Nederlands
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Rick Elzinga has finished as runner-up at the MXGP of Flanders, round 14 of the 2024 MX2 World Championship. Returning to his early season form, the Dutchman charged to second in the opening race before placing fourth in Race Two. Karlis Reisulis also impressed in Belgium, securing eighth overall with his weekend highlighted by a career-best fifth in Race Two.
The legendary circuit of Lommel hosted the MXGP of Flanders and like always, it developed into a challenging race track with a deep layer of soft, dry sand on top of a hard base, creating a slippery surface. But with Elzinga and Reisulis being excellent sand riders, they both adapted quickly and delivered impressive results at what will be one of the toughest races of the season.
Excited to be racing on sand after many rounds at hardpack circuits, Elzinga set the tone for a positive weekend with fourth in the MX2 Qualifying Race. This result gave him a favourable gate pick and in Race One he took full advantage of it to emerge from the first turn in fifth. Biding his time until the halfway point of the race, Elzinga moved up to third and then into second on the final lap to equal his best race finish of the season.
Confident for a repeat performance in Race Two, Elzinga executed a perfect start to run up front in second. Despite dropping to third on lap three, he kept the race leaders in sight and took over at the front of the field for two laps when Kay de Wolf crashed. During the closing stages, a small technical issue caused Elzinga to slow down, but thanks to his high pace early on, he had created a large gap over of the rest of the pack and he was able to cross the line in fourth for a hard-earned second overall. With six rounds remaining, Elzinga remains seventh in the Championship Standings.
Reisulis continues to impress with every gate drop and his performance at the MXGP of Flanders certainly underlined his rapid progression. After securing ninth in Race One, the talented Latvian started Race Two side by side with Elzinga and slotted into third initially before he dropped one position on the opening lap. From there, besides a small crash while trying to move back into third, Reisulis demonstrated his riding ability to maintain fifth to the finish line for a career-best race result and eighth overall. Following another strong result, Reisulis moves up to 19th in the Championship Standings.
Joining Elzinga and Reisulis on the line in Lommel was current WMX World Championship leader, Lotte van Drunen. Using the race to gain valuable experience during a break in the WMX calendar, the Dutch sensation put in a courageous effort to score a point in Race Two for finishing 20th.
With another successful weekend of racing complete, the MX2 World Championship heads to the hardpack circuit of Uddevalla for the MXGP of Sweden on August 10-11.
Rick Elzinga: “The last month or so has been really difficult for me on the mental side of things, and it’s taken a lot of work to get back up on the podium. The whole time, the team has believed in me, so I have to thank them for everything and it’s a team effort for sure. I was leading for a bit in Race Two but we had a small technical issue with the bike. I’ll be taking the positives from this weekend into the remaining rounds of the season and I feel fit and confident that I can finish off the season strong.”
Karlis Reisulis: “This weekend was really positive, although in the first race I couldn’t quite find my rhythm. But then in Race Two, I had a really good start and battled around third and fourth for quite a while. However, when I was pushing to move back into third, I had a small crash. I was able to finish fifth though, so I’m really pleased about that and I’m really happy about the whole weekend.”
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media