A six week period of pre-season tests and internationals with some surprise results, concerning injury news and the predictable rush for all to be ready for the new championship year finally ended with the Grand Prix of Qatar and the first round of eighteen. We all know that Tim Gajser raised eyebrows in MXGP, Courtney Duncan left the girls of WMX open mouthed and Jeffrey Herlings went four in a row for MX2 at Losail…what else happened?
There was little surprise that Losail was unaltered for the fourth running of the Grand Prix of Qatar. There is only so much flexibility around the thirty-two permanent light stanchions with some four hundred and twenty bulbs beaming down onto the patchwork mix of hard-pack soil. Fast, wide and a little deceptive with some of the racing trajectories (2015 winner Max Nagl: “the track was very one-line and everyone held the inside. Last year it had been ripped and watered…now it was hard and flat”) the course was still housed in one of the most impressive settings on the calendar and a (rare) example of when motocross and a dedicated motorsport facility combine to effect.
Teams and riders have acclimatised to the evening schedule (thankfully timetabled earlier this year), racing under lights, the kinder temperatures compared to winter in Europe and the living out of freight. Qatar has numerous merits as the launching pad for MXGP and while many of the paddock are familiar with the routine they also know that this event is about spectacle and TV presentation rather than trackside atmosphere with a skeletal crowd at best and no discernible signs that attendance is improving as the seasons roll on.
Was this a good Grand Prix? There was some tasty action in pockets through both classes even if certain individuals found their starts and groove noticeably more than others. Riders like Tony Cairoli and Romain Febvre used Qatar to flex their previously inactive arms and others like Jeremy Van Horebeek and Nagl to see where they need to work in terms of race starts. The results were unexpected but not flabbergasting for a first round where MXGP is typically shrouded in mystery. In MX2 observers were already trying to gauge Jeffrey Herlings’ approach and mentality from his conduction on the 250SX-F: was the Dutchman still pushing hard as usual? Had he learned his lesson as to how the sport can bite? Some ‘moments’ for ‘84’ and his utter demolition in the second moto indicated that JH was back to business and his butt patch was hardly an exercise in subtlety.
The problem with judging a single MXGP event is that in the light of recent seasons it is largely fruitless when it comes gauging an overall impression of how a season will be. Herlings in particular is the most high profile example of how motocross can spin you on a dime and then crush you underfoot. Tim Gajser was unbeatable at Losail but how will he fair in the heat of Thailand eight days later and then in the Dutch sand of Valkenswaard over Easter? Those were his worst meetings of the MX2 winning term last year. Febvre made the podium at Qatar but fought arm-pump and rustiness, Cairoli dealt with a weakened left nerve in his shoulder and back that left part of his hand numb, Paulin was amazingly off the chart with a tenth in the first moto and a ‘mechanical’ in the second after whisking-away the holeshot and Clement Desalle cut a sad figure at the back of the pack circulating with a fractured left arm still in the healing process. His achievement in dealing with an engine problem in the first moto and then securing three points in the second should not be underestimated.
To read the rest of the article and also see more of Ray Archer’s Losail pics click HERE
