Nederlands
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Rick Elzinga has placed sixth overall at the MXGP of Turkey. Racing at the high-speed, hardpack race track of Afyonkarahisar, the Dutchman charged to an 8-6 result, while teammates Karlis Reisulis and Thibault Benistant claimed ninth and 10th respectively.
The FIM Motocross World Championship made its annual trip to Turkey for the 18th round of the 2024 campaign. Both races took place under sunny skies and on a perfectly prepared surface, however, the track offered little in the way of passing opportunities, which put more emphasis on executing perfect starts.
Frustratingly, Elzinga was unable to start up front in Race One and gave himself a lot of work to do. After moving into 10th on lap five, the 21-year-old maintained his strong pace to the end and passed his teammate, Reisulis, on the penultimate lap to secure a hard-fought eighth.
In Race Two, Elzinga got the start he needed to run at the sharp end, but while exiting turn four, a rival took away his line, which demoted him down field. Fortunate to stay upright after the pass was made, the Yamaha YZ250FM racer did everything he could to reel in and pass Simon Langenfelder to move into sixth but couldn’t quite get close enough to make a pass. As the race reached the halfway point, Elzinga found a way around Reisulis for sixth, where he finished the race. Placing sixth overall, Elzinga holds onto a comfortable seventh in the Championship Standings.
Two weeks on from a career-best fourth overall last time out in Switzerland, Reisulis was eager to impress in Turkey. However, the Latvian couldn’t quite get the same strong starts as in the previous round and spent both races battling just inside the top 10. Reisulis’ opening race ninth was improved upon in Race Two, where he placed seventh for ninth overall to move up to 15th in the Championship Standings.
Continuing to rebuild after missing much of the season due to injury, Benistant suffered with arm pump in Turkey and was unable to ride to his full potential. A fall in Race One dropped him from seventh to 15th, however the Frenchman battled back to 11th and matched that result in Race Two for 10th overall. In the Championship Standings, Benistant lies 13th overall with three rounds remaining.
The team now heads to Asia for the MXGP of China next weekend. Returning to the calendar for the first time since 2019, the hardpack circuit will mark the penultimate round of the 2024 FIM Motocross World Championship.
Rick Elzinga “Overall, the weekend was OK although Saturday was not so good. With the team I turned things around for today and felt better and better as the day went on. I had a poor start in the first race but came through to eighth so that was not too bad. Then in Race Two I had a great start, but in turn three, I got blocked off and dropped down the field. I managed to get back to sixth, which was good and I was happy with my riding, but I should have been closer to the front.”
Karlis Reisulis “My first race was going pretty good, battling with Thibault early on, but I seemed to lose my rhythm and that made the race quite tough. It was quite a difficult track to make passes on and in Race Two I moved from eighth to seventh and that was it although I did close in on Rick near the end so my fitness is good, but overall I should have been better today.”
Thibault Benistant “This weekend was quite difficult for me. I struggled with arm pump a lot and that meant I couldn’t ride like I know I can. The goal is to ride freely and enjoy the races, but unfortunately that didn’t happen this weekend.”
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media