MX2

LEON (Mexico), 09 September 2015 - For the second year in succession the best riders in the world will race between the Mexican cacti at the circuit of Leon, a soil based track, which is hard to describe, as it is neither soft nor hard, the only feasible description, based on how it shaped up last year, is that it is slightly clumpy and gets relatively rutty in places.

As the penultimate round of the eighteen round series the focus has shifted from the premier class, MXGP, which was wrapped up by Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s fiery young rookie Romain Febvre, to the MX2 World Championship which is sure to go down to the wire with Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass both in reach of their first ever world championship title.

The premier class title sits warmly in the pocket of Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre who piled together a year of milestones to take the 2015 MXGP gold plate with four races to spare.

While Febvre has flown the flag high for not only Yamaha, but for France as the first Frenchman to be world champion in the premier class since Mickael Pichon in 2002, fellow Frenchman Gautier Paulin is solidifying their nations speed as he sits in second in the championship 37 points clear of his Team HRC teammate Evgeny Bobryshev.

Bobryshev just needs to keep turning solid laps and he should wrap up the season in third while fourth was taken over in Assen by the most recent MXGP round winner Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM’s Shaun Simpson.

Simpson’s mission will be to keep the ball rolling especially since last year’s MXGP of Leon runner up, Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl tails him by 37 in fifth, and judging by the speed Nagl rounded out last season with, he may be a hard beast for the Brit to tame.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Glenn Coldenhoff is another rookie to look out for as he starts to find his feet in the class.

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 638 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 536 p.; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 499 p.; 4. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 437 p.; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 416 p.; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 414 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 394 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 361 p.; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 331 p.; 10. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 324 p

There is no clear picture in the battle of MX2 supremacy. Looking at the two riders in contention for the title, Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass, we are faced with two entirely different characters. Gajser is an all or nothing type of rider, when he goes out on the track he throws his heart on the table while Jonass, on the other hand, is super consistent, cool, calm and collected. Coming into this round, the MXGP of Leon, Gajser leads Jonass by 13 points.

And then there is Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie. Anstie has proven that on his day he can wax anyone, it just comes down to whether the 99 will have all his ducks in line or not. While it also wouldn’t be a complete surprise if Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod rejoined the party and won a race, although it could be dependent on how his shoulder is healing up after his massive crash in Assen.

Meanwhile, we also should give credit to the dark horse Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Brent Van Doninck who had his first taste of the box with his third place at the MXGP of The Netherlands and will be wanting to come back for more over the next couple of rounds.

MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 518 points; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 505 p.; 3. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 474 p.; 4. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 446 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 440 p.; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 423 p.; 7. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 393 p.; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 391 p.; 9. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 320 p.; 10. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 301 p.

All the photos of the MXGP of Leon will be available HERE

TIMETABLE

Saturday: MX2 Free Practice 10:45; MXGP Free Practice 11:15; MX2 Time Practice 13:00; MXGP Time Practice 13:35; MX2 Qualifying Race 15:10; MXGP Qualifying Race 16:00.

Sunday: MX2 Warm up 09:45; MXGP Warm up 10:05; MX2 Race 1 12:15; MXGP Race 1 13:15; MX2 Race 2 15:10; MXGP Race 2 16:10.

LINKS

Youthstream

FIM

MXGP of Leon

Here are the official entry lists for the highly anticipated Monster Energy US GP, which will take place as the final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship at the widely recognized circuit Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, America.

MXGP Entry List

MX2 Entry List

Shut your eyes for two seconds and consider that fact that we are now sixteen rounds into the eighteen round 2015 MXGP series. The last two rounds have been a momentous roller coaster with Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre, the star of 2015, making a bold statement with his domination at the MXGP of Lombardia, which led to him wrapping up the championship with two rounds remaining at the following round in The Netherlands. MX2 has also had a dramatic time as we have seen the red plate vacate the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing tent and make its way over to the Honda pits for the first time since 2009.

Read the rest of this feature by clicking HERE.

DRT Kawasaki rider Max Anstie was looking a good bet to close down the point’s lead of Pauls Jonass and Tim Gajser going into Assen last weekend, however a crash, some bike issues and a strong performance by Gajser means that winning the 2015 MX2 championship will be really tough now for the British rider.

With two rounds remaining and 100 points to gain anything can happen and probably will. We caught up with Anstie for a couple of minutes and asked him about his weekend.

Q: How do you feel after the weekend?

Anstie: You know I am happy with my performance. I got the best out of what I was given in both races, but we could have turned some things around. But we have had some decent weekends where everything went smooth and it can’t always run like that. I am a bit (gutted) because I knew I would be strong here and it is just a shame things went the way they did. You need to look at the times when things were right, I did my work and did the business. I feel like I am growing each week.

Q: It has been a nice couple of months for you hasn’t it?

Anstie: I think looking back on the last couple of months myself and the team we made some big steps and it allowed me to focus on myself and my riding. Unfortunately in Assen we seemed to have some issues, we made some steps forward and some steps back. I needed to nurse the bike home and even in the second one it was making some funny noises.

Q: You crashed in that first moto, that moment must have been pretty disappointing as you held a strong second place?

Anstie: I went down in the first one, but I knew straight away something wasn’t right and whether that was a result of pushing it too hard because of the issues. That’s racing and it’s pretty cool to come away with a second place overall, because I didn’t think I was going to get on the box. Nice place, cool to be here, a novelty race and nice for the fans. I have a race next weekend, then Mexico and Glen Helen.

Q: Of course it’s not over yet.

Anstie: You know, it is difficult we lost a lot of points this year, and I will do my job and ride the bike as fast as I can go. We head to Mexico, and we could have some issues there with altitude, it’s difficult and I told my boys to get on it and make sure it is running good there. If it is working well, then we can have some good races. I just want to have that and it’s all I can do. I have lost a lot of points in previous races with DNFs and stuff like that.

Q: Glen Helen should be fun for you?

Anstie: I can’t wait to get to Glen Helen, I did my GP in 2010 and I did it on a Yamaha for Star Racing team and also my first professional race was there in 2009, so that’s pretty cool.

FUNCHAL (Portugal), 04 September 2015 - Youthstream presents the twenty-fourth issue of the MXGP Mag which has a special feature on the newly crowned world champion Romain Febvre as the cover story. It also covers all the talking points from the MXGP of Lombardia and MXGP of The Netherlands as well as a look at the hot shots for the 2015 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations which is set to take place in Ernée at the end of this month. Read all of this and much more!

Click here to read the twenty-fourth issue of the MXGP Mag or download it for FREE on Apple Store or Google Play. The iOs and Android versions contain exclusive videos and several photo galleries, and once the MXGP Mag has been downloaded, the reader does not need to be connected on the Internet to go through the content.

Those users who have already downloaded the other issues on their iOs device can automatically download the twenty-fourth issue by opening the News Stand and clicking on the cover of the MXGP Mag. Whereas those readers using an Android device will be able to download the magazine for free thanks to this new app: http://bit.ly/IssuuOnAndroid

LINKS

Youthstream

FIM

MXGP MAG

The entry lists of the seventh Grand Prix of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship, which will be held in Leon, Mexico, the next 13^th September are now online and can be found here below.

MXGP Entry List 

MX2 Entry List

The Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations is right around the corner, and this year it is a MUST-SEE with France sending their best ever team to defend the Chamberlain Cup on home soil.

Can they be beaten? Tune into www.MXGP-TV.com on the 26^th and 27^th of September to watch it LIVE and OnDemand!

One hundred and thirteenth issue of this bi-weekly motorcycle sport magazine, tackling the latest races and issues in MotoGP, the FIM Motocross World Championship, AMA Motocross/Supercross and World Superbike as well as general motorcycling and accessories with the best blogs and photographs. In OTOR 113: Febvre Fever! MXGP wrapped at Assen
Romain Febvre slammed the door on 2015 MXGP with a second race win at a vibrant event at Assen. Perspective and Blog inside from Holland. MX2 title chasers; Tim Gajser
A special feature on the eighteen year old Slovenian now heading MX2 by 14 points. We speak to the key figures behind 243’s rise and powerhouse riding. Soggy Silverstone: MotoGP splashes thru the UK; David Emmett and Matthew Roberts Blog-in from a predictably wet affair at Silverstone where the Yamaha duel for ’15 intensified. MX2 title chasers: Pauls Jonass; A sit down with another eighteen year old – the Latvian Red Bull KTM star – on his ‘solo’ role in the factory set-up and KTM’s last chance of a world title. 

Have a look here

The gates dropped for round sixteen of the FIM Motocross World Championship at the MXGP of The Netherlands in Assen. Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev set the fastest lap time for the weekend in MXGP while Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie set the fastest time in MX2.

Both riders have added one point to their TAG Heuer fastest lap score sheets.

If you don’t know about this competition, the way it works is; he who sets the fastest lap time in each MXGP or MX2 over the weekend at each round of MXGP this year will be awarded 1 point towards the TAG Heuer sponsored ‘fastest lap’ competition. At the end of the season, the rider who has the most points will be awarded an elegant gift of prestige, a TAG Heuer watch.

If you scroll down on the main page at MXGP.com you will see the TAG HEUER Fastest Lap results grid which is situated directly underneath the FOX Holeshot results grid

The Fox Holeshot award runs across the entire MXGP season. The way it works is 1 point is awarded for each race holeshot. He who has the most points in MXGP at the end of the season will win the grand prize of €10,000 while he with the most points in MX2 will win the grand prize of €5,000.

At the MXGP of The Netherlands in Assen, Marchetti Racing Team KTM’s Jose Butron and Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl took the FOX Holeshots in the MXGP Class, while Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Davy Pootjes took both holeshots in MX2.

Watch the MXGP of The Netherlands FOX Holeshot films here below:

MXGP of The Netherlands MXGP Fox Holeshots

MXGP of The Netherlands MX2 Fox Holeshots