Gajser and the Legends

There can be no doubt where Tim Gajser is currently positioned in the all-time list of great FIM Motocross World Champions. The HRC factory rider sits in eight position in the World champions list with four titles, equal with Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings and former champions Torsten Hallman, Heikki Mikkola and Harry Everts. All legends of the sport and names that will live forever in Grand Prix folk-law.

Five Belgian greats are just above Tiga243 in Roger De Coster, Eric Geboers, Georges Jobe and Joel Smets on five titles and of course, ahead of that group is Joel Robert on six titles, Antonio Cairoli on nine titles and the greatest of all time, Stefan Everts with 10 titles. What is possible with the Slovenian we don’t know, but what we do know is he has four titles in six years and is just 24 years old, so anything is possible.

Gajser is ranked 13^th in the all-time GP winners list with 28 overall victories and is equal with Georges Jobe and Andre Malherbe and just above him are Gaston Rahier with 30 wins, Heikki Mikkola with 32 wins and Jorge Prado on 34 wins, so a place inside the top ten GP winners of all time is very possible in the next 12 months.

The four-time champion is also the most successful Honda rider in Grand Prix history, passing Andre Malherbe who has three World titles and 27 GP wins for the Japanese brand.

“It feels unbelievable to be world champion for a fourth time,” Gajser said. “Winning one time is amazing, but four times, I’m just speechless. It was a weird season with the COVID-19 and then the break between the rounds two and three, but in the end, everything came together, and we won another title!”

While the championship was more or less won leading into the second instalment of Trentino, his smooth and silky riding made sure he walked away with that 28^th GP win, and a very consistent 2-1 performance.

“Racing today was very nice, in the first race, I didn’t have the best start but I was still able to come through the field and finish second and that meant that if I could win race two, I would take the overall. In the second moto I grabbed the holeshot and then had a really good battle with Romain all the way to the chequered flag. We were pushing the whole time so I’m super happy to win this title and the overall on the same day.”

Something that always stands out when a champion is crowned is that he belongs to an elite team, and no doubt HRC have shown in recent years that they belong right up there with the Red Bull KTM Factory team as the best in the paddock. A friendly, enjoyable atmosphere that has seen Gajser be able to race happy.

“A big thanks to the whole of Team HRC, there are a lot of people who are involved who couldn’t be here today so a big thank you to all of them and to everyone who has supported me all year long. It is a privilege to ride for this team and I appreciate every single person who has helped me. Thank you!”

And now, with four World championships and 28 Grand Prix victories, Gajser will go into the winter, work even harder and come out in 2021 ready to fight off the other legends of the sport, Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings, not to mention a future legend in Jorge Prado.

Photo Copyright: Bavo Swijgers