Preparation for 2021

Preparation for the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship hasn’t been easy for all the competitors in the toughest motocross series in the world, and without question there will be many questions answered at the opening round of the championship in Russia on June 13.

For the first time maybe in the sports history the “pre-season” has seen riders looking for races and many of the top riders haven’t even raced yet. Riders like former World Champions Jeffrey Herlings and Pauls Jonass are coming back from injuries and both have not been behind the start gate since early 2020 or the middle of 2020.

Even defending MXGP champion Tim Gajser of the Team HRC factory team knows that preparing for Russia hasn’t been an easy task. Going for three titles in 2021 is something not a lot of GP riders have been able to achieve and there is no doubt there will be extra pressure on the Slovenians shoulders.

“Last year was a difficult year for everyone,” Gajser said. “A lot of new things happened to us with the schedule and the testing and the travel, but as a racer we always need to find the motivation to train hard, to keep putting in the effort and to be focused 100%. It was tough but overall, it turned out really well and I’m pleased with the effort that the whole team put in, in order to achieve the title. Defending a title is always difficult but winning the first time is very difficult too! You have to be on your ‘A game’ every week, try to be consistent, to stay injury-free and I think 2021 will be another good year of racing with a lot of top riders in the class. There are a lot of title winners in the class, and I think it will be an interesting season with a lot of battles”.

Herlings who crashed out of the 2020 MXGP championship in Faenza mid-season isn’t new to coming back from injury. The rider many say is the fastest rider on the planet was again leading the series points when he got injured and will look forward to showing his off-season preparation has made him once again the man to beat.

“Well,” Herlings said. “Obviously we would travel so much in the winter, to prepare for the season, and to be honest, we have hardly travelled this winter. Now, at home, the weather is good, and we can work on the physical training, because for that you normally have to go to Spain for the cycling and stuff, because it is too cold to do that in Holland, but now it’s good and as the season starts in June, it is nicer to work at home on that stuff. Also working on the foot, we have a lot of time for that. There are positives and we have almost half a year to prepare and while I don’t want that, we will have a lot of races in five months”.

As for the third World Champion we talked to, Jonass hasn’t raced since the Grand Prix of Valkenswaard, just prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. A practice injury prior to the return in round three in Latvia, he has spent most of the last 12 months getting himself ready to battle the best motocross riders in the World.

“Every year before the first round every rider does two or three pre-season races and everyone has usually raced against everyone,” Jonass said. “With this year and the race calendars changing so much, it made it difficult to work out what races to do. I also wanted to do three races before the pre-season, I wanted to do one of the Italian races, Hawkstone Park and Lacapelle, but Italy was too far ahead of the season and the other two were cancelled. There is no point in doing a race in Italy in February when the season starts in June. I also didn’t want to travel too much, and I didn’t want to go to a race without strong competition. It has been a difficult pre-season for everyone really.”

So, these three World Champions are like so many of the MXGP class looking at Russia and excited to race against each other again. It won’t just be Gajser, Herlings and Jonass going for victory, as any number of riders will be fighting for a Grand Prix victory and as many points as possible.

Photo Credit: Ray Archer