De Dycker and Herlings qualify first in Kegums

Ken De Dycker obtained his second pole position of the season in front of Antonio Cairoli and Gautier Paulin, while Jeffrey Herlings dominated his race almost since the beginning. Jordi Tixier and Glenn Coldenhoff were second and third respectively.
In the EMX125 Wilvo Nestaan JM Racing KTM’s Pauls Jonass dominated once again taking the holeshot and leading the qualifying heat from start to finish. Calvin Vlaanderen was second and Frederik Van Der Vlist completed the top three.

In the EMX250 group one, the current red plate holder Guillod Motorsports’ Valentin Guillod took an easy victory due to an error from his closest challenger Standing Construct KTM’s Damon Graulus. Finishing second was local hero Karlis Sabulis ahead of Brian Bogers in third.

In the EMX250 group two there was a big battle for the lead between Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Jeremy Seewer, HSF Logistics JTX KTM Teams Ceriel Klein Kromhof and KTM Scott Racing’s Brent Van Doninck, in the end it was Seewer who took the chequers forcing Klein Kromhof and Van Doninck to settle for the second and third positions.

MX1
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Ken De Dycker obtained his second pole position of the season after crossing the finish line first ahead of his teammate Antonio Cairoli who was really close to overtake the Belgian in the last lap. De Dycker was down in the eighth position when he reached the first corner, but he managed to get a good rhythm and moved up to the lead when there was just one minute and two laps to go.

After the first corners of the qualifying race, red plate holder Antonio Cairoli was around the seventh position, but he gradually improved his rhythm and with four laps to go the Italian caught Gautier Paulin and Ken De Dycker who were fighting for the lead. As soon as his teammate overtook the French rider, Cairoli gave charge to Paulin and he overtook him with two laps to the end. The Italian also tried to pass De Dycker, but in the end the Belgian crossed the finish line first.

The third position was for Kawasaki Racing Team’s Gautier Paulin, who succeeded to take the holeshot and dominate the first stages of the qualifying race. The French rider saw De Dycker coming really fast from behind – as well as Cairoli a couple of laps after - and Paulin preferred not to take any risk and dropped down two positions. Paulin is confident for tomorrow and he hopes to be back on the podium after having missed it in Sweden last weekend.

His teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek was fifth after the first corner of the qualifying race and he managed to move up to third already in the first lap. However, the Belgian made a mistake when he was trying to overtake Evgeny Bobryshev and he dropped down three positions. Van Horebeek was able to recover really quickly from the crash and thanks to his good speed he managed to finish fourth ahead of Clement Desalle.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Clement Desalle obtained the fastest lap time in the pre-qualifying practice, but he struggled a little bit in the qualifying race. The Belgian was fourth after the start but he could not find a good rhythm to keep his position or to make any pass. Desalle finished fifth and he hopes to have a better feeling with the track tomorrow during the main races.

His teammate Kevin Strijbos was twelfth after the first corner, but once again he had really good speed and he finished sixth. Last year Strijbos was on the podium in Kegums, so he is looking forward to doing well tomorrow at the main races.

Evgeny Bobryshev, who is struggling with a lot of pain on his right leg, managed to start with the front group and he rode second during the first half of the race. The Russian could not keep the rhythm and in the end he crossed the finish line seventh ahead of Rui Gonçalves, who is back this weekend after undergoing a small operation on his right knee before Sweden.

Max Nagl was down to the last position when he reached the first corner because he was forced to shut off the gas when he wheelied over the gate. However, the German imposed an incredible rhythm and he battled all the way up to the ninth place.

Tommy Searle obtained the second best lap time in the pre-qualifying practice and he started with the front group in the qualifying race, but the British rider ran over Steven Frossard and they both crashed at the early stages of the race. Searle was able to go back to his Kawasaki and finished tenth, but Frossard was forced to retire after he dislocated one of his fingers.

Home rider Matiss Karro admitted that he is very excited to be back racing in his country and he hopes to hand his home crowd a good result tomorrow. Today the Latvian rider finished seventeenth and his compatriots Augusts Justs and Davis Ivanovs were nineteenth and twentieth respectively.



MX1 Qualifying Race top ten: 1. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 24:09.982; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:00.343; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:05.647; 4. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:12.680; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:16.714; 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:17.942; 7. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:23.045; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:25.219; 9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:27.077; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:30.023.


Ken de Dycker

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MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings could not take the holeshot today, but after two laps he was able to overtake José Butrón and he quickly opened a big gap with the rest of the riders. Herlings crossed the finish line sixteen seconds ahead of the second qualified, Jordi Tixier, and he is determined to win both races tomorrow and add one more overall victory under his belt.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jordi Tixier was second after the start, but Herlings overtook him in the first corners of the race. However, once the Dutch rider passed Butrón, Tixier managed to overtake the Spanish rider and he opened a comfortable gap in the second place. Tixier rode a consistent race until the chequered flag and he is looking forward to obtaining two good starts tomorrow in order to finish on the podium once again.

Standing Construct KTM’s Glenn Coldenhoff was back riding with the front riders today and he obtained a solid third position in the qualifying race. The Dutch rider was fourth behind Herlings after the start and after four laps Coldenhoff was able to overtake Butrón and he kept the third position until the end of the race.

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Christophe Charlier was fourth in the pre-qualifying practice, as well as in the qualifying heat. The French rider was down in the ninth position after the first corner, but he quickly moved up to fifth. Charlier admitted that he did not want to spend too much energies today, as tomorrow’s races are really important for him to try to move up to the third position of the championship. However, the French rider was able to overtake Alexandr Tonkov by the end of the race, so in the end Charlier obtained an eventual fourth position.

J-Tech ESTA Motorsports’ Alexandr Tonkov had a really good start and he fought for the fifth and sixth position with Charlier and Ferris during almost the whole race. The Russian was riding seventh behind Dean Ferris when the Australian was forced to pull out from the race due to a mechanical problem, so Tonkov moved up to sixth. With two laps to go the Honda rider succeeded to overtake Butrón and he crossed the finish line fifth.

José Butrón clinched another good start today and after taking the holeshot he led the first two laps. However, the Spanish rider could not keep the rhythm of the front group and with two laps to go he made a mistake and crossed the finish line sixth ahead of Alessandro Lupino. Jake Nicholls was eighth and Stefan Olsen and Petar Petrov completed the top ten.

The best Latvian rider in the qualifying race was Roberts Justs in sixteenth place.



MX2 Qualifying Race top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 24:06.357; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:16.333; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:22.495; 4. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:27.513; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Honda), +0:29.728; 6. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:33.058; 7. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:35.646; 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:48.468; 9. Stefan Kjer Olsen (DEN, Honda), +0:49.781; 10. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +0:51.618.