Geerts on a BIG win in Sweden
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rider Jago Geerts celebrated his third consecutive Grand Prix win in Uddevalla, Sweden. With three GPs remaining, the Belgian still leads the championship by 23 points. Thibault Benistant, who is struggling with his shoulder, finished 7th.
The FIM World Championship returned to Sweden after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Glimminge Motorstadion in Uddevalla is a familiar venue for most riders. Jago Geerts felt good on the tightly packed and rocky track and took pole position after an impressive start to win the qualifying race on Saturday. Thibault Benistant, on the other hand, had a difficult day and only finished ninth.
In race 1, Geerts was fourth in the first corner, two positions ahead of teammate Benistant. While the Frenchman fell back to P10 in the first lap, Geerts moved on. First he passed Längenfelder for third place. A lap later, the Belgian passed Horgmo and settled into Vialle’s rear wheel. However, it did not come to a battle between the two title contenders: Jago lost a place after a small crash on lap 5. He quickly regained second place after a nice pass on Horgmo, but the gap to Vialle was too big. So Geerts settled for second place.
Although it was not so easy to pass, Benistant still managed to gain some positions. The Frenchman crossed the line in sixth place.
A cold head
Benistant got off to a good start in race 2. The French rider was just behind Längenfelder and Horgmo in the first turn and quickly passed Norvergian for second place. Geerts had a little more to do. The Belgian was only sixth after the first lap, but quickly moved up to fourth place, just behind Vialle. Benistant crashed and dropped from P2 to P9. Vialle also made a mistake, allowing Geerts to take second place. The championship leader immediately went to Längenfelder. Just like that, he closed the door. But passing the German turned out to be much more difficult. Jago launched one attack after another, but Längefelder refused to go down without a fight. On lap 11 Geerts finally made the pass and was immediately followed by Vialle. The French rider stuck with him, but Jago remained cool as a cucumber and took – for the first time in his career – his third GP win in a row, behind Loket and Lommel. Benistant had to deal with the pain in his shoulder after the crash and finished ninth.
With three GPs remaining, Geerts leads the championship with 23 points. Benistant remains fifth.
#93 Chase Geerts
1st overall – 1st in the championship
“This victory really tastes sweet. Especially after my mistake in the first race. I was angry with myself and really wanted to put things right in race 2. I finally succeeded. Although I had to work hard to get past Längenfelder. When I finally passed him, Vialle urged again. I had to fight to the end. In couldn’t extend my championship lead, but Vialle didn’t get any closer either. Good. I’m especially looking forward to next week’s GP in Finland. I have good memories of Hyvinkaa. In 2014 I became European Champion 85cc on that track. A sand circuit. It suits me really well.”
#198 Thibault Benistant
7th overall – 5th in the championship
“A bad weekend. At the beginning of the weekend I struggled with the suspension. The problem was solved quickly. But I also suffer from shoulder pain. Especially on hard landings. In the first race the pain was still okay. Despite a small mistake in the first lap, my riding was quite good . In the second race, I stretched my shoulder a little bit after a lap 3 crash. I had to deal with the pain, I had to be careful. I couldn’t go straight. It’s frustrating.”
Words and image: Yamaha Racing