Over the three races, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser went one-two-two at the Kegums circuit in Latvia, to take second step on the podium, and reclaim the championship-leading red-plate once again. In what were completely different conditions in the two GP-scoring races today, Gajser showed that it doesn’t matter if it is wet or dry, and that he is a threat to win in any weather.
Yesterday’s victory in the qualification race gave him first gate-pick and although he wasn’t able to repeat yesterday’s holeshot, he was still able to get round inside the top five. Unfortunately he was behind his two main rivals in both motos, but he was quickly able to pass one of them early-on in each moto to move into second.
Race one was a really wet moto, with standing water and wet sand making things difficult for everyone, but Gajser showed his skills to keep the leader in sight and pull away from the rest of the field. With the wet roost causing issues, he eventually had to settle for second place, which was still a good points tally and kept his chances of an overall alive.
In race two, he once again moved into second place and although he was able to keep the winner of race one well behind him, he knew he had to win to get the GP overall and despite intense pressure on the leader, he wasn’t able to make the pass happen on what was now a dry one-lined Kegums track. Once again he crossed the line, just over a second behind the race winner, knowing that his two-two would see him on the second step of the podium. Still, it was good enough for him to now be leading the championship by four points as they head to the 10th round of the series, which will take place at the prestigious Maggiora track in northern Italy.
Tim Gajser
I rode well all weekend, and am happy with the overall effort. Going one-two-two shows that my consistency is good and that my speed is good enough to win, but I wasn’t quite able to make it happen. I got the red-plate back so that is a positive and although there is still a long way to go, it is nice to ride with the red-plate on my Honda CRF450R, especially next week in Maggiora which is a special track.
Honda