Photo by: Ray Archer

Take a look at what the riders thought of their weekend in Spain. From Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings, right through to the guys at the back.

Tim Gajser: (1st in MXGP) “It’s been such an amazing weekend. I couldn’t believe that I could top the charts in every session, or that at halfway through the season we could have finished on the podium at every single race, with five wins too. It’s an amazing feeling. This weekend also shows that we’re working in the right way to keep strong, because in the last few races I’ve made some rookie mistakes, and we’ve worked on this area a lot since Trentino so a double victory here is the perfect way to come back after a week off and shows that our work pays off immediately. I want to say thank you especially to the team this weekend and to my mechanic Nico and engineer Roger because there was big work between the races, and it’s such a great feeling to be able to deliver them the results. They do such a good job and I trust them completely to give me the perfect bike, and we definitely had a perfect bike this weekend.”

 

Jeffrey Herlings: (1st in MX2) “I managed to overtake Ferrandis quite quickly and did what I had to do to win the moto. I pulled a pretty good start in the second moto and was top five and managed to come out on top again.” When asked if Ferrandis might give him some problems next weekend at the French races, Herlings said: “I know what to expect.”

 

Gautier Paulin: (3rd in MXGP) “I’m really happy to be riding again after the injury and enjoying my time on the bike, having fun and to be on the podium again. I couldn’t believe I could have two good races like that because I was still feeling tired, and I think I pushed more mentally than physically because my condition is missing a little because I haven’t been able to train like I want during my recovery. Yesterday the track was more rough and I set the best lap time because I could make speed more with my technical side than physical. But we are getting stronger and stronger again with more time on the bike, so I’m really enjoying this moment.”

Max Nagl: (2nd in MXGP) “It was a great weekend and a great reward for the hard work the team has been putting in. We did some more testing last week and we managed to make my bike even better. One of our goals was to further improve our starts and during the weekend our starts were great. I got the holeshot in both motos and lead the races for the first few laps. Gajser was a little bit quicker around the track so when he passed me in race one and in race two I tried to ride smart and stay behind him. Our lap times were a bit better than the rest of the field and I was happy to finish both races in a good second position. This GP is a big confidence booster for me and for the team. Going to France now I’m positive for another good result. I’m in good shape at the moment and the bike feels great, so I’ll do my best to keep my podium streak running.”

 

Benoit Paturel: (2nd in MX2) “Each race gives me more confidence, race by race. This podium is really amazing, and in the second race I rode at my training level and took a really good start. Thanks to the team this is happening. Our trainer Jacky Vimond has changed my life, changed my training and changed me. If I am capable of racing a this level today, it’s because of Jacky.”

Double podium for the boys in red in Spain. Tim Gasjer (left) Gautier Paulin (right)
Double podium for the boys in red in Spain. Tim Gasjer (left) Gautier Paulin (right)

Pauls Jonass: (3rd in MX2) “I had good battles with Paturel in the first race and with Seewer in the second, right up to the first half of the last lap when he made a mistake. I really enjoyed the races and I’m looking forward to the next GP. We need to ride a bit more on hard pack this week and physically I am quite okay.”

 

Antonio Cairoli: (7th in MXGP) “It was a terrible day, yesterday I already did not felt good in practice, on a track that I normally like, but it was really difficult with the mud during the practice and I wasn’t feeling 100% good but still I was able to come back to sixth place in the qualifying race so I was happy with the riding and the speed that was better in race than in practice. In the first moto I had a good jump out of the gate but then in the middle of the straight I find some mud and I lost traction, cornering around the eight place, riding a little bit tight and ending in fifth position when it was possible to grab the third place. In second moto I had a terrible start, the gate dropped a bit late and I lost the concentration and I went to the first corner almost last. After some laps I was surprising myself making a lot of pass and I was happy with my speed but when I was going for the seventh position I put the front wheel in a slippery section of the track and I lost the front end, coming over the bar and crashing pretty hard. when I send up, I was ninth but my opponents where too far to try to recover. It was a bad race, mostly for the Championship but we gonna move on like we did in past, try to be back on the top of the box and win as many race I can.”

 

Romain Febvre: (6th in MXGP) “Yesterday I didn’t know if I could ride, so today was almost like a victory. I had two good starts, and in the second moto I went from 30th to 5th. For sure I lost a few points in the championship, but I was able to save much more, and that makes me very happy before we go back to France next week.”

 

Jeremy Van Horebeek: (8th in MXGP) “It’s really difficult here, because everybody is going fast and at this level you have to be 100 percent. I’m stoked with 27 points today, and I worked really hard for that. I had a lot of pain today and it was really difficult. The medics here found a 2mm crack in my wrist from Teutschenthal, so we will go back to the doctors this week for a check and see what we can do before we go to France.”

 

Aleksandr Tonkov: (5th in MX2) For me in the second moto the problem arises when my lungs are tight and I need more air. It’s tough because my back problem is also my neck and my ribs. In the last two races I got tired at the end but I didn’t slow down, and I ended up on the ground because I couldn’t get oxygen to my head. So this weekend I changed tactics and slowed down a little bit to not lose so many points. This track was really intense, and the gaps from front to back were really close. This doesn’t happen so often, and today it was just 20 seconds from first to sixth. It hasn’t been so easy for me, because of my injury I haven’t had that many hours on the bike in the last month. But next week we go home and train and stick to the plan, and it should get better.”

Cairoli could not keep his winning going, but he is far from out of this Championship.
Cairoli could not keep his winning going, but he is far from out of this Championship.

Evgeny Bobryshev: (5th in MXGP) “To finish fifth overall after a couple of consistent races is good, and we collected more points this weekend, but to be honest I’m a little frustrated and disappointed. I just didn’t gel with this track this weekend. In the second race I was following Gautier and trying to pass him, but it’s tight and twisty which I don’t like so much and I just couldn’t make it work. But I’m really happy for Gautier and want to congratulate him to come back strongly and stand on the podium today after missing some races this season. Honestly I didn’t have so much fun this weekend, but considering that fifth and another 31 points is good.”

 

Christophe Charlier: (18th in MXGP) “It was a difficult weekend, but I feel like it was a good learning step for the future. It took me some time to feel comfortable in this track. A small mechanical issue didn’t allow me to finish the qualifying session so I had to start both final motos from the outside. I did my best for good results in both races but without good starts it was really hard to get inside the top 10. We’re now heading to my home GP in Sain Jean d’Angely and my goal is to prove I have what it takes to battle for the top in MXGP.”

 

Valentin Guillod: (9th in MXGP) “I’m really happy about my riding this weekend. I had the fastest lap in the first race, and I think I could have done even better. My start in the second moto was better, and I think that we are going in the right direction.”

 

Clement Desalle: (4th in MXGP) “It’s great to be back in the first three! For sure I missed the overall podium by a few points but it’s been some time since I finished one race in the top three. It’s a good comeback; my feeling with the bike was better this weekend but we still need to work as I didn’t spent so much time on it since February due to my injuries. Today the start was so important that you couldn’t afford to miss it; the first one was good, but at the second one I lost a few positions through the first few corners. Since Latvia at the start of the month I’ve only been able to train four times but I felt ready to come here and to actually race is the best training you can have. Now we’ll continue to work with the team; I want to get more and more podium results.”

 

Tommy Searle: (13th in MXGP) “This week was the first time I’ve been able to practice since I hurt my meniscus and my knee five weeks ago as I needed to let them recover, but coming here I didn’t felt good and I struggled all weekend. In the second race I got a better start in tenth or eleventh but then I hit another rider in a downhill and crashed and hit my head again, same as two weeks ago. Things seem to go wrong at the moment; I’m trying to do my best and I think a lot of problems come from the starts. We changed a little bit on the bike snd I think we found something that will help, so we stay positive.”

 

Jordi Tixier: (12th in MXGP) “A weekend to forget for me; I never had a good feeling with the track and struggled in both races. It’s difficult to accept that, as I nearly won the MX2 GP here last year, but we’ll continue to work and will try to get better results next weekend in France.”

MX2 start in Spain.
MX2 start in Spain.

Max Anstie: (10th in MX2) “It was a challenging GP but we proved we had the speed to battle for the top. Overall, I felt good during the weekend, the track was pretty nice and everything was working well. In the opening moto I made a series of mistakes in the first few turns, so I ended up colliding with another rider and loosing time. I guess to come back from last to eighth showed my speed was good. In the second race I was right there after the start but then got a bit squeezed going into the first turn. I made a couple of wrong decisions in the first turns and dropped back so I had to work hard again to come through. Our results weren’t exactly what we wanted but we’ll take the positives and move on to the next GP in France.”

 

Conrad Mewse: (29th in MX2) “Today wasn’t so good but I’m going to keep trying my best. I struggled a lot with the track and my riding here in Spain. We’ve been working a lot on several aspects and the start is one of them. I think my starts have been improving a lot, which is one of many good steps we’ve made. But I still have to work on a few other points around the track and in my head and when this happens I’m pretty sure the results will start coming.”

 

Glenn Coldenhoff: (10th in MXGP) “I was fired up for the second moto but then I had a bad start and I got stuck behind another rider. I tried for six laps to get past him and when I finally passed him I was completely finished. I just didn’t have the power. We’ll take the positive from the weekend away with us and I know there are some tracks coming up that I really like.”

 

Dylan Ferrandis: (4th in MX2) “It was a tough weekend on a track where I have some bad memories after my knee injury here last year. It was very difficult to find the best settings for the bike, as the weather and the track conditions were continually changing on both Saturday and Sunday. In the first race I had some difficulty with the front fork settings and couldn’t keep the lead; I didn’t want to take risks as I got some arm pump so I just concentrated on securing my second position. We made some changes for the second race and the feeling was better, but I got a bad start and in the first corner another rider hit me and damaged my front brake; I was back to sixth behind Tonkov when I lost the front wheel and crashed, and then recovered to fifth. I had a better feeling in the second race, but I’m frustrated that I just missed the podium.”

 

Vsevolod Brylyakov: (12th in MX2) “Saturday started pretty good for me, as I got a good start in the qualifying race and was fourth for most of the race, but I crashed on the last lap. I was disappointed, but I knew that I had the speed and could expect similar results on Sunday. But Sunday didn’t go to plan; my gate pick was bad and I was thirteenth at the start to finish ninth which was not so bad. But the second moto went completely wrong; I crashed in the second corner and could only get back to eighteenth. I never felt comfortable and every time I tried to push it got worse. I’m not really happy with the result but all of my team is supporting me; we’re working hard to get the best of my riding and I’m sure that better results will follow.”

 

Kevin Strijbos: (31st in MXGP) “I cannot remember having a weekend like this for a very long time and I usually don’t crash so much…so it’s frustrating. I made a good start in the first moto but it was my mistake to land on a piece of track that had been watered so much. The front tucked and I went down and was trapped under the bike. In the second moto I was hit from behind and knocked my head. I felt dizzy and the bike was all bent. I’m feeling the cost of this weekend slightly now through my chest and wrist and I want to get checked-out tomorrow. There is really not much more to say.”

Jeffrey Herlings celebrated his 9th straight overall win for 2016.
Jeffrey Herlings celebrated his 9th straight overall win for 2016.

Petar Petrov: (18th in MX2) “The luck is not really on my side at the moment. in Germany I broke my finger and had to ride with a lot of pain in Italy, so I came here with no practice as my thumb needed to recover. It was still sore but on Saturday I was feeling really good and posted top five results in the practice sessions but then in the qualification race I crashed with a couple of guys in the second corner. From that moment my weekend went wrong; I had a second crash later and dislocated my shoulder, so I had to ride with a lot of pain today. When it happened on Saturday I thought that the season was finished, but I still tried and it went OK even if I had the worst gate pick. I had pulled through to tenth when we had some issues with the bike in race one, then in the second moto I was twelfth when I had a small crash.”

 

Jeremy Seewer: (7th in MX2) “My speed is really good and it is not something I have to worry about but the starts weren’t there today. Everything was working good but I didn’t have the best luck and that’s what happened in the first moto. When you are deep in the pack then there is always more risk than when you are upfront. I came up a bit short on the double jump and it kicked me sideways. I’m happy to finish the race and finish 11th and I needed some time to get my confidence back in the second moto. I did quite well. I was dropped to fourth but found quite a good rhythm by the end; I was really happy with my riding. I just need to put things together a bit more in the coming races.”

 

Bas Vaessen: “That should have easily been a podium. I had a pretty good start in the top-five and I was just trying to keep pace with the others when somebody just came right up the inside and hit my front wheel. I went down and my front brake was gone. Yesterday was really good – it could have been better – but I think it was the best I’ve ridden all year.”

 

David Herbreteau: (20th in MX2) “I’m upset because of the crash and the injury to my ankle. It’s good that nothing seems to be broken, but we have to wait for more checks this week to see the condition more clearly. It’s a shame because I made two good starts – the first two holeshots of my MX2 career – and I think we could have showed something in race two. Now I just hope to be fit enough to race well in France next weekend, but we’ll have to wait a little later this week to know more.”

 

Jorge Zaragoza: (23rd in MX2) “It’s been a tough weekend because of bad luck that’s made us on the back foot from the start of the weekend. The starts today were not so bad and we could get inside the top ten, but then we couldn’t finish race one because of the problem of the water in the engine stop switch, and then in race two two riders made me like a sandwich and we crashed so I had to again come from the back. The pace wasn’t so bad and I think I’m improving in this on Sunday, but it’s not what we want from the home GP. But it’s like this so we must move now to France and focus on putting it all together there.”

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