On the first day of the MXGP of Arnhem at the sunny Motorsportpark Gelderland Midden, Dutch spectators enjoyed a great day of motocross. A day in which the Dutch claimed a leading role.
After the practice sessions, four races took place, the first rounds of the WMX (women's class) and EMX classes, followed by the qualifying races for MX2 and MXGP. A year ago, Lotte van Drunen was the best of the women. Now she is also the clear winner of the first WMX race. World champion Courtney Duncan from New Zealand was able to follow her well, but on the last lap she realized that only second place was left for her. Leen Valk also contributed to the success of the Netherlands, finishing third. In the battle for the world title, Spain's Daniela Guillén is Lotte van Drunen's main rival, with only three points separating them after the previous match. Guillén did not manage to finish fifth on Saturday afternoon in Arnhem, losing nine points to van Drunen, who summed up her and Guillén's result in one word: “Excellent!”.
In the EMX125, Jean Donsen led from start to finish. Limburger immediately made up ground and gave no chance to his rivals to get close. In second place was the Hungarian Noel Zanocz, the leader of the standings, eight seconds behind. Danny Haitink was fifth.
The MX2 qualifying race was Kay de Wolf’s. He was unlucky enough to crash shortly after the start and immediately fell behind. He was not discouraged and started a great race to catch up. From 15th on the first pass, he managed to make his way up to second, much to the delight of the Dutch spectators. Lucas Coenen was too far ahead to prevent him from winning. Rick Elzinga finished seventh, while Cas Valk, riding as a wild card, finished ninth.
Glenn Coldenhoff, Fantic’s factory rider in MXGP since this year, has yet to take a single victory. He drove a great qualifying race, had a great run, and no matter how hard he was pushed, he stayed in first place until the chequered flag flew. He had to give it his all, as Jorge Prado and Romain Febvre crossed the line in second and third within two seconds of him. Jeffrey Herlings launched a strong final attack but did not get past fourth. Tim Gajser was fifth and Calvin Vlaanderen sixth. Ducati’s motocross debut saw the returning Tony Cairoli finish seventh.
Full results and World Cup standings can be found at: https://results.mxgp.com/mxgp/standings.aspx.
