The MX2 headed to England’s Matterly Basin for round thirteen of fifteen and the Grand Prix of Great Britain. Coming into round thirteen, Ken Roczen‘s World Championship points-lead was a semi-comfortable twenty-seven points, but with six motos remaining–and his teammate Jeffrey Herlings flowing with confidence–there was still work to do. Matterly Basin is a hard-pack surface with plenty of Supercross-style jumps which looked perfect for Roczen’s style. Could Herlings overcome that advantage and begin to close the gap, or would Roczen stretch his points lead before heading to his home GP in Gaildorf?
MX2 – Moto 1
In the first moto of MX2 action, it would be all about Ken Roczen once again. The German red plate holder would pilot his KTM to the holeshot and spend the next 40 minutes gapping the rest of the field. In the early part of moto one, JM Racing’s KTM rider Joel Roelants kept Roczen honest, but as the moto wore on, Roelants fell victim to a charging CLS/Monster/Kawasaki ridden by local motocross hero Tommy Searle. Tommy–after starting outside of the top five–charged relentlessly for the screaming British on hand and made his way up and around everyone except Ken Roczen. Tommy said after moto one that he felt chills hearing the home crowd cheer for every pass he made.
Behind Roczen and Searle, the Belgian Joel Roelants held on to finish in third for his first-ever podium in a Grand Prix. Joel has been talked about as a fill-in for the injured on the Belgian Motocross of Nations team, and it looked like he wanted to validate that talk. Filling in the rest of the top five positions were two Frenchmen: Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Gautier Paulin in fourth and Suzuki Europe’s Valentin Teillet finishing fifth. Paulin started in fifth and worked his way up to third, but in the end, was overtaken by a surging Tommy Searle. Teillet started back in seventh and charged for the whole forty minutes, which allowed him to get around Jeremy VanHorebeek late in moto one to secure a solid top five. Just outside the top five finishing seventh was Jeffrey Herlings. The Dutchman had a rough moto one and never seemed to find his normally fast pace. With only five motos left, Jeffrey could not afford a bad moto. The seventh place finish dropped him to thirty-eight points behind teammate Roczen in the Championship.
MX2 Race 1 results – Matterly Basin
1 94 Roczen, Ken GER DMSB KTM 2 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU Kawasaki 3 34 Roelants, Joel BEL FMB KTM 4 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM Yamaha 5 37 Teillet, Valentin FRA FFM Suzuki 6 89 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB KTM 7 84 Herlings, Jeffrey NED KNMV KTM 8 45 Nicholls, Jake GBR ACU KTM 9 7 Tonus, Arnaud SUI FMS Yamaha 10 99 Anstie, Max GBR AMA Kawasaki
MX2 – Moto 2
With a thirty-eight point advantage going into the last five motos of the MX2 World Championship, Roczen can just cruise to his first World Championship. It appear, though, that he would rather put the hammer down and do what he’s done all year. The number ninety-four piloted his Austrian 250cc weapon in and out of turn one with the lead and proceeded to be a magician and make himself disappear. The German was clicking off lap after lap of motocross perfection and, even with his Championship rival Jeffrey Herlings starting right behind him in second position, he was able to build a monstrous lead. He would go on to easily win moto two and complete a 1-1 sweep on the day.
With Kenny out front riding by himself, the rest of the MX2 class battled for the “best of the rest” title. For most of moto one, that title seemed to belong to Herlings, but in MX, things are seldom as they seem. From the beginning of moto one, Herlings and Searle were running second and third with Herlings as far as four seconds ahead, but as the laps wound down, the Englishman Searle–feeling his home GP love–closed the gap. When the while flag came out, Herlings was still in second, but midway through the final lap a little mistake by Herlings was all Searle needed to get the pass completed. Herlings, while going through one of the rutted-out right-handers, got his foot stuck in a rut and was left watching the number one-hundred ride away for the second place finish in moto two. Searle’s 2-2 on the day was good enough for second overall, while Herlings’ 7-3 left him just off the podium in fourth.
Behind the top three in moto two came one of the best rides of the day. Gautier Paulin rounded turn one in around twentieth position and checked in after lap one in thirteenth. The Frenchman put his head down and showed everyone that he has no quit in him. For that effort and his 4-4 score on the day, he was awarded with the third spot on the GP of Great Britain podium. On Paulin’s way through the pack, he was helped when two riders having the best rides of their careers had mechanical problems. The first rider to go out with a chain issue was Valentin Teillet. The Suzuki Europe rider–after an incredible fifth in moto one–was running up in fourth place and on the verge of a podium finish before his chain snapped on him. The other rider whose career best day ended with mechanical problem was Joel Roelants. After finishing with a career best third in moto one, the Belgian was running fourth in moto two when his KTM let him down. In the end, both riders showed that we may see them on the podium sometime in the near future.
At the end of the day, it was all about Ken Roczen and his quest for his first Championship. The best riders in the World make motocross look easy, and watching Kenny lately makes the sport look as simple as can be. With his 1-1 on the day–and Herlings’ 7-3–Roczen heads to his home GP in Gaildorf with a good chance of clinching his first World Championship there. He now has a forty-three point advantage and needs to beat Herlings by seven points in Gaildorf to claim the MX2 title one race early.
MX2 Overall Race Results – MX GP of Great Britain – Matterly Basin
1 94 Roczen, Ken GER DMSB KTM 25 25 50 2 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU Kaw 22 22 44 3 21 Paulin, Gautier FRA MCM Yam 18 18 36 4 84 Herlings, Jeff NED KNMV KTM 14 20 34 5 7 Tonus, Arnaud SUI FMS Yam 12 16 28 6 45 Nicholls, Jake GBR ACU KTM 13 15 28 7 430 Charlier, Chris FRA FFM Yam 10 14 24 8 99 Anstie, Max GBR AMA Kaw 11 13 24 9 911 Tixier, Jordi FRA FFM KTM 9 12 21 10 34 Roelants, Joel BEL FMB KTM 20 0 20
Click here for full overall results from Matterly Basin
Updated Championship points – MX2
Pos Nr Rider Nat. Total 1 94 Roczen, Ken GER 590 2 84 Herlings, J. NED 547 3 100 Searle, Tommy GBR 479 4 21 Paulin, G. FRA 425 5 7 Tonus, Arnaud SUI 353 6 99 Anstie, Max GBR 342 7 338 Osborne, Zach USA 295 8 151 Kullas, Harri FIN 287 9 131 Aubin, Nicolas FRA 242 10 34 Roelants, Joel BEL 226
