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MXGP Russia: Jonass takes back MX2 control

Defending champion Pauls Jonass (Red Bull KTM) re-established his dominance at the head of the MX2 class in today’s point-paying races at the MXGP of Russia with a double win – his fourth maximum score of the season – following below-par performances in Italy and Portugal.

With his teenaged team-mate Jorge Prado taking the last two overalls the pressure was on the Latvian to raise his game and he responded like a champion at Orlyonok, the venue for round six of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

“After the last two GPs I was a bit bummed about my riding and was disappointed in myself,” said Jonass. “After Portugal I was telling people I would be back in business for Russia and my trainers pushed me hard in Belgium building up to this GP.

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“Now we need to keep working and not repeat those mistakes. It is always nice to go one-one and especially just before my home GP. I hope many fans will come to Kegums and cheer me on because the fans’ support is important.”

Prado ran two-two for second on the day but the big news for British fans was that Ben Watson (Kemea Yamaha) finally scored a debut GP podium with a three-six score after narrowly missing out in Argentina and Portugal.

Jonass dominated the first moto after passing Prado on lap two and tearing to an 11-second win. Watson was a race-long third and looked comfortable as he coolly kept Denmark’s Thomas Kjer Olsen (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) at bay.

In race two Jonass took the holeshot and led every lap but either a lapse in concentration or over-confidence could have cost him the win as Prado left his braking until late into a tight right-hand turn just corners from home and almost slammed into him.

The eventual winning margin was just over one-and-a-half seconds and so dominant were the pair that third-placed Michele Cervellin (Martin Honda) was 38 seconds further back.

For most of the race Watson wasn’t in a podium position. Losing two places early on to first Henri Jacobi (STC Husqvarna) and then Calvin Vlaanderen (Team HRC), he then picked up a position for sixth but with Olsen holding fourth it looked as though he was going to miss out for a third time.

But in the closing stages Vlaanderen began to push harder and made a vital pass on the Dane with five laps to go. Olsen responded and for the final few laps Watson’s first-ever podium finish hung in the balance.

As he closed in on the pair he could see the battle play out in front of him but the South African held his nerve. At the flag less than three seconds separated the trio after over 35 minutes of flat-out racing – it really is that close at this level.

Watson’s podium aside, it wasn’t the best of days for the Brits.

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Adam Sterry (F&H Kawasaki) crashed out of fourth on lap one in the opening race and had got back to 11th when another mistake dropped him back down the order and he came home 18th. He started badly in race two and could only push as high as 12th.

After such a promising start to the season, Conrad Mewse (Hitachi ASA KTM UK) continued to struggle to replicate his domestic form and ran a disappointing 15-19.

MXGP Russia MX2 race two

1    1    Jonass, Pauls    LAT     LAMSF    KTM    34:38.909    20    0:00.000    0:00.000    1:42.226    13    53
2    61    Prado, Jorge    ESP     RFME    KTM    34:40.539    20    0:01.630    0:01.630    1:42.232    11    53
3    747    Cervellin, Michele    ITA     FMI    Honda    35:18.620    20    0:39.711    0:38.081    1:44.246    16    52
4    10    Vlaanderen, Calvin    RSA     KNMV    Honda    35:19.509    20    0:40.600    0:00.889    1:43.902    16    52.2
5    19    Olsen, Thomas Kjer    DEN     DMU    Husqvarna    35:20.490    20    0:41.581    0:00.981    1:44.111    18    52.1
6    919    Watson, Ben    GBR     ACU    Yamaha    35:22.349    20    0:43.440    0:01.859    1:44.055    16    52.1
7    14    Beaton, Jed    AUS     MA    Kawasaki    35:44.948    20    1:06.039    0:22.599    1:44.993    12    51.6
8    118    Rubini, Stephen    FRA     FFM    KTM    35:51.531    20    1:12.622    0:06.583    1:44.335    19    51.9
9    193    Geerts, Jago    BEL     FMB    Yamaha    35:54.605    20    1:15.696    0:03.074    1:45.016    16    51.6
10    172    Van doninck, Brent    BEL     FMB    Husqvarna    35:59.785    20    1:20.876    0:05.180    1:45.199    17    51.5
11    66    Larranaga Olano, Iker    ESP     RFME    Husqvarna    36:01.813    20    1:22.904    0:02.028    1:45.726    14    51.3
12    811    Sterry, Adam    GBR     ACU    Kawasaki    36:03.601    20    1:24.692    0:01.788    1:45.294    11    51.5
13    29    Jacobi, Henry    GER     DMSB    Husqvarna    36:05.561    20    1:26.652    0:01.960    1:44.771    20    51.7
14    64    Covington, Thomas    USA     MUL    Husqvarna    36:13.864    20    1:34.955    0:08.303    1:45.277    16    51.5
15    46    Pootjes, Davy    NED     KNMV    KTM    36:18.552    20    1:39.643    0:04.688    1:45.651    17    51.3
16    321    Bernardini, Samuele    ITA     FMI    TM    35:02.106    19    1 lap     1 lap    1:47.362    5    50.5
17    161    Östlund, Alvin    SWE     SVEMO    Yamaha    35:04.108    19    1 lap     0:02.002    1:46.776    19    50.8
18    338    Herbreteau, David    FRA     FFM    KTM    35:04.499    19    1 lap     0:00.391    1:47.686    14    50.3
19    426    Mewse, Conrad    GBR     ACU    KTM    35:09.648    19    1 lap     0:05.149    1:46.762    16    50.8
20    44    Lesiardo, Morgan    ITA     FMI    KTM    35:28.647    19    1 lap     0:18.999    1:48.068    16    50.2
21    50    Kurashev, Sergey    RUS     MFR    KTM    35:48.542    12    8 laps    7 laps    1:58.365    3    45.8
22    18    Brylyakov, Vsevolod    RUS     MFR    Yamaha    16:58.513    9    11 laps    3 laps    1:44.924    6    51.7
23    95    Furlotti, Simone    ITA     FMI    Yamaha    5:20.787    1    19 laps    8 laps    5:06.353    1    17.7

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MXGP Russia MX2 race one

1    1    Jonass, Pauls    LAT     LAMSF    KTM    34:54.861    20    0:00.000    0:00.000    1:42.085    15    53.1
2    61    Prado, Jorge    ESP     RFME    KTM    35:06.422    20    0:11.561    0:11.561    1:42.812    14    52.7
3    919    Watson, Ben    GBR     ACU    Yamaha    35:26.722    20    0:31.861    0:20.300    1:44.383    16    51.9
4    19    Olsen, Thomas Kjer    DEN     DMU    Husqvarna    35:31.720    20    0:36.859    0:04.998    1:44.215    19    52
5    118    Rubini, Stephen    FRA     FFM    KTM    35:34.065    20    0:39.204    0:02.345    1:43.277    19    52.5
6    10    Vlaanderen, Calvin    RSA     KNMV    Honda    35:35.760    20    0:40.899    0:01.695    1:43.962    16    52.1
7    747    Cervellin, Michele    ITA     FMI    Honda    35:48.352    20    0:53.491    0:12.592    1:44.988    14    51.6
8    14    Beaton, Jed    AUS     MA    Kawasaki    35:53.773    20    0:58.912    0:05.421    1:43.617    15    52.3
9    18    Brylyakov, Vsevolod    RUS     MFR    Yamaha    35:54.433    20    0:59.572    0:00.660    1:45.101    15    51.6
10    66    Larranaga Olano, Iker    ESP     RFME    Husqvarna    36:04.932    20    1:10.071    0:10.499    1:45.835    16    51.2
11    46    Pootjes, Davy    NED     KNMV    KTM    36:07.626    20    1:12.765    0:02.694    1:45.182    14    51.5
12    193    Geerts, Jago    BEL     FMB    Yamaha    36:11.036    20    1:16.175    0:03.410    1:45.290    13    51.5
13    172    Van doninck, Brent    BEL     FMB    Husqvarna    36:16.218    20    1:21.357    0:05.182    1:44.980    16    51.6
14    321    Bernardini, Samuele    ITA     FMI    TM    36:17.139    20    1:22.278    0:00.921    1:45.244    20    51.5
15    426    Mewse, Conrad    GBR     ACU    KTM    36:20.773    20    1:25.912    0:03.634    1:44.803    17    51.7
16    95    Furlotti, Simone    ITA     FMI    Yamaha    36:43.003    20    1:48.142    0:22.230    1:46.272    12    51
17    64    Covington, Thomas    USA     MUL    Husqvarna    34:56.749    19    1 lap     1 lap    1:46.421    14    50.9
18    811    Sterry, Adam    GBR     ACU    Kawasaki    35:16.181    19    1 lap     0:19.432    1:47.063    9    50.6
19    44    Lesiardo, Morgan    ITA     FMI    KTM    35:21.940    19    1 lap     0:05.759    1:48.154    11    50.1
20    161    Östlund, Alvin    SWE     SVEMO    Yamaha    35:39.882    19    1 lap     0:17.942    1:47.135    18    50.6
21    50    Kurashev, Sergey    RUS     MFR    KTM    35:40.882    14    6 laps    5 laps    1:57.024    13    46.3
22    338    Herbreteau, David    FRA     FFM    KTM    24:25.727    13    7 laps    1 lap    1:49.102    10    49.7
23    29    Jacobi, Henry    GER     DMSB    Husqvarna    7:47.887    4    16 laps    9 laps    1:47.320    3    50.5

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