Jeremy Seewer took his Team Suzuki World MX2 RM-Z250 to seventh overall at Talavera de la Reina yesterday for the Grand Prix of Spain and the ninth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship played out in front of 17,000 spectators.
The Swiss missed another MX2 podium appearance and was left cursing his luck after a first moto, first lap crash meant he could not grab sufficient points to go with his fourth spot in the second race.
Seewer was quick and confident on his works machine around the Spanish slopes and across a largely hard-packed terrain that was also rutty and technical in places thanks to some heavy rainfall on Saturday afternoon. He had to battle back from an opening corner mistake in the qualification heat to take 10th position in the gate for Sunday’s motos.
In truth the Swiss’ performance in the initial race of 30 minutes and two laps distance was stunning. The #‘91’ might have been frustrated by the crash that dropped him to 36th place of 37 but it kick-started a fantastic run past 25 other riders to climb back to 11th position!
Seewer finally made a good launch for the second moto and after running in third spot and building some confidence in the initial part of the race then had to contend with Pauls Jonass. The pair circulated together until the Latvian made his move and grabbed third place. Seewer increased his pace and attacked his rival in the last two laps. A bold move to relegate Jonass with three corners to go backfired as he lost balance and hit the ground but was unable to remount and take fourth.
Seewer is still a firm second in the MX2 championship standings and has a 25-point advantage over Jonass.
In round five of the EMX250 European Championship Bas Vaessen set himself up superbly for a second podium finish this season after running to a strong second position on Saturday afternoon. Across a drier terrain on Sunday the Dutch youngster couldn't replicate his start from the previous day and his race was severely limited from the opening stages after he was hit by another rider and crashed. Vaessen was able to retrieve his RM-Z250 quickly but a broken front brake meant his progress back through the pack was slow and he could only arrive to 13th. Vaessen’s 2-13 scorecard delivered fourth position overall and he sits with the same ranking in the EMX250 standings with a 23-point deficit to the top-three.
Vaessen will join Seewer once again in just a few days’ time at St Jean D’Angely for the Grand Prix of France and the 10th stop for MXGP.
Jeremy Seewer:
“My speed is really good and it is not something I have to worry about but the starts weren’t there today. Everything was working good but I didn't have the best luck and that's what happened in the first moto. When you are deep in the pack then there is always more risk than when you are upfront. I came up a bit short on the double jump and it kicked me sideways. I’m happy to finish the race and finish 11th and I needed some time to get my confidence back in the second moto. I did quite well. I was dropped to fourth but found quite a good rhythm by the end; I was really happy with my riding. I just need to put things together a bit more in the coming races.”
Bas Vaessen:
“That should have easily been a podium. I had a pretty good start in the top-five and I was just trying to keep pace with the others when somebody just came right up the inside and hit my front wheel. I went down and my front brake was gone. Yesterday was really good – it could have been better – but I think it was the best I’ve ridden all year.”
MX2 Moto1: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:15.998; 2. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:20.611; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:23.309; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:24.732; 5. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:27.811; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:32.183; 7. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:51.412; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:55.124; 9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +0:58.111; 10. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +1:00.907; 11. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), +1:02.710.
MX2 Moto2: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:54.462; 2. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:07.249; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:19.128; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), +0:26.815; 5. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:33.608; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:35.751; 7. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:37.504; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:38.404; 9. Adam Sterry (GBR, KTM), +0:41.551; 10. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:43.558.
MX2 Overall result: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 38 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 30 p.; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 28 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 25 p.; 9. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 25 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 22 p.
MX2 World Championship Standings (after 9 of 18 rounds): 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 447 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 325 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 300 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 251 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 240 p.; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 210 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 205 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 204 p.; 9. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 200 p.; 10. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 197 p.
EMX250 European Championship overall result: 1. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 50 points; 2. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Anton Gole (SWE, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki World MX2), 30 p.; 5. Mike Stender (GER, SUZ), 29 p.; 6. Mathys Boisrame (FRA, YAM), 29 p.; 7. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 28 p.; 8. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 27 p.; 9. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 26 p.; 10. Kevin Wouts (BEL, KTM), 26 p.
EMX250 European Championship Standings (after 5 of 10 rounds): 1. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 232 points; 2. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, KAW), 167 p.; 3. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 163 p.; 4. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki World MX2), 140 p.; 5. Kevin Wouts (BEL, KTM), 140 p.; 6. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 125 p.; 7. Anton Gole (SWE, HUS), 119 p.; 8. Nick Kouwenberg (NED, HON), 115 p.; 9. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 110 p.; 10. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 97 p.
