in 20th place and giving him and outside chance of a good start in tomorrow’s two motos.
The whole team know it will be just as difficult when they line-up tomorrow, but that won’t stop them working hard to make sure the riders have the best chance to score good points in their respective races.
MX2 Qualifying Race
- Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 25:09.572; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:02.887; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:04.002; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:16.035; 5. Noel Zanocz (HUN, KTM), +0:20.380; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:21.235; 7. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:23.273; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:30.071; 9. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:32.516; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:37.917; …20. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:41.038;
Rubén Fernández 70
Honda HRC PETRONAS
Unfortunately after my crash in timed practice, I tried my best to race in qualification and did a number of laps at good speed, but the pain was too much to continue for the whole race. Right now the plan is to do the best we can and see what happens tomorrow.
Tom Vialle 16
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I think it was a pretty decent day, considering I haven’t raced in a few weeks. I got off to a good jump but just couldn’t quite turn that into the lead around the first bend and from then on it was just a full-on battle. It was very intense racing and that didn’t make it easy but I think tomorrow should be a bit better as I get more and more comfortable.
Jeffrey Herlings 84
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I think it’s fair to say that those conditions are not what I expect when I race a GP. For a training day, it would be too dry and dusty, so for an MXGP I think they should do a better job for the safety of us riders. I know that getting a good start would make my life a lot easier so that’s the goal for the two motos, but for today, it was tough to come through after a bad start just because of the track conditions.
Valerio Lata 18
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I got caught up in the first turn pile-up so that immediately made things difficult and then midway through the race, when I was coming through the pack, I got bucked off the bike. From then it was just trying to survive in some pretty nasty conditions, and try to finish as high as possible. Obviously tomorrow I won’t have the best gate-pick but it’s still possible to get an okay start, so that’ll be the aim!
Marcus Pereira de Freitas –
Honda HRC PETRONAS
Twenty years ago we last raced here, and not much has changed. It is dry and dusty and the track is extremely sketchy. The high temperatures hasn’t helped things, but we still expect better conditions that what we saw today. Ruben wasn’t able to finish the qualification race, so we lost one guy, and really we are just hoping that the rest of the guys come through tomorrow unscathed because it is so easy to make a mistake here when battling with other guys.
