Everts and Janis Reisulis gave chase to the KTMs, while McLellan sneaked inside the first corner from a terrible gate drop to somehow emerge in fifth place! He was suddenly the only factory Triumph in the race, however, as Farres landed on the stricken JWR Honda of Noel Nilsson, who had crashed on the downside of a jump and left the red plate holder to cartwheel over his machine! The Spaniard was on his feet quickly, but with blood running down his face, so he was taken to the medical centre. Although it won’t be confirmed until the morning, we believe that he will line up tomorrow after a little treatment.
McLellan made an early pass on Janis Reisulis to take fourth, while Längenfelder hassled Coenen at the front. The German was more patient on the throttle and pulled a nice outside to inside pass to take the lead from the Belgian, who stumbled out of a corner after a defensive entry line. The slick, stand-up style of Everts was next along, and he pulled a sweet pass on his countryman to take second on lap five.
Just before that, Karlis Reisulis was attempting to move into seventh for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, but tripped over the Osička Racing KTM of Julius Mikula and hit the ground, the confusion also allowing Maxime Grau to move his Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia into eighth past Lata!
McLellan and Janis Reisulis both got past Coenen on successive laps to take third and fourth, and although the Latvian would hassle the South African towards the end, they would finish in that order. Coenen’s fifth position earned him a six-point hack into Farres’ Championship lead, cutting it down to 41 before tomorrow’s GP races.
Around five seconds behind Sacha, Dutchman Kay Karssemakers earned his best ever Qualifying Race result with sixth place for Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki, while Mikula’s seventh matched his career high, the third time he has reached this position!
Lata was able to get past Grau to claim eighth ahead of the Frenchman, while Pelle Gundersen got the many Norwegian fans in attendance to raise their voices with a first ever Qualifying Race point on his Husqvarna Scandinavia machine!
Even if Farres does line up tomorrow, he is unlikely to be at 100%, and today’s results have also decreased the margins between those battling for the medal positions in the series. So tomorrow could see another major shake-up in this wide open and wild MX2 World Championship!
Be sure to tune in tomorrow as the cliffsides will shake again to the noise of the boisterous fans with the horned headwear!
“We made a change on the bike and I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but it worked out. I had a much better feeling on the bike than in the two sessions before, and it felt good out there. I took the qualifying race win, so I’m really happy and looking forward to the races.”