2024 Monster Energy FIM MXoN MXGP RAM Qualifying Race Day 1
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00:00We're live on MXGP TV, my name is Paul Merlin, Jason Thomas, Fly Racing alongside me, the
00:23Monster Energy FIA Motocross of Nations, we're live on MXGP TV, my name is Paul Merlin, Jason
00:27Thomas, Fly Racing alongside me for the RAM qualifying races, which this weekend are in
00:33individual classes, MXGP at first, MX2 and the Open class, and we'll bring you all the
00:38live action through the B-Final tomorrow morning, and of course all of the main races throughout
00:42the afternoon. We're at Matalie Basin, or as we like to refer it down here, The Basin,
00:47we are outside of the majestic, the beautiful, the wonderfully located city of Winchester
00:52right there. It's all peaceful and calm and tranquil down there in the bottom end of the
00:56valley, but up here though, in The Basin, it is anything but. The roar of four-stroke motorcycles,
01:01the crazy fans, the animated fans that you get every time we come to a Motocross of Nations
01:06event, and we've got them right here again in abundance. Jason Thomas, great to see you,
01:10it's been too long, seven days less than that? Yeah, six days, yeah. We were in Spain together
01:16of course, but here we are for the biggest race on the planet, the 77th edition of the
01:21Monster Energy FIA Motocross of Nations, we are at The Basin, Matalie Basin, and we are getting
01:25ready for the MXGP Ram qualifying race. The atmosphere is building, you don't get an event
01:30anywhere like this in the world, do you? No, and the weather's really corroborating this
01:34weekend, it's so much fun to see all these guys get together, and you really forget the
01:39pageantry and what this event feels like, and then you get a reminder as soon as you
01:43show up. Well, the racetrack could not be in any better condition. It's probably well
01:49documented that all over Europe this year we've probably had a lot more rain than we
01:53have sunny and dry conditions, and that even kind of came throughout the weekend as well
01:57last week, but fortunately when we arrived here on Wednesday, it was dry, it was sunny,
02:03we've had that Thursday, Friday, right the way through here for now, and whatever moisture
02:09was in the ground is still there, and we've got a fantastic track crew working on the
02:13racetrack throughout the days, constantly turning over and prepping and doing whatever,
02:18and we're seeing that, although it's sticky and it's technical out there, there's a lot
02:22of ruts out on that racetrack right now. Yeah, and I think it surprised especially
02:25the American riders, because all they've seen is sunshine since they arrived, and it's incredibly
02:29soft. Well, let's go down to Lisa Lennon, she was on the grid a few moments ago, she
02:33caught up with Jorge Prado and Albi Ferrato. We're almost ready for the MXGP-RAM qualifying
02:42race here in Matali Basin, but let's speak to Team Italy's Alberto Ferrato. Alberto,
02:47last year you guys were, I should say, surprise podium finishes, same line-up this year,
02:53how do you fancy your chances this weekend? Yeah, of course it's not going to be easy,
02:57it's never easy, but we did it last year, and of course we're going to try to do this
03:00again, and let's hope for the best. And gate pick, you can work with that, seventh? Yeah,
03:06good, fifth actually, fifth gate pick, so super, and now try to get a good start and
03:11do a good quali race. Best of luck, thank you Albi. Let's now grab a few words with
03:16our 2024 MXGP world champion, Jorge Prado. Jorge, obviously representing Team Spain,
03:23but let's quickly talk about you wrapping up the championship last weekend. Now you've
03:26done that, now you've got your second MXGP world title coming into this weekend, do you
03:31feel perhaps a little bit more relaxed, less pressure? I mean, getting the world title
03:36was the goal for the year, and that's achieved, so no, for sure, way less stress, trying to
03:41enjoy the event, track this morning was quite fun, so hopefully we have a good start now
03:46in the quali, and enjoy. And what can Team Spain do this weekend, and also I'm sure you're
03:51looking at the individual performances as well. Yeah, I feel like we are not too bad
03:55with Team Spain, this morning we all felt very good on track, so this is something very
03:59positive. We tried to make a good quali race today, everyone, and then hopefully tomorrow
04:04we have consistent races, no mistakes from the team, and then we can maybe even get close
04:09to the podium. And the individual performance for MXGP, I'm sure you're looking out for
04:12that. I'm a racer, so hopefully we go all the way for the win, right? That's a lot,
04:15Jorge, thank you very much, good luck to all the guys, it's time for the MXGP RAM qualifying
04:19race. Great to see Lisa down there, giving us the lay low, the de-low, the down low,
04:25and she was down there all afternoon yesterday, in the freezing cold, with the RAM trucks
04:30parade. Jorge Prado, sounded very, very confident down there, and why wouldn't he be, as a two-time
04:36world champion now, in MXGP, back-to-back, a slightly different, if you're joining us
04:40for the first time, for the Monster Energy FIM Motocross Nations. The grid positions
04:45aren't based on times, time practice. Yesterday morning, 11 o'clock Friday in the media centre,
04:51the FIM did the ballot, which decides the gate pick for these qualifying races, and
04:55how that works is, you've got two Perspex boxes, with two sets of balls, the FIM director
05:04of the FIM CMS, Mr Antonio Alia Portela, picks out one ball, opens it up, there is a country
05:10in there, so let's say Japan. The next ball he draws out has a number in there, and that
05:16will be the gate pick, Japan going to the line in second place. So, Brent Van Donick,
05:23the MXGP rider for Belgium. Belgium getting first pick of the gates, doesn't necessarily
05:27mean to have to be the first gate he sees on the gate, to the inside, but he can go
05:32anywhere he wants. So Belgium getting first pick, with Van Donick. Watanabe for Japan,
05:37pressing off Estonia, going to the gate third. Then Spain, that is a great gate for them,
05:41and the Italians, and Hurlings there for the Netherlands, goes to the line in 8th place.
05:46We'll talk about these gate picks in a moment, but as you look further down the order, teams
05:52like Australia, they are going to be on page 3, they go to the line in 17th place. South
05:58Africans go to the line in 19th position. Martin Barvo, he's pleased with that 10th
06:03gate pick. Bardemar, and then we've also got the Americans going to the line in 24th.
06:08Great Britain, the host nation, 29th. New Zealand go to the line 32nd, but the last
06:14two nations, 35th and 36th, Switzerland with Jeremy Siwa, and kickstart Kenny for Germany
06:20going to the gate 36th. And that's a massive kind of deal in this event, isn't it Jason?
06:26Yeah, and I think that the two standouts for there are Jorge Prado pulling 4, that really
06:30sets him up nicely, arguably the best starter on the planet, and then the opposite end of
06:34that spectrum is Ken Roxson, who was this individual class winner at this event a year
06:38ago, is going to be dead last gate pick, so what can he do with that? You surely think
06:42they're going to qualify fairly well throughout the day, which will, they'll move back towards
06:45the inside, but this is a really tough setup for Saturday. And actually for Germany, normally
06:48you can sit there and say, well, there's probably a country that's not so good at starting alongside
06:53me, you know, maybe a Slovakian, or a Greek, or a, I don't know, a Romanian, or a Chilean,
06:57you know, but he's got Jeremy Seaver on his inside gate, another hole shot master, so,
07:01you know, it's going to keep him to the outside. But what I noticed yesterday when I went and
07:04did my track walk, where the dirt is on the edge, if you look at Jeffrey Hurling's here,
07:08with a different number, 53 for the Netherlands, 52 sorry, the edge of the dirt, then you've
07:13got a slight bank that is grass, that's green, if you connect with that, if you're lucky
07:19enough to run it in there, you never know, you can rail that, maybe come out in a good
07:22position, but someone like Jorge Prado with 148 hole shots professionally, Fox hole shots
07:28professionally in his career, can he make it 150 this weekend? If the race is tomorrow,
07:32we don't know, but he's certainly looking confident, there's Romain Fevre, right in
07:36the number one team France, the defending champions. Yeah, and I think the key for guys
07:40on the outside, they have to fully commit, Seaver and Roxen have to fully commit, drive to the
07:44outside, and know that the inside is not going to be there, guys like Prado are going to be
07:47in the inside, so if you go in there with a plan, and really clearing the gate cleanly and
07:52Accelerating all the way into the corner will be key, but again, they don't have to get first place today, right?
07:57Just being in somewhere more 560, yeah, Marty Barr, 18th time racing this event for Team Ireland
08:04Well, let's give you some free practice time, shall we?
08:07They didn't mean anything in terms of pole position or anything else, but Jorge Prado, he was the fastest rider
08:12There's Brent Van Donneck, the Belgian, Van Prado's time was a 1.56.8
08:16He was about six tenths quicker than Geisse, who was a 57.4
08:21Geoffrey Hurlings was third, a 57.5, then we had Eli Tomac
08:28Yeah, Tomac was next, and he was about a second off the pace
08:32But then we had Fevre next, and then the Swede, Isaac Gifting, Hunter Lawrence, Prado, Seaver, Roxen, although
08:39Lawrence got ducked a couple of positions for not respecting wave yellow, so there is a 22 of Eli Tomac
08:44How's he feeling coming into this weekend? He looks pretty loose, you know
08:47Eli is a guy that has a lot of intensity in his face all the time, even trying to speak with him
08:51He's so locked in, but this weekend I've noticed a little bit different. He looks more relaxed, which should bode well for him
08:57And of course, just to reiterate, only one country member lining up in this, so all of the MXGP class riders
09:04Lining up, there's Prado, there's Van Donneck at 13, you've got the Latvian there to the inside
09:10Remember, Jett Lawrence forwent his MXGP position for his brother Hunter Lawrence
09:14That's probably the biggest shake-up we've seen as far as class structuring thus far
09:18Albi Ferrato, number seven for Italy, and gate number one then, the number 31 alongside him, Gert Kressenhoff of Estonia
09:26See Marius Pumpers there, the Latvian in the white and burgundy
09:29You got Jorge Prado, about five gates along in the red and yellow, and then Geoffrey Hurling's a couple gates down from him
09:36Wow, the first big
09:38Challenge for the riders here, a full gate, 40 riders, fly racing, 15-second border for the MX-On-Ram
09:46Qualifying heat in the MXGP category here at Masterly Basin. You see the wind is picking up as well
09:52But we've got a near-perfect racetrack, all eyes
09:54Looking on from the skybox, looking down on the gate here, the five-second floor turns, the drop-in start
09:59Keep your eye on the guy in red and yellow over on the right-hand side as we look down left for him
10:03He gets a good clean getaway, Hurling's in there as well
10:06But Fevre in there
10:09And the Australian, Gajsa, Hunter, all the favorites, all the favorites are right there as Gajsa down the inside
10:15But it's Prado who leads, Gajsa second, Hunter Lawrence there in third
10:19And then Fevre in fourth, Verrato fifth alongside him, Geoffrey Hurling's, what a start to the race we've got here
10:24Where is Geoffrey Hurling's, sorry, where is Kenny Roxson and where is Jeremy Seaver? We'll get them up
10:30As soon as we can. I was really curious to see how Hunter Lawrence, yeah that's not so bad
10:34I was curious to see how Hunter Lawrence would fare here. They've been so perfect on the starts, he and his brother Hunter
10:39But this is a, it's a different surface behind the gate. It's a different environment against different motorcycles
10:44Still near the front which is, that's encouraging to see if you're a fan of any of the pro motocross racers
10:49Albeit whichever country you're from. Jorge Prado leads on the number 19 for Spain, Tim Gajsa for the Slovenians, number 25
10:57He's in second, Hunter Lawrence number four is in third as Hurling nips up the inside at Verrato
11:02As he moves into fifth place
11:05Through the waves, bottom end of the circuit, you may have noticed one or two circuit changes since the last time we were here
11:10And Hurling's tips over, Hurling's out of fifth, a simple error
11:14That's just going to show how quickly the circuit is drying out, maybe caught some loose rocks
11:18I think he may have been a neutral there
11:19When he went to drive and push forward he expected the motorcycle to go and it didn't so let's watch here
11:24Does he get on the gas there and then like I say nothing, did he catch the edge of the rut?
11:30Maybe just the front pushes as well there
11:33Yeah, that's unfortunate for him now. He first lap. He's gonna go back to you know, 35th place
11:38That's that's a really tough world for the Netherlands again
11:40It's only qualifying but you want to be as close to that inside as you can going into Sunday. Kenny Ronson here
11:45He's in sixth place
11:46He had the last gate big 36 all the way to the outside in what is a long straight into a 180
11:52Left-hand turn he came on he jumped long there as he came into land
11:56But the number 10 already all over the back of the number 7 Verrato as he is in sixth place
12:01But it's Prado, Geyser, Hunter-Lawrence of Australia, Fevre-Brandt, Verrato, Italy, Roxen, Belgium with Van Donnink,
12:07Orgo of Norway and the Swede gifting with the Austrian Staufer just there. Kurlings an expensive mistake fifth down to 11
12:14This is this is what Kenny does. He is so
12:18Proficient on the first lap and it's something about the way his body works
12:22He is able to be his best self on the opening lap. He doesn't need a warm-up
12:25He doesn't need to see the racetrack. He can immediately go his best laps right away
12:28And that's why you're seeing him cutting through the field
12:30So if a rider you had to choose to get a bad gate pick and a bad start that needed to move forward quickly
12:35I don't know that there's a better one than Ken Roxen. Listen to the atmosphere as Roxen on the charge full chat
12:40He found his way quickly past Verrato. He's now up in the fifth place
12:44And he's got his eyes set on Roman Fevre. Number one just ahead of him for France
12:52Hurling still in 11th place. He's got Pettis the Canadian behind him. Tomac in 13th place. Then Frenzel, Siwa 15
12:59The Kiwi power in 17th place
13:01remember one point for a win two for second three for third and so on and so on if you're a
13:06Camaradero for South Africa. You are in 36th place as a South African team. You are hoping to drop that score and
13:14Hope that the other two riders do their their bit if you like
13:18Yeah
13:18And even if you're not running well here even for Jeffrey Hurling's Tomac's a little bit further back than he'd like to be
13:23You still need to make sure you make the most of this because you don't know what's going to happen in those other two qualifiers
13:28Mechanical a first turn crash. You may have to use this score, even though you don't like it in the moment
13:33Here's Roxen. He's just set the fastest time in sector one with a 30.2
13:38Seconds time Geiser fastest in sector two Prado fastest in sector three as he maintains about one and three-quarter seconds over Tim Geiser
13:46But what a start
13:47I want to see a replay of the start as soon as we can actually so we can focus on that outside gate and see how
13:52Kenny Roxen got the jump on Siwa was able to get across the Slovakian of Thomas Kohut in the Greek
13:58Panagiotis Kuzis
13:59As he challenged for what a top 10 gate pick in the end or a top 10 entry exit. Sorry
14:06Yeah, I'd also like to see what kind of what happened to Tomac there
14:08His starts have been pretty good as of late
14:11But historically they've been a struggle point for him and clearly didn't come out where he wanted to but I just don't know if was
14:16It the jump the problem that he did he make a mistake in the first corner? How did that all play out?
14:20So
14:22Hurlings up into 10th. He's found his way past Marcel Stouffer. Tomac is 12th
14:28Petit 13 Fred so Siwa Harman Searle for Great Britain in 17th
14:32Emma Wegman, Peter Pollock and Lorenzo Lucozio of Venezuela in the 20th position
14:38Remember 19 teams go direct to the motocross nation's main event on Sunday
14:44The 20th team down to 36 go through the B final where only one team will qualify
14:50We'll worry about all that in our final race today the open category, but Jorge Prado
14:56Showing why is a two-time world champion at the moment great starts great technique and pulling away two seconds clear of the five-time champ
15:03Tim Geiser, yeah, it's just business as usual. I see that line there. Yeah, and this was doing that in the
15:10That's just understanding how the track works keeping your eyes open right being having an open mind to what the racetrack is going to give you
15:16But Jorge Prado, I think this is probably the loosest he's raced in a couple months, right? There's no pressure
15:21Yes, he wants to represent Spain in the best way he can but the world championship is now sewn up
15:25He can ride freely freely, which we talked about a little bit with him yesterday
15:29And yeah, I'm sure he wants to go out and win this qualifier race today, but he's loose, right?
15:33He doesn't have that world championship pressure on his shoulders
15:36Teams that are on the edge at the moment, let's remember who are going to the B final
15:42Let's oh guys such as coming a little bit loose as he came in the land there the 19 teams
15:47Going through but 20 heading to the B final as it stands right now
15:51Venezuela because they are in 20th place
15:53We've got Slovakia Ireland in the B final in 22nd with Mike Barr
15:56So he needs to put his finger out as well Portugal Estonia Latvia
16:00And there's the finish line
16:03Portugal Estonia Latvia
16:06And the rest
16:07but uh
16:09And right the teams like 33rd 4th 5th and 6th who are currently non-classified Poland Lithuania Israel
16:16Iceland sorry and uh Republic of South Africa
16:20So pressure on some of those teams for their remaining two riders in the next two races
16:26Yeah, again, you may not like the score you have right now, but you need to make the most of it
16:31the last thing you want to do is just kind of take it easy because you don't think you need the score and then
16:34You end up that was a nice line as uh geyser approached that
16:38Turn, so turn three. Sorry turn four across those waves into the right-hander as he came up through there
16:44He had the option just to turn in tight
16:46But no
16:47He landed into a braking bump and hopped
16:49Over the turn and went to the outside on the exit before the liquid molly jump. That was nice. That was uh,
16:54kind of uh, what do you call it?
16:56Intuitive. Yeah, and it's so easy on a racetrack like this just to kind of fall into the main line
17:01there's so many ruts to choose from
17:03But if you can really approach the racetrack with a new set of eyes and think about it a little bit differently as it starts
17:09To take shape you can find some lines that other people aren't using
17:11We've seen both jorge prado and tim geyser both do that now look how wide lawrence goes through there compared to uh
17:17It's probably an extra 10 meters
17:18Yeah that he's adding onto the racetrack though that he wouldn't need to and doesn't it's probably half a second
17:22You know, maybe three quarters of a second on the on the timer but the extra energy and it's it's wasted energy
17:28He doesn't need to go out there, but I would also say he probably doesn't know the lines there
17:31Yeah, although jeff was using it in the free practice earlier on and you think you know brother the brother teammate the teammate
17:37Oh, there's a sweet little line. You can transfer across the the ridge there if you like
17:41Coming up short just obviously decided not to commit as hurling's all over the back of the belgian brent van donnik
17:47So this is going to be for seventh place after his mistake
17:50On the opening lap that threw him out of fifth place down to 11th
17:54And you can see how he's trying to muscle his way past the belgian
17:58You know hunter's also a rider where if he doesn't feel comfortable doing a certain
18:01Combination or a line you see jeffrey herring's making the pass there
18:05He simply won't do it and we've talked about them with that with him over the over the years and he just
18:09Looks at it analytically and says the risk isn't worth the reward of the line
18:13So i'm just going to stick with what I know so that could be the same as well
18:15When you look at how hard the uh, the jump faces are the uphill triple before the finish and then you go left
18:21Our drone cam a moment ago showed how light how pale the the texture was the color of the dirt
18:26That's already going down to the rock dry kind of slick surface that if you're not careful can catch you out
18:33Then you go a couple of corners later. You've got chocolate cake
18:36Great lines sticky traction all the way through even as you drop downhill here
18:41But let's just follow hurling's here a moment because a lap ago tim geisser coming up on this part of the racetrack
18:46He was over on the left where uh, ferrato is and hopped over the rut here as hurling's does something different as well
18:54So there's a lot of different several ways to put this track together for sure
18:58And for a rider, you know, like ui tomac
19:00We've never ridden this racetrack before it hunter lawrence has only raced here two or three times
19:04They have to figure all these things out right and watching film. I was over at the team usa hospitality
19:09Are they were watching film trying to study the racetrack as it was developing throughout the day?
19:13That's going to be so important because riders like roman fevra or your products and guys are multi-time world champions
19:19They have hundreds of race laps on this facility
19:21They already kind of understand the way the track's going to form up where the good lines will be late in the day
19:26And actually as well if you talk to the team, so if you're an american you're sat at home and you're thinking man
19:31You know tomac is only in ninth place. The bigger picture is
19:35it's
19:36Tomorrow is the big day
19:37All you need to do today is get two solid results as low as possible to give yourself a good gate pick
19:42What's the gate pick anywhere inside the top 10?
19:45will do
19:46Certainly anywhere sort of top five top seven would be slightly better and you know, eli cooperweb and uh, ap aaron plessinger
19:55They know the drill, you know, they don't need to you know, blow a gasket in the qualifying race here
20:00Just let the race come to you. We've still got 10 minutes plus two to go
20:04uh
20:04we may keep that score from tomac it may get dropped because of better results from his two teammates later on and
20:10When it comes to it and just getting that race out of the system, you know any arm pump or whatever else
20:15Seeing how the track races compared to how it rode in the free practice again different circuit conditions
20:20So dealing with that adapting with that
20:22Possibly thinking about tomorrow how you set the bike up
20:25Yeah
20:25And I think also getting the start if you like tomac or whoever it may be cooperweb aaron plessinger
20:30For any of the riders that are not familiar with from whatever country the canadians
20:34Getting a start in running with the riders who are very familiar will help you a lot because they can drag you around the racetrack
20:39And you can absorb their pace along the way trying to find your own pace on a track
20:43You're not very familiar with at race pace. It's very difficult thing
20:48So I don't see if this isn't a track where you're going to see eli tomac
20:51Make a heroic ride from the back all the way up to take the win
20:54He's going to have to start with him if he wants any chance of beating them
20:57How good a ride is this from alby ferrato? He's there number seven for italy
21:01He is currently in seventh place. Uh, sorry in sixth place as hurlings gets ready to launch past him downhill, but
21:07Doesn't give him the room to maneuver at the bottom of the hill there as they go left up into the city roller
21:13But hurlings does muscle his way down the inside
21:16And steps down finds his way past the italian moves up in the sixth place
21:19That's going to be six points for the netherlands seven now for the italians
21:23Yeah, and you just wonder if jeffrey heroines is ever going to quite figure out the starts the way he'd like to
21:28If he has one weakness, you know, there's been some injuries in his game
21:32But the starts have been such a liability over the years
21:35He's been so fantastic
21:36But you imagine what could have been if he was able to start with the likes of prado every single time
21:41So prado leads he's almost four seconds clear of tim geisse
21:44So it's spain leading slovenia hunter lawrence six seconds further back for the green and gold of australia
21:50Fever of france the defending champions about another three seconds further back and just goes to what i'm saying, you know, fevrin fourth
21:56He's happy with that lawrence. He's happy with that fourth place. I would imagine I would assume
22:00Uh roxen in fifth certainly happy when you consider his gate pick gate 36 to come out in around the top 10 hurlings
22:08The netherlands in six points, uh, ferrato seven italy
22:12Seven points tomac now up to eight. He's found his way past vandalic orgmo great ride for him
22:16He was off injured off sick last weekend with fever. So, uh, good to see the norwegian their intent
22:22Then we've got gifting stouffer siwa 13
22:25Pettis harwood searle up to 16 fred. So weckman polak and lacrosse is still there in 20th place
22:31But dancing around just on the pegs riding for fun using new lines as well. Hey prado
22:37Just doing what he's done pretty much all year
22:39Yeah, and he's using lines that if you drew it up on a perfectly smooth racetrack wouldn't make a lot of sense
22:43But that's not what this is
22:45Those good lines that are inside that the shortest distances and places are are completely blown out too difficult too deep
22:52so you've really got to think about the track in a different way and
22:55You see that being played out
22:56These guys are making the track look easy and it is so far from an easy racetrack. How blessed are we?
23:02Um, we've got jet lawrence coming up in the open race the third race of the day. How blessed are we to have two?
23:08of the
23:10Let's just take a look at this first of all, this is hurling. This is dropping down on the start
23:14So after the finish into the right hander
23:17Hey, that was right foot there
23:20Nothing to uh out of the ordinary thought you I told mac have a fall there in free practice earlier
23:25But how how um sort of blessed are we to have probably two of the most gifted?
23:30Stylish riders that have maybe graced the uh, the planet so far with prado and jet lawrence
23:36We'll have lawrence coming up later on jet of course in the open race
23:39But uh, both very very similar tall skinny
23:43You know use that frame to their effect both dancing around on the foot pegs as uh, tomac closes in on ferrato
23:50This is for seventh place on the right side of your screen
23:53But they are just uh a different class, aren't they?
23:57And tomac around the outside ferrato has a quick look and says oh it's tomac as tomac
24:03Leaps up into seventh place
24:06Yeah, and I think one of the most important things for you know
24:08Young riders to watch here whether it's prado or jet lawrence is their body positioning is almost always perfect
24:14You will rarely see a time where they are out of position
24:17Hurlings and tomac heading uphill the 52 and the 22. This is for sixth position
24:23So the red bull ktm rider normally and the monster energy yamaha rider as uh hurlings takes a nervous look back season 22
24:29A couple of race wins between the two here. Uh, just one or two
24:33A hundred or more 200 more for uh hurlings alone
24:39Right tomac just looks like he's getting warmed up now as we reach the uh,
24:43Final five minutes plus two don't need a bigger carrot than the orange ktm with the 52 on it, does he?
24:48Yeah, and I think outside of the finishing position
24:50This is confidence building for tomac to be able to chase jeffrey down if he's able to make the pass
24:55And that's really I think what he needs right?
24:57This is all a new environment for for these riders and they're trying to figure out the pace
25:02They know they're a little bit slower coming out of free practice
25:04So anything they can do to kind of figure out like hey, I can I can do this
25:07I can pass these guys and catch them the starts are going to be so important
25:11But again, I think this is a really important pass for tomac even if the scoreboard doesn't show it
25:15yeah, remember the uh, the bench the bench racing that we uh had from the uh,
25:20Keyboard warriors, uh last year or so, you know tomac versus hurlings
25:24You know that one race shootout who would come out on top who would win blah blah blah blah blah
25:29Guess what keyboard warriors? We've got two riders by the name of hurlings and tomac
25:34Wheel to wheel right now in the ram qualifying race here at matalee basin
25:38So you'd be the judge or judges and you may never see this battle happen again ever after this weekend
25:43We don't know right things happen. It's ely tomacs in the twilight years of his career
25:47He's committed to one more full season
25:49But uh, and these are the moments that one day we'll look back on it
25:52So remember that battle on saturday between hurlings and tomac? Yeah
25:56We're kind of watching history unfold
25:58So prado now 4.3 seconds clear of tim geyser
26:01So spain continues to lead the way from slovenia australia third with hunter lawrence france fourth with roman fairford germany fifth
26:08With kenny roxson jeffrey hurlings is six for the netherlands, but the american ely tomac
26:14He was around about 17th 18th place, wasn't he on the opening lap? So he's done well to chip through
26:19um
26:21As you would expect of course, yeah, yeah and
26:24You know for you. I told mac poor starts. Unfortunately for him. I've kind of been part of his repertoire. He's
26:29Very comfortable moving through the pack. I'm gonna mirror that. Yeah
26:34Unfortunately
26:36Yeah, exactly right, um for tomac it has been better on the yamaha
26:40I will say his starts have improved but they're still intermittent and even jeffrey he's gotten hole shots as well
26:45It's just the inconsistency side of it
26:47Uh, but I I think they're comfortable coming through the pack where you look at a guy like prado
26:51Look at some of the other riders. They're rarely ever in the back, right?
26:54So it's it's a completely foreign territory for them to be coming through the pack good corner speed there for ely tomac
27:00Took a middle rut as prado over on the right hand side as he continues to lead
27:05By almost five seconds, but this battle here. No such luxuries for jeffrey hurlings as he's being uh
27:11Well a bit short there for ely tomac as matt says he's preparing to get beast moded
27:16Yeah, and they're just to give you an idea prado as we're watching double screens
27:19Here's 29 seconds ahead of tomac. So it shows you what a good start and also incredible pace will do
27:25Uh gifting has moved up in tonight. He's found his way past borgmo. So the swedes and the norwegians
27:31That little uh northern european scandinavian thing going on there. Sera is up to 11 now stout for 12 petters of canada harwood
27:39Of new zealand that's good for them
27:41And uh, brent van donning just dropping down the order hasn't had a lot of racing recently all of a sudden kenny roxson
27:46Is falling into the clutches of jeffrey hurlings? Where's tomac? How far back is he now about two seconds there?
27:52He is coming into view now
27:53So all of a sudden like the impetus was tomac on the hurlings hurlings now
27:57Realizing that his old stable mate at rebel ktm back in 2011 is right there in his line of sight the number 10, of course
28:05kenny roxson who won here in mx2
28:08In that season that was a nice improvisation there from jeffrey hurlings came up short wheelied his way through those ruts
28:13That's how quickly these riders have to think isn't it on the spur of the moment on the flight?
28:17Yeah, and you see the response from jeffrey there. He looked back and that felt worrisome in the moment, but
28:23He didn't worry. He just like okay. I need to pick up the pace here
28:25Which has now dragged him up to the rear of roxson and for tomac. He's probably like hey, man
28:28Where are you going? Like I thought we were gonna we're gonna settle this between us, too
28:32and actually based on what you said, you know where it's kind of like the good confidence boosting ride that
28:36Tomac needs like closing in on jeffrey and if you find his way past bingo, you know
28:40and all of a sudden it's having that opposite effect at the moment potentially, but
28:44um, you know
28:46roxson is getting caught now by jeffrey hurling, so
28:50Yeah, it's a little bit of a yo-yo effect right I think it uh, it pressed hurlings to up the urgency as well
28:56So I mean I still look at this as it's just a ramp qualifying race, you know riders
29:01I think they maybe save a little bit back unless you're right at the back
29:05You know you go down in the first turn and you're pushing pushing and you continue to push the whole race
29:09And you get to seventh. That's a different scenario these guys
29:12They're in well-placed
29:14uh positions at the moment, you know thinking about tomorrow the gate we don't have to go
29:18Sort of balls out if you like all in and I think it's just it's managing risk, right?
29:22It's push within your limits, you know, if you can move up move up, but don't take big risk to do it
29:27But if you look at the the best lap jorge prado's best lap of the race was a uh, 159.7
29:31He has the fastest lap at 159.75 for one as he closes in on roxler
29:37Almost into the rear wheel there of the german as they hit the gopro waves and tripling in their look and then double double
29:44Roxanne will just squeeze him and then he just runs wide hurlings
29:47He's gonna get alongside and he finds his way past the number 10 and hurlings all of a sudden i'm in the fifth place
29:52That was a sneaky inside there. I haven't seen really anybody use that all day prado had kind of gone for that inside outside line
29:58But again, it's the same concept
30:00Can you find lines that really haven't been used throughout the day because they're still going to be fresh?
30:04What was the lap time last time when you think of uh, we've talked a moment ago about uh,
30:08jeffrey and tomac curling's lap time last time was a 202.4
30:13And uh roxler was a 204.1
30:17So whether it's a couple of mistakes
30:19He just makes a mistake there in the background got on the gas the front when the back came around on tomac
30:23So i'm just wondering whether it's just minimizing those
30:26those little mistakes
30:27Yeah, and once you know you see it again harping on the start again. Everybody's lapping around the same prado 203
30:34Geyser 204 hunter 203 tomac 204 roxanne 204 hurley's 203. Everybody's doing the same pace. Yeah
30:4130 25 minutes in the key is those guys were able to do 159s early on where tomac and those guys were 202 203
30:49So that's the difference. That's where you build up a 20 second lead by the halfway mark is in those early laps
30:54When you have a clear track
30:56This is impressive though, isn't it from the two-time champ?
30:59Yeah, this is honestly
31:00This is what I expect if he's able to ride the way he did in spain with all the all of that pressure
31:07I would expect him to be able to ride freely and do much better
31:10Right and he even said like I brought my best stuff in in our team presentation
31:14He's like I was riding pretty well. I agree with that
31:16But still you have to hold a little bit something back
31:19You can't throw the championship away when you go into sunday with a nine point lead
31:23This is this is him riding at his best
31:25He's not afraid to kind of let it hang out a little bit and he's just managing the race
31:29He's not pushing here by any means. So, uh, it's all systems go for jorge prado going into sunday
31:35well, jeffrey hadn't quite shaken the uh,
31:38The threat of the number 10 of roxanne behind him. He was about a half a second behind at one moment
31:43But you see he's just putting some a little bit of distance between him now, but not that much two to go
31:48We're going to get the one lap forward next time around for jorge prado
31:52And tomek was 206 that last lap so either a mistake or I would say more likely he's just okay
31:57I'm in a good position two laps to go. I'm not going to throw away a finish here
32:01but I think he kind of proved like
32:03If when I need to push I can get down to that 203 202 lap time and uh and make it interesting for sunday
32:10Over the monstrosity finish line then into the final lap for the spaniard jorge prado
32:15Doing what he's been doing all season long getting a whole shot and
32:18And
32:19Pretty much dancing to his own tune. He's six seconds clear now or thereabouts 5.6 over tim geiser again
32:25Geiser possibly just backing it off because he knows he's got about six seconds between him and hunter laurence
32:30And then we've got fevre hurlings hurlings again eight and a half seconds behind fevre doesn't need to do anything to push
32:36To close down that gap one position one point
32:40that's already a good solid start for
32:43Anybody inside the top 10 there, which is now siwa ahead of him is gifting ferrato into the eighth tomac seven
32:50and I think he'd be too worried about that unless
32:53I mean, does he ever struggle with uh arm pump things like that because you know
32:57Jeffrey hurling sometimes comments first race of the weekend. He gets an arm pump situation going on
33:01Is that something that affects someone like tomac or web or even ap?
33:05Yeah, I think the track being so ruddy will have an effect
33:08Yeah, it was a positive sign to be 20 minutes in and tomac still pushing I don't think he was affected by that
33:13But yes, anytime you're uncomfortable on a new racetrack arm pump. It's certainly possible. There's hunter making a big mistake
33:19We've only seen literally one mistake like that from hunter and it was at red bud earlier in the season
33:24So especially the last lap that's that's interesting and you wonder if was his mind drifting was he daydreaming about something else?
33:29It's very easy when you're by yourself to make a mistake. Is he gonna get cross?
33:32Oh, yeah, the front hops out and it goes down actually quite hard front tire wasn't his best friend there at the end
33:39So that's hunter out of uh third
33:41And I honestly think that's just a loss in concentration. Yeah
33:45Race is basically finished but not completely finished which he just he just figured that out
33:50So down into the bottom of the valley for the final time jorge prado five and a half seconds clear of tim geyser
33:57As he comes in to land over the ram jump look at how rutty it is through there and those ruts
34:02Yes, they're soft. But as the day goes on the sun stays out the wind picks up
34:05They only get harder and they've not had to put any water on the racetrack as well
34:09So they are only going to get harder rather than staying pliable, but jorge prado. He'll hit the monster energy finish line
34:15he'll throw a nice big whip as he hits the line and
34:19Takes the win for spain and a bit of rodeo cowboy right there as well. Yeah, well earned. That's master class right there
34:285.6 seconds the gap between him and tim geyser as the rest of the riders come through fevre gets promoted and
34:36You talk about the overall scheme and things team france coming in as the defending champions with the same team
34:42France getting a a boost of a point there
34:45Just putting it out there. Well, and those are the things that happen on sunday a last lap crash like that means so much
34:51So if you're hunter warrenson, you have to have that type of mistake much rather have it on saturday than sunday
34:56So prado geyser fevre promoted to third at the expense of lawrence on the final lap hurlings coming away with a fifth
35:02Roxanne six tomac over the line in seven and then ferrato
35:07Next for italy in eight, we should have gifting and siwa running out the top ten
35:15There was uh
35:19Where's gifting
35:22Anyway it should be gifting and then see we'll give you the overall classification any moment now, but uh
35:27Fair amount of people in here
35:29I was up over there the hospitality at the top end there. That's team gb
35:32They have a great view all the way down through the valley of this racetrack. I was surprised how good it was actually up there
35:38but uh
35:39Vendonic with the 19th that's tough. That's tough for belgium that yes
35:43And I wonder how much of that is him not being completely 100 percent or uh
35:47Maybe just making a couple of mistakes or just putting himself under pressure a little bit of arm pump
35:51Who knows but now the pressure is on lucas. Koonin and of course yargo kitts
35:55But lisa. Leyland is down in the waiting zone getting ready to greet our race winner
36:03jorge prado
36:06Jorge prado great job. You just did exactly what you've done all year perfect start to yours and team spain's campaign. Yeah, uh
36:14We start here the weekend as we ended up in spain, uh the highest so no happy for team
36:19Spain sitting first now in the in the classification for tomorrow. So no gate pick is also important over here
36:24I had a good start. It was okay
36:25the guys were coming fast from the outside, but I could control it and
36:29Have a good breaking into turn two and uh, yeah track was uh, quite sketchy
36:33I need to say landings with so many rats. It was crazy. I had to be very focused all the time
36:38Couldn't afford any mistakes. So, uh, I was I lost the front at one point
36:42I almost went down but for the rest it was a good good race. I had fun. I love the rats. So, uh,
36:47Let's see how it goes tomorrow good luck for tomorrow. Thanks. Okay
36:54Pretty much inch perfect then jorge prado of spain picking up the race win in there for just one point
36:59Remember lowest score wins over the three races. You can drop your worst score when you look at martin
37:06Sorry, when you look at brent van donek in 19th
37:10belgium are the last team
37:12Scraping in at the moment to the b final they hope that that will change but jorge prado and spain sitting pretty
37:19At the top of the pile after that mxgp rem qualifying race here at matale basin
37:30Give it the result then shall we?
37:34Okay
37:35Jorge prado wins it for spain. You'll see the points and of course the lowest points go through after three races
37:41Uh, jorge prado of spain from geyser of slovenia fever of france hunter lawrence australia jeffrey hurling's the netherlands
37:47Kenny roxon of germany eli tomac of the usa and alby ferrato of italy and behind them
37:52Isaac gifting of sweden and jeremy siever of switzerland and the norwegians with kevin hawk mode the austrian
37:58Marcel stauffer and then we got pettis harwood searle and fredso
38:03And behind them emil weckman pollock van donek
38:06They are the qualified teams as it stands right now ireland
38:10with martin bar
38:12They'll be hoping to ditch that result and their mx2 rider cole mccullough is up next riding at 250
38:19Normally rides 125 european championship in europe
38:23So a little pressure on the shoulders for a few teams either side of the cutoff point
38:29Yeah, you never want to have your first race be the one you're thinking about throwing away
38:32That's not a good way to end a race two and three, but that's the situation one thing
38:36I wanted to mention canada. That's a pretty strong 13th there and they've struggled in recent years with this saturday format
38:42And that's off to a strong start
38:46So that's the classification then as we've only had one race pretty much the same as it was just with the
38:50The names of the riders removed so spain slovenia france australia the netherlands germany usa and italy
38:58But like I say jess pettis there 13th position for him ahead of the kiwis
39:07Great britain
39:09With tommy searle his race is done
39:12He'll be relying on max anstey and conrad mews now
39:17To get them a good qualifying race, uh result a good qualifying gate pick
39:23Take a look at the highlights of the race and shall we?
39:27Right there's kenny roxson over on the very left hand side. He gives himself a very wide sweep
39:31He's going to use this grass bank all the way around the outside surely
39:35Not quite, but he was still mid pack as he came through as prado and geyser
39:39Duked it out for the lead hunter lawrence right there behind him on the number four
39:42Then the one of february the seven of ferrato earnings up the inside and he found his way past the italian
39:47But then he tipped over and look at the riders that go by picked himself up around 12th place or something like that
39:54Shows that you cannot afford to make those early mistakes rocks and then first lap
39:58Yeah, rox and then on the charge found his way past the italian to move into fifth
40:04Hurling said also moved past ferrato
40:07As he gained ground as well to move into sixth place tomac around ferrato
40:11As he moved into seventh place tomac would eventually finish in seventh
40:17But jeffrey hurling's would advance another position here with a move on kenny roxson
40:21And that was hurling's interference roxson would come home six and tomac seven ferrato eight gifting nine c were ten
40:26A mistake on the final lap for hunter lawrence dropped him from third to fourth and the french capitalized there picking up a single point
40:33I'm sure the defending champions won't mind that too much
40:35But it was all about jorge prado crossing the line to win the mxgp ram qualifying race here from geyser and february
40:49Picking up a ram award as well for winning the ram qualifying race jorge prado
40:56Man's on form. No, there's no
40:58No question about it, right
41:00Uh, if you stay with us now, you can go and join us down in the paddock part one
41:05That is coming up in about three or four minutes time. Believe that's with uh, ben rumbled. So, uh
41:11He'll be down there for about the next 10 minutes or so
41:13Just trying to get some behind the scenes stuff
41:14But we will be back at 3 20 local time about 20 minutes from now 19 minutes from now
41:19For our mx2 ram qualifying race. We'll see you then
41:30You