The 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship, which picked back up in Latvia over the weekend, marched on earlier today. A round of the prestigious series was held on a Wednesday for the first time in history, in an attempt to catch up after a pause for the COVID-19 pandemic. The race, held on the same Kegums circuit in Latvia, gave Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP an opportunity to build on the positive performances from Sunday as well.
Jeremy Seewer was again a star in the premier division, as he showed tremendous speed whilst battling up through the pack. Seewer was tangled in the melee in turn one of the first moto, so ended the opening lap in eleventh, but showed a degree of tenacity whilst charging to fourth by the end of the stint. Seewer even set the fastest time of the race in sector one on the final lap, a credit to both his fitness and level of comfort on the YZ450F. The second moto was even more impressive, as he charged to second at the chequered flag and took the same result in the overall classification. Seewer now sits fifth in the series standings and within striking distance of the top three.
Arnaud Tonus again showed podium speed – he was hindered by a small tip-over in the first moto, but still held on for ninth at the chequered. A mediocre start left him in tenth in moto two and eighth in the overall classification. Twelfth is his current ranking in the championship standings. Gautier Paulin had a day similar to that of Sunday: Poor starts, and some misfortune, left him battling an uphill climb. Paulin was thirteenth in the first moto after starting in dead last and then made similar progress to hit eighth in moto two. Tenth overall was his final ranking. Amazingly, Paulin made 22 passes over the two races at the Grand Prix of Riga.
There is still no time to rest for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, as the third and final Latvian round will be held this coming Sunday. The event, dubbed the Grand Prix of Kegums, will act as round five of the 2020 FIM Motocross World Championship.
Jeremy Seewer: “We have had some great races, also on Sunday. I feel super happy in one way… I finished strong, I had some tough battles and I recovered well from a bad start. I feel great but, on the other hand, I’ve had two races where I have been so close to winning and I was even close to winning the GP today. I’ve had some good results over these days and the track has been rough, so it has been easy to make mistakes. I am really happy. My bike is working well although there are a few little things to work on and improve, which we will do and then I think I will be ready for the last one here in Latvia on Sunday.”
Gautier Paulin: “I broke my right finger last week, so it’s quite swollen and painful especially when I land off a jump or in the hard braking bumps. It’s not easy, but I have good lap times. My gate pick was good today, but I had a crash on the start again with Calvin Vlaanderen. I got going again and then a rider was stalled on a jump and I hit him, then Mitch Evans jumped on me. Sometimes things just don’t go your way. I had to start from dead last and I came back to thirteenth. In the last moto, I just wanted to finish without any struggles or crashing. I got back to eighth but got stuck behind a rider. My feeling overall is good – I am happy with the bike. I just have some pain here and there from all of the crashes I have had. I will definitely feel it tomorrow. I like the bike the way it is, I have everything I need to play my cards and be racing with the guys upfront. I have the speed. You can see that on the lap times, I just need to avoid racing issues to have a positive result.”
Arnaud Tonus: “Timed practice was really good. The times were really close. I went hard on the last lap of practice and I ended second, which helped me a lot on the start! I got a good start in the first moto and was riding really well for the whole race, but made a mistake on the second to last lap. This was devastating. It was my mistake – I was a little bit under pressure and then made the mistake and ended up ninth. Devastating. In the second moto my start wasn’t great and I did the whole moto in tenth. The level is so high, like Romain Febvre was tenth and he was on the podium last weekend. It’s really hard out there, but I have to look at the positives and it was positive compared to last weekend.”
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