Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rider Jago Geerts celebrated his fifth GP win of the year, in front of his home crowd in Lommel. The Belgian extended his championship lead out to 23 points. Thibaut Benistant moved up to fifth in the championship, after a sixth place in the deep sand.
After the hard pack of Loket, the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team headed to the deep sand of Lommel for round 14 of the FIM World Championship. The Stedelijk Motorcrosscentrum is known to be one of the toughest - physically and mentally - tracks in the world and is a popular 'playground' for most of the riders, with many of the teams based close by.
Nerve-Wracking Battle
Jago Geerts, who reclaimed the red plate after his win in Czech Republic last week, got off to a blistering start on his YZ250FM in race 1. The Belgian got the holeshot, but was quickly passed by Roan Van de Moosdijk and teammate Thibault Benistant. However, not for long. By lap three, Geerts recaptured the lead, closely followed by Kay de Wolf. From then on, the two delivered a spectacular and nerve-wracking battle for the lead. A bar-to-bar battle, won by the Dutchman. Behind those two, Benistant was fighting for third place with Van de Moosdijk, Längenfelder and Everts. Thibault, who celebrated his EMX250 title on this same track, came home in fourth place.
No Second Fiddle
Geerts grabbed another holeshot in race 2. Guess who was right behind him? Indeed, de Wolf. Both protagonists of the first race put on a great show again. The Dutchman passed Jago on the wave section in lap 2.
Benistant had a terrible start, with a crash in the first turn, and had to play catch up all race long. The Frenchman had to dig deep to come back to eighth place.
At the front, Geerts didn't want to play second fiddle again and crawled into the rear wheel of de Wolf. On lap 6, Jago made his decisive move. He passed de Wolf - on the waves, where the Dutch rider was so fast all weekend long - and broke him mentally and physically. Jago was in full control until the end and grabbed his fifth GP win of the season. A nice gift to team owner Hans Corvers, who celebrated the 25th anniversary of his team. With still four Grand Prix to go, Geerts extended his championship lead out to 23 points.
#93 Jago Geerts
1st overall - 1st in championship "I'm really happy to win in front of this big home crowd. It was a great weekend. Tough but great. I took two holeshots, which makes the job a lot easier. In race 1 de Wolf was a little bit faster. So, I had to settle for second. He was strong again in the beginning of race 2, but I knew he couldn't keep up this pace. I passed him, took the win and extend my championship lead. A nice feeling."
#198 Thibault Benistant
6th overall - 5th in championship "It was not the best weekend. It was really tough out there. This morning I had a pretty big crash, which was a tough hit. I found it hard to bounce back and felt like I couldn't focus 100 percent when I was on the bike. Even small things like I was not hungry to eat, and I felt terrible. It was a really tough day, but now we have a week off to regroup and bounce back at the next GP."
Results
Race 1
1.Kay de Wolf (Ned/Hus)
2. JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) +0:06.133
3. Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) +0:39.854
4. THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) +0:50.306
5. Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) +0:58.046
Race 2
1. JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam)
2. Kay de Wolf (Ned/Hus) +0:14.849
3. Kevin Horgmo (Nor/Kaw) +0:16.758
4. Tom Vialle (Fra/KTM) +0:26.139
5. Roan Van de Moosdijk (Ned/Kaw) +0:53.954
8. THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) +0:2:01.649
Overall
1. JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam)
2. Kay de Wolf (Ned/Hus)
3. Tom Vialle (Fra/KTM)
4. Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas)
5. Roan Van de Moosdijk (Ned/Kawk)
6. THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam)
Championship classification (13/19)
1. JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) 590
2. Tom Vialle (Fra/KTM) 567
3. Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) 469
4. Kevin Horgmo (Nor/Kaw) 410
5. THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) 378
Next race: August 7, GP15 Uddevalle (Swe)