#15: MXGP of Sweden - August 10-11

That pass on Gajser was ballsy ☠️

Herlings fastet on track but it does’nt help in this race

22 points 

Yeah, that was sick. If he can back it up in the 2nd moto, it's less than 20 points between him and Gajser. It's game on..

Meanwhile disaster weekend for Herlings so far, losing all the points that he gained over the last few GPs.

This Championship is going to be Epic like 2021.

That is one of the best races of Prado... Only remenber one race of him that pass like 10 Riders... Rusia 2019 in mx2 was something else.

What a day for Gifting, leading in your home should be an amazing feeling.

Cant wait for the second race

It took Herlings 8 laps to pass Calvin, it took Prado one corner. Prado also had the fastest lap and won the race. Yet Herlings is the fastest?

One of the Galicia this year motos was similar but he didn't come from as far back. Great ride for sure. Gajser should have kicked it in gear sooner and he could have walked away with it 

Statement win by Prado, maybe his most dominant yet, specially moto 1. Things are gonna get spicy!

Malin: "The Bullet is gonna fight until the relatively round lady sings". Gotta love his dry humour 😂

Great races, congrats to Prado and Coenen!

The final of championship is going to be epic!

Why do they put those blocks in the turn leading onto the start straight? 

Safe to say teammates coenen and de wolf don't like each other. 😆

17 points. It's on! 5 GPs left.
17 points is exactly the amount of points Prado has made up in the last 5 GPs, after his DNF at Maggiora.

Next GP should be good for him and the final is in Spain. I'd say Herlings is all but out now after this weekend. He'll probably win the next GP but will still be down 35-40 points with 4 GPs to go.

Yer I think he’s out of it now , hell of a season though when you look at last year I think this is just what he needed getting the races in get better as the season goes on ! 👍

If you watch the EMX 500 race back from Lommel, after Tim Koch passed another rider in the first moto, the call from Malin was “ LOOKING FOR A STIFF RESPONSE FROM KOCH!!!”

Mailin has a very dry wit…

Rick is better on the 450 than the smaller bike IMO.

 he’s 6’’2“ and a 175 lbs, about 20 lbs more then DeWolf, and 50 lbs more than Sasha. 

Some video is out there somewhere 

Fastest laps of sunday races 

EMX125 race 1 

1.51.412 = Simone Mancini 
1.51.775 = Noel Zanocz 
1.51.964 = Gyan Doensen
1.52.721 = Francesco Bellei 
1.53.372 = Aron Katona
1.54.128 = Niccolo Mannini
1.54.854 = Brando Rispoli
1.54.891 = Tom Brunet
1.54.923 = Douwe Van Mechgelen 
1.55.301 = Dani Heitink 

EMX250 race 2 

1.46.984 = Ivano Van Erp
1.47.136 = Valerio Lata
1.47.158 = Mathis Valin
1.47.298 = Cas Valk
1.48.071 = Gavin Towers
1.49.165 = Nico Greutmann 
1.49.186 = Benjamin Garib
1.49.482 = Maximilian Werner
1.49.617 = Elias Escandell 
1.49.755 = Joe Brooks 

MX2 race 1 

1.43.052 = Lucas Coenen
1.43.324 = Mikkel Haarup
1.43.592 = Andrea Adamo
1.44.115 = Simon Laengenfelder 
1.44.593 = Liam Everts 
1.45.263 = Rick Elzinga 
1.45.501 = Kay De Wolf 
1.45.902 = Camden Mc Lellan
1.47.398 = Karlis Reisulis 
1.47.765 = Oriol Oliver 

MXGP race 1 

1.44.023 = Jorge Prado Garcia 
1.44.379 = Jeremy Seewer
1.44.524 = Jeffrey Herlings 
1.44.730 = Romain Febvre 
1.44.842 = Tim Gajser 
1.45.089 = Calvin Vlaanderen 
1.45.430 = Isak Gifting 
1.46.152 = Jan Pancar
1.46.236 = Brent Van Doninck
1.46.377 = Benoit Paturel 

MX2 race 2 

1.42.389 = Lucas Coenen 
1.42.791 = Andrea Adamo
1.43.320 = Simon Laengenfelder 
1.43.512 = Kay De Wolf 
1.43.905 = Ferruccio Zanchi 
1.43.977 = Liam Everts 
1.44.023 = Mikkel Haarup 
1.44.351 = Rick Elzinga 
1.44.458 = Karlis Reisulis 
1.44.649 = Camden Mc Lellan 

MXGP race 2 

1.42.711 = Jorge Prado Garcia 
1.43.107 = Tim Gajser 
1.43.135 = Jeffrey Herlings 
1.45.111 = Kevin Horgmo 
1.45.338 = Isak Gifting 
1.45.392 = Romain Febvre 
1.45.487 = Calvin Vlaanderen 
1.45.750 = Valentin Guillod 
1.45.812 = Glenn Coldenhoff 
1.45.930 = Jeremy Seewer 
 

I also think a 450 will fit him better. But imo what he gains by fiting better on the 450 he will more then lose due to the talent level in MXGP. 

Horgmo, Guillod, Bonacorsi, Guadagnini, Paturel and Tondel are all doing a good job imo in MXGP. But between them they did over 150 motos this season and combined they scored 4 top 5 finishes.  Not sure why Rick would be outscoring these guys (and therefor not sure why he would get big time offers). 

All in all, we had a great weekend at the GP!
Lots of close racing, almost all races where filled with action (more than I expected after some of the messages on this forum).

On the flight back, we were in the plane with Febvre, Vlaanderen, Adamo, Everts, de Wolf, McLellan, van Doninck, Monticelli and Strijbos.
And spoke to Herlings at the airport as well.
Those guys are all so relax, and open for a talk so that was a nice extra to the weekend 😁

Great to hear you've enjoyed the trip Mitch

Yes, those guys are all relaxed. When they're at practice all of them are easy to approach. 

If you watch the Bonacorsi Gopro closely, you can see that Prado made some really smart descisions on that first lap

I have to say, Brent, Rick looks a bit too 'skinny' for his size to be at full strength / health. Seems to have the structure that really should be more 'Solid', than the build I've seen in pics / vids with his shirt off. He's  some scars from, I assume, shoulder / CB surgery too - he's been in the wars, it appears. Though, none of us gets out of this without our fair, or unfair, share of damage......

He looks to be the build you so often see with Blokes trying to 'make weight', to not give away too much to the lighter blokes,  while in the less powerful classed bikes.

As for the people saying he won't amount to much in the 450s - well, that remains to be seen. What gets me is the lack of respect shown to any but the upper 3 to 4 riders, by so many supposed 'fans' of our sport. 

These blokes back through the field, ( Rick certainly isn't in the back of the 250 field, nowadays) are f**king fast, and are making a huge effort to get their results. For those who want to denigrate the MXGP riders, just have a look at Harri Kullas, who's near on at the end of his career, and holidaying / doing one of his lives ambitions of racing in the US. He's done pretty bloody well, for someone that a certain amount of people here, would class as a 'no hoper / back marker' in the GPs. The blokes a bloody legend!

It just pisses me off at how so many want to slag any rider, especially GP riders, who is not at the very top.