There is no doubt, a bunch of riders in the MXGP class will arrive at the Matterley Basin circuit in less than two weeks’ time with the goal to get through the weekend, but also gain some momentum and confidence for the future rounds of the 2022 MXGP championship.
With two of the 2021 major players out of the picture in round one (Jeffrey Herlings and Romain Febvre both recovering from injury), that does open the door for others, names like MXGP rookie and 2021 MX2 World champion Maxine Renaux, new Kawasaki factory signing Ben Watson and of course, the young and sensational Jorge Prado of the Red Bull GasGas Factory team.
While these riders are all preparing for battle, the team personnel are all looking at what they can do the make sure their riders have success in England, and in fact, for the whole 2022 season.
Of course, the big favourite in England will be four-time World motocross champion Tim Gajser and with Herlings and Febvre out of the running for a GP win, Gajser and his HRC team expect big things early in 2022. Marcus Pereira de Freitas the HRC General Manager can’t wait to get up and running.
“It is great to have both Tim and Mitch under the awning this year,” Pereira de Freitas said. “They are both working really hard to be ready again for the new season. The break was very short from the end of the 2021 campaign so it has been a very busy period and I must thank everyone in Team HRC for continuing to work hard to make sure we are all set for the first gate drop. Tim always does the work necessary, both with bike testing and his own physical training so I always trust him to do exactly what he needs to do. Mitch has been back in Europe for a little bit now and all the reports have been positive and now we get to test with him before the first MXGP and that will give us an idea of where he is. We know it won’t be easy as the level has risen since he last raced but he is very determined, and we will make sure he has everything he needs to get back to top of the class. It sounds like we are going back to a two-day format, which I think is good for the sport, so we need to be ready for that, but overall, I think Team HRC is in a strong position for 2022.”
Antti Pyrhönen of the Kawasaki factory team is excited for his rider, Ben Watson, who will enter Matterley Basin with some pressure as the leading British rider in 2022. Pyrhonen though knows that with the right support Watson can be a force at the top end of the MXGP class, as he showed last weekend in a French International.
“Ben was riding well all day,” Pyrhonen said. “Especially in the last race he showed what he can do, and we are really happy with a good feeling. These races are really important as we acquire more knowledge of both the bike and Ben, and it’s important that he can build his confidence with good results. The mind-set has to be that these pre-season races are part of the training programme. We knew from the past that Lacapelle is quite tacky at this time of the year, so it was good training for the first GP at Matterley; the track there also has many ruts and is very technical. “
While Jeffrey Herlings will miss the opening round of the series, he could be back soon after, or at least that is what we all hope. His team’s technical man Dirk Gruebel is excited for that return, because KTM have done a lot of work on the bikes for 2022.
“It’s all change for this season,” Gruebel said. “Not only with the rider line-up for Red Bull KTM but also the new SX-Fs. We are also still dealing with the situation of Rene’s loss and having two racers instead of three. However, the goals remain the same and when we look at the potential of both Jeffrey and Tom and the work, they have done in the off-season then we are confident. MXGP gets going pretty early in the year and we should have the flyaways again after missing out for two years. We know it will be a long season, but it will be good to get back to a normal way of racing.”
After the injury to Herlings, Red Bull KTM team manager Joel Smets was bitterly disappointed and just hopes his rider can come back when 100% fit and continue his work from the 2021 season, when he picked up his fifth World motocross championship.
“Of course, this is very disappointing for Jeffrey,” Smets said. “Also, for the team and the championship. Trying to look at the positive side the injury is not as complicated as his foot problem in 2019. The operation took some time, but everything went well, and we hope Jeffrey can be out of a cast in less than two weeks and can even start some light training such as swimming and some other activities. Then we’ll have to see how he recovers to plan his GP return.”
So now with just 10 or so days before the team trucks roll into Matterley Basin, you just know all the riders, mechanics, team managers and team personnel are working over-time to give their riders the upper hand.
Photo Copyright: Bavo Swijgers
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