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.
“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.
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
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