Jeffrey Herlings’ season-ending hip dislocation at last weekend’s Grand Prix of Czech Republic means that the 2015 MX2 World Championship chase is now wide open with only 62 points dividing Tim Gajser, Valentin Guillod, Pauls Jonass, Jordi Tixier, Jeremy Seewer and Max Anstie respectively in the standings.
Four of those athletes boast GP winning experience and for racers like Jonass (second year in MX2, first with Red Bull KTM) and Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Jeremy Seewer (second term in the category, first as a full-time Pro) the title predicament is a little bewildering with five Grands Prix and 250 points still left to win. Jonass has claimed he initially had “top 10” ambitions for 2015 while Seewer admitted after the race at Loket last Sunday that it is easy to let his mind wander from original aims for the season.
“I’m keeping my same goal of a top five finish. That’s what I want to reach and what I think about at each race. But, of course you are like ‘hmmm, Jeffrey is out and I’m just a few points from the [world championship] podium…” but there are still five races. So it is a little bit in my mind,” the recently turned 21-year-old said.
Seewer has progressed immensely this year after showing promise in his rookie season in 2014 and finishing seventh in the series by the end of the term. He gained his first podium in Argentina and has since added two more pieces of silverware. Along with Guillod, the RM-Z250 rider’s presence at the top of the MX2 table means Switzerland have their most potent Grand Prix attack in the history of the sport and partially explains why the country is slated for a round in the 2016 MXGP schedule and being part of the FIM calendar for the first time since 2001.
