Nederlands
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Karlis Reisulis has delivered the breakout ride of his young career to place a stunning fourth overall at the MXGP of Switzerland. Making strong starts and leading laps, Reisulis certainly impressed on the challenging race track as he continues to improve with each passing round. Making a welcome return to action after injury, Thibault Benistant placed sixth, while Rick Elzinga finished 12th after a mixed day of racing.
Heavy overnight rain during the early hours of Sunday morning turned the Frauenfeld circuit into a sticky and technical race track after riders first contended with a warm and dry day on Saturday. The testing conditions did little to deter Reisulis however, who embraced the challenge and kicked Sunday off with the fastest lap time in the Warm-up session.
Showing just how much of a well-rounded rider he is on a kinds of race tracks, Reisulis began Race One in third and in the wheel tracks of his teammate Benistant and series leader, Kay de Wolf. As the race neared the halfway point, de Wolf and Reisulis found a way by Benistant when he fell and the Latvian remained second until he was forced to remove his goggles with a handful of laps to go. In the muddy conditions and with poor visibility, Reisulis slipped back to seventh at the finish.
Reisulis started Race Two in the best way possible by charging to the holeshot. From there, on a much drier circuit and with a clear race track ahead of him, he started breaking way at the front of the field. Remaining cool, calm, and stylish as he led the way, Reisulis was eventually caught and passed by Simon Laengenfelder in the closing stages, but by riding with such a blistering pace early on, he was able to maintain second to the finish for a career-best race result and overall finish of fourth. Having only contested seven of the 17 rounds held this season, Reisulis is now 16th in the Championship Standings.
Back in action in Switzerland was Benistant who crashed heavily at the MXGP of France back in May. Showing he’d not lost any of his speed aboard his Yamaha YZ250FM machine, the Frenchman holeshot Race One and led until almost the halfway point when he fell and de Wolf and Reisulis passed him. Remounting quickly in third and maintaining his position to the end, Benistant secured a fine top-three finish in his first race after injury.
Another great start in Race Two saw Benistant emerge from the first turn in third, before quickly moving into the lead. On the opening lap, Reisulis found a way by him, and as the race continued, a small fall combined with a little fatigue setting in after not racing for so long saw the 22-year-old slip to eighth at the finish. Despite missing 10 rounds, Benistant lies 13th in the Championship Standings.
The MXGP of Switzerland was a mixed one for Elzinga. After a great start in Race One, he ran second for much of the race until a technical issue ruled him out of a potential runner-up finish with a handful of laps remaining.
Regrouping for Race Two, the Dutchman once again started well and held fifth until three laps to go when a lapped rider held him up and he lost his position. In addition to placing sixth in Race Two, Elzinga maintains seventh in the Championship Standings with three rounds remaining.
With a trio of back-to-back rounds in Sweden, The Netherlands, and Switzerland now complete, the next stop on the FIM Motocross World Championship is the MXGP of Turkey over the weekend of September 7-8.
Karlis Reisulis: “Overall, it’s been a really good weekend. I was eighth in the Qualifying Race and then fastest in Warm-up. I had a decent start in Race One and held fourth for a long time, into the second half of the race, but then I lost my goggles and a few places. Race Two was the best moto of my career in MX2 and after pulling the holeshot I led for a very long time until Simon Laengenfelder passed me. After that I was able to cruise to second and I’m really happy about my speed and performance this weekend here in Switzerland.”
Thibault Benistant: “I’m actually so happy to be back racing and there are plenty of positives for me to take away from here after being out of action for a few months. I struggled a little bit in Race Two as I’d not raced for so long but with more time on the bike, my feeling on the bike will only get better and better.”
Rick Elzinga: “I had a really good jump off the line in Race One with no wheel spin so I came out of the first turn in third. Around halfway I was into second and running with Kay and all was good. Then unfortunately I had an issue with my bike and my race was sadly over. My start in Race Two was also good, but not quite as good as my first one. I was up to fifth pretty quickly and caught a couple of riders but I just couldn’t find a way by. Then, near the end, I got held up by a backmarker and that made me lose a position. But overall, my speed and riding were good today so I can look forward to Turkey in two weeks with confidence.”
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media