2024 Monster Energy FIM MXoN MX2 RAM Qualifying Race Day 1
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00:00Hello everybody and welcome to the Monster Energy FIM Motocross Annotations.
00:25It's Saturday here, qualifying day.
00:28We've just had the MXGP Ram qualifying race, next up the MX2 Ram qualifying race.
00:33My name is Paul Malin, we're live on MXGP TV, Jason Thomas from Fly Racing alongside
00:37me.
00:38Not sure if we're going to see the highlights of that first race, I doubt we are, but that'll
00:43be tomorrow for the main races.
00:44But we won't give anything away because this is Motocross Annotations, Spade in a fantastic
00:49job in that first race with the win from Slovenia and yeah, one or two mixed results in there.
00:54But Jason Thomas, we've got a perfect racetrack, perfect blue skies, I can't remember the last
00:58time I said that.
00:59Yeah, you're really jinxing us for Sunday here, but beautiful thus far and it's interesting
01:04how wet...
01:05Have you not been to Redbird?
01:06I have, that's a great point, but it's interesting how wet the racetrack is, how much moisture
01:12is in it.
01:13We've had, I don't know, three or four days in a row of sunshine.
01:16Well just looking at the overall classification at the moment, we've got Spain leading the
01:19way, courtesy of a victory from Jorge Prado, Slovenia a second with two points, France
01:23third, Australia fourth after Hunter Lawrence made a mistake on the final lap that put him
01:28down to fourth and France up to third, Geoffrey Hurlings was fifth for the Netherlands ahead
01:32of Robson Tomac, Italy eighth with Albi Ferrato, ninth was Sweden with gifting and tenth the
01:40Swiss with Jeremy Siwa.
01:44The Canadians down in 13th, New Zealanders 14th, GB 15th, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic
01:49and Belgium coming home 19th, the pressure on now for their MX2 rider Lucas Koonen, not
01:55sure that's going to be a problem though, do you?
01:57I would, I think if you asked him it would say it's not going to be a problem but again
02:01that's why they dropped the gate here.
02:02Well the racetrack here, one or two little changes between turn two and three, we just
02:11kind of switched things up so you come past the pit lane after the start and then there
02:15is a kink down the hill and then we go 90 left, 90 right back up to turn five and then
02:20we just come down the hill on the opposite side of the valley and back up into the middle
02:23again.
02:24Fantastic atmosphere, yes it's a little breezy, yes people are wrapped up, out of the sun
02:28it's a little bit chilly but in the sun it's actually quite nice and pleasant for this
02:32time of year.
02:33I'd be wearing a coat over on that side of the racetrack because you never know when
02:36the sun's just going to disappear in and out.
02:38Lisa Leyland was down on the good a few moments ago, I believe she caught up with team GB's
02:41Max Anstey and before that James Dobb, Britain's last world champion 2001.
02:49We are almost ready for the MX2 RAM qualifying race here in Matterley Basin but let's catch
02:55up with former 125 world champion Jamie Dobb.
02:59Jamie, of course you're British, just tell us how exciting is it to have the Motocross
03:03of Nations, the biggest event on the Motocross calendar here in the UK?
03:08It's fantastic, I was never fortunate enough to ride in a home one but I rode in I think
03:13ten altogether so it's such an exciting thing to be part of a team because you never are
03:18as a normal individual so yeah it's an awesome race and I just love coming back here.
03:24Well I spoke to team GB yesterday, they all seem pretty relaxed, of course they're on
03:27the podium last time we were here in 2017, what are their chances this weekend?
03:34They've got good chances really, I mean hopefully the weather keeps dry and then that's the
03:39opportunity with the three different races and the format, anything can happen, who would
03:43have known last time so hopefully Conrad's one of them people, he could pull it out of
03:49the bag and get a couple of top three results so hopefully he can do that and the other
03:53boys can follow and Max has been doing great and then the old boy Tommy can bring it up
03:58and do well also.
04:00Jamie, enjoy the rest of the day, thank you.
04:03Let's now grab a few words with home hero Max Anstey from team GB, obviously Max the
04:07last time you were here in 2017 you went 1-1, Matterley Basin pretty much was like your
04:12back garden wasn't it, you grew up around here, how are you feeling coming back here,
04:16does it bring nice memories?
04:18Yeah of course, it's amazing to be back here and at the end of the day I don't get to race
04:23at home very often so when I do it's incredible, I'm looking forward to it, it's fun racing
04:27my 250, I'm so happy that the guys from Style Yamaha managed to make this all happen with
04:31Mark to get me over to come back home and race so I'm looking forward to it, hope Tommy's
04:36alright after that first moto and then Conrad in the next one so we're going to do the best
04:41job we can and hopefully try and do a repeat of 2017 but I don't know if that's going to
04:44happen but we'll do what we can, you British fans get over there and cheer us on and we'll
04:48be good.
04:49Positive thinking Max, let's quickly talk about the track, obviously a track you know
04:52quite well, a few subtle changes this year, you've got less of a pinch point that could
04:56cause a few problems out there, what are your thoughts and how do you think it's going to
05:00ride out?
05:01It's pretty soft and rutty so far, it's been really rutty at the moment, I know I've been
05:07in America for a while so the last month or so we've been riding more SMX style, supercross
05:11style stuff, I was like okay this is proper outdoors again, it's very rutty but getting
05:15the flow, feeling alright so it's going to be tricky but we'll make the best of it.
05:18Best of luck to you and Team GB, thank you there Max, good luck to all the guys, it's
05:22time for the MX2 Ram qualifying race.
05:24Yeah good to see Max Anstey back here on home soil and as he said you know the Monster Energy
05:29Star Racing Yamaha squad sort of long arms and deep pockets this trip because three riders
05:36being sent over from overseas with two of them for Team USA.
05:40Yeah it should be interesting, I think for Max Anstey he has such good feelings coming
05:45back here and win, lose or draw, he's already winning being back here, now the question
05:49is can he get a good start on the 250 and run up front?
05:53Well glorious day here at Matsui Basin for this qualifying day here, we've had the Ram
05:58MXGP qualifying race, now it's the MX2 Ram qualifying race, there's Tom Bial, France
06:02are the defending champions and just as we explained in race one if you weren't here
06:07then basically Belgium go to the line first pick having been drawn out of the ballot first,
06:13Lukas Koonen with a nice advantage there for Team Belgium, Haruki Yokoyama goes to the
06:18line second for Japan, Tano Leoc third for Estonia, Tano Leoc is about his 122nd appearance.
06:24First timer here, yeah first timer at this race.
06:25It's been a while since he rode a MX2 in this class, in this event, Oriol Oliveira,
06:30Andrea D'Amo, Carlos Racialis of Latvia, then Daniel Bortolin of Venezuela, Kaido Wolf,
06:35the new MX2 world champion of course, but look at page three, down in 17th place we've
06:42got Australia, we've got Canada going to the line in 18th place, the Austrians going to
06:47the line 20th, Slovenians 21 with Jakob Ekelai after Tim Geisser got a second that takes
06:52the pressure off, they're number 26 and then we've got the USA 24th, Great Britain go to
06:59the line 29th, New Zealand 32nd, Switzerland 35th, Germany 36th with Simon Langenfelder.
07:08Lukas Koonen, Team Belgium swept the final Grand Prix of the year, the REM qualifying
07:13race, both races on Sunday, he's got to be in confident mood hasn't he for this one?
07:17Yeah, I think he lives in a confident mood, but I think he's looking up and down the line
07:21and saying hey this may be my biggest competition here, the newly crowned MX2 world champion
07:25Kaido Wolf, but it would not shock me at all to see Lukas Koonen grab the whole shot and
07:29run away here.
07:30The Netherlands going to the line in 8th place with Kaido Wolf, the Italians there going
07:33to the line in 5th with Andrea Adamo and yeah they've got some nice advantage being over
07:39on those left hand gates for that left hand first turn, the right as we look down, there's
07:44the number 2 of Tom Biel, great to see him, how's his season been overall, as you pretty
07:48much expected it, did you expect more particularly from outdoor from him?
07:51I think winning 250 East Coast Supercross Championship was a step forward, that was
07:54ahead of schedule, but I think he underperformed in pro motocross, a lot of people had him
07:59up front battling for the championship and he did not win an overall race until the very
08:02last round.
08:03Aurio Oliveira, his wingman, one of them anyway, Jorge Prado, went and got a win, so one point
08:09for the Spanish coming into this race, there's Carlos Reisaliz for team Latvia, the Latvians
08:15going to the line in 6th place, so another rider is going to be gating over on the left
08:18hand side, the right hand side as we look down there, in fact most of the riders, in
08:24fact Lukas Koonen over there on gate number 1, it looks like taking advantage of that
08:29There's a 77 of Cole McCulloch, riding a 250 this weekend, he has ridden a couple of wildcard
08:34MX250 European Championship rounds, wind looks like it's picking up and I think you know
08:38when that sun drops behind the clouds, the temperature will drop as well.
08:43Mikkel Harp, normally Monster Energy Triumph, riding for team Denmark, they didn't get too
08:47bad a gate pick did they, or did they, let's have a quick look, Mikkel Harp, 1.16, 15th
08:53of the gate for the Danes, and Yokoyama there, he's about 2 foot 2 in high heels, if you
09:00had them.
09:01I can relate, I can relate, are you doing your best Prince impression later then, with
09:06the stacks?
09:07Thankfully they can run the step stools here, we haven't always had that option in the US.
09:15Over on the far side of the circuit there, there's a Monster Energy rig, I wonder who
09:19they're rooting for, I'm not sure if they're cheering for the French and the Brits, but
09:22I had a chance to talk to them earlier today, and they are having a fantastic afternoon,
09:27I can assure you.
09:28Yeah, the Union Jack Wig, the suits, coming out to support their boys, if you like, but
09:36Lucas Koonen, look at over here, number 5, Kyle Webster for Australia.
09:43Fly Racing, 15 second board up for the first time then for the MX2 riders, 20 minutes plus
09:48two laps, as they are in the World Championship, WZ Racing, you just see the front fender there
09:54of Auriel Oliver.
09:56The team Spain, Koonen already down and focused on the gate, can he turn that into a hole
10:01shot?
10:02Oh, he tried to go too early, and it's cost him some time, he looks across, he knows he's
10:06got to rectify the mistake, somehow he manages to hold a nice tight line, he's going to emerge
10:10in around about 6th place, but Webster, in there in about 4th place for Australia, just
10:16behind him, Max Anstey on the 29, but it's Vial who leads the way.
10:22Webster moving into 2nd, where did that start come from?
10:26Webster's benefiting, Hyundai HRC really stepped up, giving him a full factory bike for the
10:30weekend with Chance Hymas not being in the race, that gave them more opportunity.
10:35Cooper Webb for the US, he's in 3rd place on the number 23, oh, and then Kyle Webster
10:40just tips over, he loses that 2nd position, he's got it all to do again, he emerges just
10:45behind the 11 of Simon Langenfelder of Germany.
10:48Great start for Webb here, that has to be, you're going to see Webster's mistake, just
10:52loses the front, right, he steps over and never really had the front as he transitioned
10:55down that jump.
10:56You see Max Anstey narrowly avoiding disaster, as well as Yokoyama.
11:02Heading up over the quad, used to have that long sweeping turn before it come back on
11:06itself for the GoPro Waves, now we just turn right, that's one of the changes on this racetrack,
11:11we'll give you the full description on our GoPro track preview tomorrow in the first
11:15race.
11:16But, leading the way, Tom Bial, number 2, with a point to prove, and of course, we saw
11:20the number 14 of Lukas Kuhnen try to go too early, he's down in 7th place, ahead of Brody
11:26Connolly, the Kiwi in 8th position, that'll put the Kiwis 10th overall, that'll take the
11:31pressure off their final rider, Josiah Netsky.
11:36And you wonder, does the selection process help you for your qualifying, does the K-Pick
11:40really matter?
11:41Well, if Kuhnen had been, let's say, 20th gate pick and made that same mistake, he would
11:45be outside the top 15 on the start right now, with that inside gate, he still came out in
11:506th.
11:51Well, Max Anstey, dropping uphill here, number 29 for Team GB, he's in 3rd, Cooper Webb,
11:57just ahead of him, from the US in 2nd, your new world champion in MX2, in orange, Kai
12:01DeWolf, he's in 4th, what a lineup, the top 5, Bial, Webb, Anstey, DeWolf, Kuhnen, and
12:06then we've got Connolly, Brody Connolly, for New Zealanders, DeWolf looking to go down
12:10the inside and flex his muscles here, Anstey goes to the outside, two team mates here though,
12:16normally when they're at home.
12:17Yeah, and this is interesting, they actually practice together, but there's a lot of different
12:21riders who have never raced together, Cooper Webb and Kai DeWolf certainly haven't raced
12:25against each other, Max Anstey and Kai DeWolf, I don't know if they would have, maybe in
12:28some sort of domestic championship race or something, certainly not in MX2.
12:33When Max was in MX2 in America, maybe Charlotte, something like that, but that's it.
12:37Yeah, so none of these riders really know how to race each other, and then you have
12:41Tom Bial who's kind of trying to check out near the front, and you have to imagine Lucas
12:45Kuhnen who's sitting 5th is going to join this party very quickly.
12:48Anstey getting alongside Webb, he's going to drop down the inside, oh and a bit of an
12:54off balance there for Webb, allows Anstey to go through, Anstey now up in the 2nd place.
12:58Yeah, and I think for Webb it's really important to try to lock on to the rear of Anstey, just,
13:03you know, you can just mimic what he's doing, take the lines he's taking, do what he's doing,
13:07especially because you look at a rider like Anstey who is so familiar and has had so much
13:11success here, you just want to kind of do what he's doing, if I can just match pace
13:14with him, match lines, that's going to help drag him around the racetrack.
13:18You know who's going, gaining very very quickly, that number 14 in the yellow, Lucas Kuhnen,
13:23he's closing in on DeWolf who's all over the back of Webb.
13:26Yeah, well, you know, Kai DeWolf may be orange, but Lucas Kuhnen just sees red when he looks
13:31at Kai DeWolf, he wants to get up there and pass DeWolf.
13:33DeWolf up to 3rd with that move on the American, he now goes after Anstey.
13:44And look at Lucas Kuhnen closing in on Cooper Webb as well, jumps long, goes down the inside,
13:50a good reaction this from Webb though, but he's on the wrong side, heading into the left-hander,
13:54the number 23 now being shuffled back to 5th place.
14:01Lucas Kuhnen has been absolutely, pretty much unstoppable the second half of the season,
14:06hasn't he? Race wins, Grand Prix victories, and doing it now for Team Belgium.
14:09Vial with the fastest lap of 2.03.535, he's got about 5.8 seconds over Anstey.
14:15He doesn't want to be hanging around, getting himself involved in all of this malarkey.
14:18Yeah, and you watch Webb and you try to understand, okay, where is he losing time?
14:22He's just less aggressive, right? He looks a little tentative, a little hesitant entering
14:26the corners, he's not flowing the way the riders are in front of him. Some of that is he hasn't
14:30raced a 250 in seven years, and some of it he's had most of the summer off, right? So not always
14:35on an unfamiliar racetrack, he's got a match pace with riders with all the momentum, you know,
14:39Max Anstey is really starting to find himself in SMX, but these other two have been battling
14:43for a World Championship all summer. They're coming in like it's another race on a Saturday
14:47afternoon. And that's the key, isn't it? Treating it like another race if you can,
14:51but not easy coming from the US. We've just had 31 races, the last three will be in SMX on the
14:57back end of outdoor front motocross. Yeah, and you know that I think it's easy to say, well,
15:03this and that, and think of it as an excuse. There are no excuses at the Motocross of Nations.
15:07You just try to give reasons why you see riders pull away and where he may be losing time. Those
15:12are the things you try to sort out going into Sunday, though. Webb will be able to go back,
15:16look at film, watch where he's a little bit slower, try to understand why he wasn't as
15:19comfortable on the bike going in on a Saturday. Some of it will be setting, some of it is just a
15:24really difficult racetrack on a Saturday afternoon. So, all is not lost. I think one of the most
15:29important factors there is Webb got a good start, which will really serve him well on Sunday if he
15:33can replicate that. Just thinking about, just looking down the timing screen here, the number
15:37five of Kyle Webster, who fell from second on the opening lap. He's in 14th place for Team Australia.
15:42Of course, Santa Lawrence was fourth in race one. So, as it stands right now, if you count all of
15:48your results, France go to the top of the group on four with a third from Roman Pfefferer and a one
15:54with Tom Vial at the moment. The Netherlands move up to eight with a fifth and a third, that fifth
15:58from Hurlings and a third from De Wolff here in orange at the moment. Spain go from first to third
16:04because Aurier-Olivier is ninth, so that's giving them 10 points. So, you can see how quickly this
16:10competition changes and the Belgians at the moment with Lucas Koonen, they've moved themselves up to
16:1611th. It was 19th after Brent Bandonic in race one. Yeah, just kind of watching the lap times here.
16:22Vial turned in a 2.03 the last lap, around this lap was a 2.04, which is still right at the best
16:26lap time on the racetrack. So, he's kind of sending a message here, you know, he was the MX2 world
16:31champion before he departed for the USA. Now, it comes into the likes of De Wolff and Lucas Koonen
16:36battling for that same right, but I think Vial is trying to show, as we see, there's Kyle Webster,
16:41big mistake. Yeah, Webster again and that's jumping up off the triple on the way into the
16:46final turn. It looks like he's sent a few photographers scattered there as well. So,
16:51another mistake for Webster then, he's down to 23rd place from 14th. So, that's the tough part. So,
16:57I'll show you, it has a team that can win this event overall, right, but you need all three riders to
17:02participate at the top level to get that done. So, that is, that's the impetus for Webster. Now, Jet
17:07and Hunter are going to have to do their part, but a crash like that tomorrow won't get it done.
17:12That will not win this event. Yeah, like De Wolff here in a moment, he's found some nice lines,
17:17bottom end of the circuit, top end of the circuit, and he uses them to good effect as he finds his
17:21way past De Wolff, as finds his way past Anstey, then moves in a second position. The gap between
17:26Vial, your race leader, and De Wolff now 7.3 seconds. Lucas Koonen just hopping over that
17:31little, what's not a normal transfer, but he's just utilizing the lines on the track. Well,
17:36it's fun, you know, go back and watch Kai De Wolff in Spain last weekend, and how tense he was, and
17:41how nervous he was riding, and then watch him today. Completely different rider, he doesn't
17:45have the pressure that he had last weekend. He's able to ride freely and make a mistake, no big deal.
17:49That's, that's what the world championships do, but this is prime time Kai De Wolff again. Somebody
17:53down at the end of the wave section there as well. We saw Wave Jell-O's there a moment ago, but
17:58here's Lucas Koonen, the number 14 team Belgium going after Anstey now. This is going to be for
18:03third place. This is the part of the track where Webster crashed a lap ago.
18:09Just saw him picking himself up, so either came up short or jumped long and just landed heavily.
18:14But look at how this classification has changed now. Four points for France, it was,
18:20what, three after the first race. Let's have a look here.
18:26Something at least anyway. I thought we were going to go to a replay, but Vial, De Wolff,
18:30Anstey Nae, top three. Koonen, well, nothing in it between him and the Brit. Web, fifth,
18:34seven and a half seconds further back for the USA. Then Kevin McClellan, they need that result
18:38for Team South Africa. They were not classified after the first race because their man had 36
18:44position as Koonen down the inside. How did he make that happen? He cornered like he was on rails.
18:49Koonen now up into third place. You see how light he was in that inside rut, right? It's so easy to
18:54dig deep in there and bog that bike down. The foot pegs will catch in the rut and you lose all your
18:57momentum. He stayed at the very top of the rut, stayed light and was able to get squirt right
19:02through there and Anstey was none the wiser. Just looking a little bit further down the order.
19:05McClellan is sixth for South Africa. The German, Langenfeld is seventh. Oliver of Spain, eighth.
19:09The Italian, Adamo, ninth. Yokoyama is tenth for Japan. Mikulov, Czech Republic, is up to eleventh.
19:14Head of Haarp for Denmark. Tonus of Switzerland is in 13th place. Then we've got the 47 of Bernardo
19:23Eto'o, Tiburcio of Brazil. He's next in 14th. Then Benjamin Garib of Chile. Then Sandler,
19:31Leoc, Connelly. So he's fallen down the order as well. That's a nice little double now. He's turning
19:35into a double. Yeah, he took Prado's line and basically as the track developed turned it into a
19:40little step up which the key there is that he's allowed to drive down the downside of that landing
19:45and push forward into that corner especially on a 250. Being able to carry that momentum and not
19:50have that bounce back is really important. Top right of your screen. Langenfeld are trying to
19:54get around the outside of Camden McClellan. These two fighting over fifth place. McClellan hanging
20:00on in there at the moment. Where are the South Africans? They're 23rd at the moment. They're
20:05heading for the B final but they were 33rd or 34th after the first race. Yeah, they need every position
20:11from McClellan right now. Yeah, 36 actually they were. So the last four teams unclassified.
20:22No web loss between these two. So you can expect Koonen to give everything he has and try to make
20:26a move. When you think, when you talk about turning certain situations into positives,
20:32you can look at it and go Lucas Koonen, he'll be annoyed that he's there in third place but then
20:36he'll come back and he'll say, right, lap times. VL last time around 203.4. Lucas Koonen his best at
20:42202.8. You know? Yeah. But it's this guy here on screen in orange, Kajda Wolf, who's set the fastest
20:49lap so far on lap three at 202.497. So only three or four tenths pretty much as we've seen from the
20:56two Nissan guys throughout the whole season. But VL though, great start. Haven't seen him get too
21:01many of those this year or kind of, we have maybe 50-50, but he's there seven seconds clear of these
21:07two. A statement ride for VL at the moment. It is, it is. And you know, I don't think, you know,
21:13you can question the French at your own peril at this event, but for him to come in and win this
21:19way, listen, Febre hasn't been on his best form. Maxime Renaud has not been on his best form. So
21:24they really need this type of performance from Tom Viala if they hope to stand on the top step
21:28tomorrow. You see how he railed that right-hand turn on the way to the GoPro waves a moment ago.
21:33Tom Viala up on the pegs, through the deep ruts, unfazed. Looks like he's enjoying being back on
21:40this side of the pond at the moment. Yeah, and he had been doing a lot of practice. He's a regular
21:43practice partner with Chase Sexton, so they had been preparing for this event coming in.
21:47He knew they would be ready and he's showing up so far. Yeah, looking good at the moment is
21:54Team France. Number two on the KTM, Tom Viala. And don't forget, in the second race last year,
22:01he closed down Maxime Renaud. It was a French one-two, which pretty much sealed the deal for
22:07the French in that middle race. But the way that he caught his teammate that day was impressive.
22:13Yeah, and I think that's what surprised so many people this summer, is he wasn't able to harness
22:17that all the time. Hayden Deegan simply had the best of them most of the time. And Viala was,
22:22he was his own worst enemy at times. Threw away race wins, crashed. But then you watch him at a
22:27race like this weekend and you understand why people expected him to come in and be a champion
22:32already. And nothing's decided. Maybe he still will be one day in pro motocross. But the
22:37question will be, where is this type of performance in the USA? Well, just a little bit of deja vu here
22:43between DeWolf and Koon. And as we've seen on this side of the pond all year long, the two Nastana
22:47Hospanas. I mean, what a season. Here he is down the inside again, just as he was, but he couldn't find
22:52his way past Anstey on this occasion. The same way that he found his way past Anstey on this
22:57occasion, but he's still working. Outsides, inside, outside again here. A little bit loose, a little bit
23:01untidy. If he doesn't find a way around before, he will make the pass there next lap. Yeah, he's got
23:08good momentum through the mid part of that corner as well, hasn't he? That turn six as you drop
23:13downhill. Look how chewed up the track is though. A real technical element, but you wouldn't think it
23:17the way these guys are going around on these 250s. Yeah, and these, you know, these are conditions,
23:21these guys have very clearly raced in before. Like, they look comfortable, they don't look
23:25tentative. The aggression level on a track that is screaming for you to be cautious is really
23:31impressive, especially on the 250. Just looking at Webster now. He's in 19th place, so he went from
23:395th to 14th, and then down to, sorry, he went down 14th and then down to 23rd. So he's trying
23:45to get himself back up into contention. He's now up to 19th place, the Australian, and what does
23:51that do? That puts him about ninth on the grid at the moment. Langefeldo is up to 5th. He's found
23:57his way past Camden McClelland as De Wolff continues to be harassed by his teammate,
24:02normally, Lucas Koonen. Randy outside, this is turn one. Ah, chuck it in Simon, get on the gas.
24:10No caution there. So Langefeldo now up into 5th place.
24:20De Wolff under pressure. Yeah, we're coming up to that same section. The key is, he needs to be
24:24close. He needs to be right on his rear tire, entering that downhill. So much time he lost
24:29coming up there, that may give Kai De Wolff enough room going into that section.
24:35Going back to the grid positions, Germany, 36 gate pick. Ken Roxen got a good start in race one.
24:40He came away with a 6th place finish. Langefeldo is up into 5th place now. He's just set the fastest
24:48lap of the race at 2.02.129 on lap six, and that's put Germany at the moment up to fourth
24:54for their gate pick for the races tomorrow. Yeah, it's a great recovery. Gate 36. Yeah, yesterday
25:00morning you look at it and say this is going to be a really tough Saturday to come out with a sixth
25:03and a fifth so far. Hara. It's a nice day. Up the inside of Adamo. So Hara for Denmark in red, moving
25:11up the inside of the Italian. Adamo moves into ninth place. Yeah, these guys battle all the time.
25:17Are they, hey I know you, right? Different format, different race, but these guys are very
25:22familiar with each other. We've lost De Wolff. There's Koonen. Where's De Wolff? De Wolff
25:27has gone missing. Is that coming up the hill towards the city jump?
25:33Yeah, Koonen definitely second.
25:37And Anstey now back into third. Oh, the step down into the left-hander by the city jump.
25:44Yes! Folds the front over the bars. That's how quickly it can change. I was just hoping when I
25:50saw him just come through the turnout, I thought it's got to be in that corner. Well, you just,
25:54I'm happy it wasn't on that downhill jump because that would have been much worse. That one, he'll
25:57get up. He should be fine. You never know, but that's one of the trickiest sections
26:02on this racetrack. I've heard riders complain about it all day, that soft landing there.
26:06There's another one here. Coming with that rise. So Lukas Koonen then, up to second. The gap between
26:11him and Fjall is only four seconds with just under four minutes plus two to go. Lap time last time
26:16around Fjall, 2.047. Koonen, 2.034. Normally you'd expect the team Belgium to say, you know what,
26:22you're safe in second position, but you're not that safe. Yeah, you're in ninth place, but
26:26they can't afford another race like Prep Van Donink had in that NXGP race where they were,
26:32what, 19th place. Oh, I don't think Lukas Koonen cares what's on that pit board. He's going after
26:39Tom Biala. You don't think? I do not think so. What makes you think that? Lukas Koonen,
26:44he only knows one gear. He really does, and that is to try to win the race.
26:48Guider Wolf is now down to fifth. Langenfeld has gone through.
26:54A triple. He's got a brake. On the way. Some sort of brake problem there? I don't know what's
26:58happening. That was coming into the penultimate corner. That's twice where he's completely
27:02missed the apex of the corner. So out of fourth and down to fifth, the Germans picking up a point,
27:10and McClellan now. It seems okay there though, carrying on some speed, but maybe just overjumped
27:15and just ran out of road. Better than the first time, right? If you're going to make a mistake,
27:19go off the track, don't tuck the front trying to save it. But McClellan, he could do with an extra
27:26point here just to give South Africa a bit of a look in. They're sitting on the cusp at the moment
27:30in 21st place on 42 points.
27:37Finland on 39 and then Brazil on 38. That's how tight it is. Kai just looks disheveled here, right?
27:44All of that free kind of intensity, he just kind of lost that. Discombobulated? Yeah, just rattled
27:50or maybe the bike is bent up, you never really know. Yeah, especially after that fall.
27:55Actually, yeah, maybe the right. Yeah, the front fender looks off as well. Because he went down,
28:00he cross ruts and went down on the right side. Maybe those bars are pulled over to the right
28:03hand side. Nothing worse when you're trying to follow either that front fender that's going
28:07the wrong way or you're trying to keep yourself straight and the bars are already kind of 45
28:11degrees. Yeah, you have to tilt a certain direction to go straight on a track like this.
28:16Oh, hello. Game on. Former world champion against a future potential world champion. He has whittled
28:23that gap down to one and a half seconds. As you say, taking no notice of the pit board. Belgium need
28:28every point they can get. This is a fantastic performance from Lucas Kuhn and I don't care
28:33where you are from in the world, he is one of the most exciting riders we've seen in a long time
28:37and he is shining right here on the biggest stage of all. Yeah, this is the guy, he's always looking
28:42for a fight, he's always looking for trouble. There is not a situation where he's going to settle or
28:47any of those things in. You know, I remember seeing some of his first interviews ever, it was either
28:51I would rather crash than not win, right? I just want to win. And their intermediate
28:55sectors, he lost a full second in sector two, so not sure what happened there.
29:02But anyway, can he react and sort of pick himself back up or is Lucas Kuhn, now that he's got that
29:08carrot in front of him, just going to go, you know what, I'm on it, I can be on it even more.
29:13Just slightly offline, VL. That could have been so much worse. He pulls up, he looks back over the
29:18shoulder. You got to figure that, I would like to see him hold up a bit more there, that was not,
29:24in my opinion, penalizing enough of a mistake there. We'll see it more from here, yeah, look,
29:28he jumps across, he lands, he can't brake at the moment, then all of a sudden he's just like, okay,
29:35look on. It wasn't, anyway, yeah, it's made no difference, Lucas Kuhn and all over the back of
29:41him. Not for us to decide, but that's a, that's a tough one for the decision makers there. Is he
29:45going to transfer here and make a difference? Hops up, gets to the inside, he gets the front door slammed
29:52in his face. VL on the ropes here, haven't seen that in a while with him on this side of the pond.
29:59Yeah, and you assumed that he was kind of going to check out here, and you don't know if he lost
30:03some intensity, if Kuhn's lines just are better, but he closed down a seven second lead really
30:08quickly. Super slow-mo. Kuhn saw it coming, didn't he? Those two lines merged into one, like a zip.
30:16Right, Beckmark is ahead of the two leaders. VL leading the way for France, the number two.
30:23We've got three to go. The two-lap board comes out this time around.
30:30Yeah, I think times like this, you're trying to answer the question, that's what's so great about
30:33motocross nations, who is truly the best 250 rider in the world, right? And it's a shame we don't
30:38have Hayden Deegan here in the fight to help answer that question, but that's what these riders,
30:42you want to talk about the racing for their country, yes, but these qualifying races,
30:45they're out to prove a point. And actually, if you are Hayden Deegan, and you're watching this,
30:50no doubt he's probably thinking, well, you know, I've got VL licked all weekend long,
30:54all year long, so if this is the best they've got, guess what? Bragging rights are on me,
30:58you know? Maybe. Yeah, and honestly, but you don't know until you get into this scenario,
31:02this event, it's a different kind of event. Yeah, and Hayden Deegan needed surgery, right? We all
31:06know why he's not here, but I love that about this, get the best of both sides of the world,
31:12and let's duke it out and see who's truly best, and I'm telling you, Kunin doesn't care,
31:18he does not care. He used the back marker there as a berm, Mortalin from Venezuela.
31:28He's still going, isn't he? Oh, we've got Wave Jellos, no jumping, wheels on the ground.
31:32Yeah, Ryder off to the left, we're all good. It's been a good recovery, this from Bial. Exactly,
31:37that's what I was going to say, Bial's fought back here pretty valiantly, you can tell he's
31:40pushing pretty hard at the moment, I bet he wishes he had pushed hard earlier, so he didn't have to
31:44fight him off the last two laps. Well, if he didn't think that he was being pursued by a bulldog,
31:50well, he's obviously just had a bit of a reminder, but Anstey and Langerfelder here,
31:54top right corner of your screen, Anstey in third, Langerfelder in fourth place.
32:02Tripling in to the GoPro Waves. Oh, he's down, folds up front, just pushing too hard, he'll pick
32:08himself up quickly though, but you need to readjust that visor because he's not seeing
32:12a lot out of there, there you go. You got the novice look going on there. Yeah, goggle strap
32:18off the back. You have a great picture of that, that would be one you could just remind him
32:21of him forever. You know what, I don't have a meme like that, I'll leave that to you, JT.
32:27Sandner has been chipping away for Austria, he's up to 13th, he's found his way past the Japanese
32:31rider Yokoyama, and I wonder how much of this was the sun, because the sun's just starting to drop
32:35now, just lost focus, just comes in too hot, folds the front. He's pushing there, he's pushing the
32:41front, right, he's full wean angle all the way in, yeah, you see the visor there. He's hoping no one
32:47had a shot, now he's just backed it off, look, you can see, ever so slightly. He gave his best shot,
32:51that's the thing, he was full send there, now it's okay, but he's a threat, let's just bring
32:55it home in seconds. He's a threat for sure, yeah, and actually when you think of the lap times that
33:01we had earlier on in the day, so in the MXGP free practice, Jorge Prado was quickest with a 1.56.8,
33:11yeah, Lucas Kuhnum was a 2.04.202 for Jet Lawrence. Yeah, the track was significantly going away,
33:18you see Langenfelder leaning on that inside as well, but the track got slower as the day went on,
33:22but if you tell me that a guy like Lucas Kuhnum starts inside the top five tomorrow afternoon in
33:27the combined motos, I think he could be in the fight, I don't know that he could beat Jorge Prado,
33:32but battling inside the top three all day would not surprise me. So Vial on his last lap, it was
33:38six seconds as they hit the line, Kuhnum backing off, it's now almost nine seconds, Langenfelder,
33:43great ride for him, he's there in third, Anstey fourth, about three and a half seconds further
33:48back, that brings Team GB up the order to eighth for their gate pick on Sunday's races, only Conrad
33:54news to go out for Team Britain, Great Britain, but Team, Tom Vial and Roman Pfeffer in about a
34:00half a lap time, their races are done, and it's down to Maxime Renaud now, can he secure the top
34:06step for France, because they're leading the way by five points as it stands right now,
34:11with Germany on nine, so France four, Germany nine, Spain 10,
34:16the Netherlands 10, the USA on 14 with two seventh place finishes.
34:23It was interesting, Isaac Gifting on the paddock show talk just a moment ago from the paddock with
34:30Ben Rumbold, Isaac Gifting said you know what, I kind of set my bike up differently for the track,
34:36he thought it would ride differently, I think everybody did, a lot softer, a lot deeper,
34:40it's dried out very very quickly, and I wonder if a lot of riders will be going, heading back,
34:44making those changes, Tom Vial wins the MX2 ramp qualifying race here, picking up from
34:49where he left off a year ago, strong performance, not to be unexpected though, so interesting
34:57comments from Isaac Gifting at the end of the, you know, MXGP qualifying race, where he talked
35:01about that, and I just wonder how many of the more, you know, riders teams coming in now after a race,
35:07maybe Eli Tomac is one of those, maybe Cooper Webb is one of those, where,
35:11because in the press conference actually, he casted my mind back, Tomac said you know what,
35:14this track is a lot deeper than he kind of saw on the TV, a lot deeper than he thought, and
35:20you know, probably one of the deepest he's sort of seen in that respect, but it's packed down
35:24very very quickly, and it's very easy to make, you know, a setup, thinking what they had for
35:32pre-practice this morning, it's even different to that. Yeah, and you wonder if the bumps are getting
35:36harder, just a little bit more of an impact, right, so they could maybe soften the suspension
35:41up a little bit, because they had it, I'm sure, super stiff for how deep it was. Good recovery for
35:45Webster, up to 13th as he hits the line, Adamo 10 puts his best lap in right at the end, a 2.07,
35:52but you put that with Langenfelder's 2.02, that's a big gap for Adamo. Yeah, you wonder if
36:01that's two crashes in two races for Australia, right, they come in as favorites, they're
36:06maybe not the favorite, but this may be the best team they've ever had coming in, and
36:11just a little bit to clean up after two races. But then, you know what, it was a simple error
36:17right at the start, wasn't it, and just getting those race jitters out of the way. Anyway,
36:22Lisa is with Tom Vial, France on top after two races with four points.
36:28Tom Vial, congratulations, you had a good start, solid ride out there, but you were on the ropes
36:33with Koonen on your back wheel at one point, tell us about your race. I was excited for that,
36:37I was like, Lucas, obviously, is the man of the championship, him and Kai are really close,
36:42and I was like, okay, I took the whole shot, and I really want to win that moto. Lucas was catching
36:46me a little bit, and then I pushed again the last three laps, and I could win, so it was really nice
36:51to start the weekend like that. But France now have a five-point lead going into the final race
36:55of the day. That's pretty good, I mean, the qualifications are not always, that's not where
36:59you win, but it's really important. Best of luck for tomorrow, thanks, Tom.
37:06Impressive performance from Tom Vial, withstanding the pressure from Lucas Koonen until Koonen made
37:12that mistake, but yeah, the French are on fire once again, as we pretty much expected, they have
37:17been now since 2014. Yeah, and I think for Tom, you know, he wanted to send a message to the
37:22Yeah, and I think for Tom, you know, he wanted to send a message like, hey, meet the new boss,
37:26same as the old boss, right? Like, he was Kai and Lucas Koonen a few years ago, so impressive
37:32performance for Tom. Yeah, enjoying himself there, isn't he? Out on the track, first visit here for
37:37a couple of years, give you the race results before we check out the highlights from the race, of course.
37:43And Tom Vial picking up a point for Team France. Lucas Koonen picking up two for Belgium,
37:49three for Langenfelder, four for Anstey in Great Britain, De Wolf five in the Netherlands, a couple
37:53of prangs for him, McClellan six for the South Africans, Webb seven for USA, and then Harp in
37:59eighth place. Knight for Oliver and Adamo ten, Mikula 11, Tonus, and then Webster went down
38:07from second to fifth, fifth to 14th, and then down to 23rd, and then he clawed his way back to 13th
38:12place, so a good positive race, I would say, for Webb, despite those mistakes, the fact that he was
38:18able to bounce back for the Australians, I think the rest of the team, that'll settle their nerves,
38:22what you got to do, Kyle, is just, you know, keep a cool head in the heat of battle. Yeah, yeah, crashes,
38:28you know, crashes at this race when you're trying to win the overall will kill you, so I think he'll
38:32learn from that today, it was a simple mistake, he was at the front, which is most important, just
38:35clean that up. Right, let's take a look who's on the cusp, but we know who the top 10 or so are,
38:40France with four, Germany nine, Spain on 10, tied with the Netherlands, the USA go to the gate fifth
38:46ahead of Australia, Italy and Great Britain, they're on 19 points at the moment, and then when
38:51we go to the next pages, Belgium are back in it, they are inside the top 10 ahead of Switzerland,
38:57Denmark, but it's the teams after Austria, and look how tight it is behind Austria, they're 16th on 33,
39:08Sweden on 36, Canada 36, Brazil 38, they are the qualified teams at the moment, but Finland,
39:15they're going through to the B-final on 39 points, there is not a lot in it, no room for error,
39:21and then look at the guys snapping at their heels there, Estonia, Republic of South Africa and the
39:25rest. Some nervous boys in this open race to come. I'll tell you what, there's some
39:32butt clenching going on at the moment. Let's take a look at the highlights of the race, shall we?
39:37The MX2 Ram qualifying race then, and Simon Langeveld all the way over on the left,
39:41the number 11 in pink, he swept around the inside, outside-inside, Tom Vial coming away
39:46with a hole shot just about, Webster was in there for Australia about fourth, he quickly got himself
39:50in the third and second as he went after Webb, and Racialis came through here, split the two riders
39:57as he moved in second, Anstey was just behind them, the first downhill though, the Australian,
40:02just the front end got away from him, he picked himself up, Langeveld muscled his way by as
40:07DeWolf got up the inside of Cooper Webb. And you just see how cautious Webb is being right here,
40:12that is something he needs to work on overnight, find out what that is, is that a mental thing,
40:16is that the motorcycle not responding how he wants it to, on a 250 on this racetrack you have to be
40:21able to push, and you see Webster with the second mistake here, it's amazing that he actually was
40:25still 13th after two crashes. Cooper Webb getting passed by Koenen and then DeWolf going after
40:30Anstey, that was for second, and then the Belgian got up the inside of the print as he moved into
40:38third place, Langeveld was on a charge, railed around the outside of McClellan as he moved into
40:44fifth. How quickly he picked up the throttle there. And then watch this, top of your screen,
40:49just cross rutting there, Kei DeWolf out the front door, he would have another mistake as well,
40:55so too would Bial, your race leader, as Koenen caught him, and then Koenen made his own mistake,
41:00two laps to go, a lap and a half to go, it would finish Bial, Koenen, Langeveld, Anstey, DeWolf
41:07fifth after his second mistake, and then McClellan, Webb, Harp, Oliver and Adamo, but a fantastic race
41:12for Bial and France.
41:17And a RAM award for Tom Bial for winning the RAM qualifying race in the MX2 category.
41:24It's been a good start for France, a bright start. Anyway we are going to take a break,
41:29make sure you tune in in a moment for From the Paddock part 2 with Ben, let's see what he has
41:35to say this time. We'll see you at 4.20 local time though for the final race of the day,
41:39the Open RAM qualifying race. We'll see you then.