It’s crunch time in the FIM Motocross World Championship with the final champions awaiting to be crowned at the BitCi MXGP of Turkiye, the final stop of the 2022 campaign. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jago Geerts and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle who enter the final GP of the season separated by just two points.
While Geerts holds the slim advantage, it’s Vialle who is probably in the better position out of the two. The Frenchman has won the last two Grand Prix on the bounce in Finland and France, and he also dominated the doubleheader in Turkey last year, which means he will be full of confidence coming into this weekend.
Geerts’ results from last year in Turkey were 6th and 8th overall, which will not be good enough to secure the title, meaning he will need to bring his best performance to Afyon and arrive both mentally and physically strong if he wants to get his hands on his very first world title in MX2.
While the first and second place positions are yet to be decided, Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Simon Längenfelder has no pressure coming into this weekend as he sits comfortably in third and has no big risk of losing that as he is 61 points ahead of his closest rival F&H Kawasaki Racing’s Kevin Horgmo who is fourth.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Thibault Benistant is currently fifth in the standings and will enter the last event off the back of a podium at his home GP where he finished second overall behind Vialle. Despite a shoulder injury, Benistant managed to go 2-1 for the second step and will no doubt be eyeing up the podium again this weekend.
This weekend there are a few familiar faces making wildcard appearances which include the 2022 EMX250 Champion Rick Elzinga from Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing who will line up in MX2 as he prepares for his move up to the world championship category next season. His teammate Andrea Bonacorsi will be racing in MX2 this weekend too, along with Fantic Factory Team Maddii’s Haakon Osterhagen as well as his teammate Cas Valk who recently secured the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing title in Finland. It will be interesting to see what the wildcard riders can do and if they can get in the mix with the front runners and make for some even more exciting racing!
2021 Bitci MXGP of Afyon – Top 3 MX2:
1. Tom Vialle
2. Maxime Renaux
3. Mattia Guadagnini
MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 710 points; 2. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 708 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 564 p.; 4. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 503 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 481 p.; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 435 p.; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 410 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GAS), 410 p.; 9. Stephen Rubini (FRA, HON), 373 p.; 10. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 286 p.;
MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 721 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 615 p.; 3. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 557 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 553 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 540 p.; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, HUS), 406 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 380 p.; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 379 p.; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HUS), 350 p.; 10. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 296 p.;
WEEKEND TIMETABLE (Local Timing UTC+3)
SATURDAY: 09:45 EMX Open Free Practice, 10:15 WMX Free Practice, 10:50 MX2 Free Practice, 11:20 MXGP Free Practice, 12:10 EMX Open Qualifying Practice, 12:45 WMX Qualifying Practice, 13:25 MX2 Time Practice, 14:00 MXGP Time Practice, 14:45 EMX Open Race 1, 15:35 WMX Race 1, 16:25 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:10 MXGP Qualifying Race.
SUNDAY: 09:40 EMX Open Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 WMX Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
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